Even after Politico’s Alex Isenstadt was stonewalled, he was able to produce a thorough piece on Eldridge’s campaign. This in depth look into Eldridge’s campaign and business have led to new questions about Eldridge:
1. Who is Sean Eldridge?
[Influential liberal radio host Alan] Chartock came away without any real sense of the candidate.
Eldridge sounded like “what a young person thinks a politician should sound like,” the radio host said in an interview. “He’s right on all the issues, but what I think people are looking for is a person. He’s extremely bright, has all the assets that you need to run. But it’s cookie-cutter.”
2. Why is Eldridge hiding from the press?
It’s difficult to size up the person behind the polished image Eldridge and his campaign are projecting to voters. He’s been running for more than a half-year but remains mostly an enigma.
Congressional challengers typically seek maximum media exposure; Eldridge allows few chance encounters with the media. His campaign frequently posts pictures on his Facebook page of the candidate out and about in the district, but local reporters say they’re usually not made aware of his pubic schedule ahead of time. He declined to be interviewed by POLITICO, and the door to his campaign headquarters in Kingston was locked on a recent visit. No one answered a call on an intercom.
3. How much time does Eldridge actually spend in the district?
In January 2013, the couple paid $1.9 million in cash for a 3,000-square-foot home in Shokan, N.Y., an area just outside Woodstock in Gibson’s district… Eldridge’s advisers won’t say how much time he spends in the Shokan house as opposed to the couple’s other two residences.
4. How long has Eldridge been planning his run for office?
In 2005, while attending Deep Springs College — a rigorous two-year institution in the California desert where pupils take part in activities such as harvesting alfalfa fields and laying gopher traps — a student magazine wrote that Eldridge would “soon become an American to pursue a political career in this country.”