Thread: NY: Tedisco Race; Absentee Ballots to be Counted (w/Updates)

From Bay Buchanan
Team America PAC
Date: 3/31/2009 6:26:31 P.M.
Subject: Tedisco Race Too Close to Call

Dear Friend,

With 81% of the precincts reporting, Jim Tedisco has a 1% 1,000 vote lead over pro-amnesty Scott Murphy. There are over 6,000 absentee ballots that need to be counted, so this may take awhile before they declare a winner.

Let's pray for the best, and I'll keep you updated.

Your friend,

Bay


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Another nail-biter. Hope it is nothing like Al Franken and his opponent who are still slugging it out for the US senate spot I believe.

N.Y. Special Is a Nail-Biter
March 31, 2009, 11:03 p.m.
By Josh Kurtz
Roll Call Staff

Tuesday’s special election in New York’s 20th Congressional district is too close to call and isn’t likely to be resolved any time soon — depriving both national parties of a victory that they were looking forward to touting.

With all precincts reporting in the 10-county upstate district shortly after 10:30 p.m., Democrat Scott Murphy was clinging to a 59-vote lead over Republican Jim Tedisco out of more than 154,000 votes cast.

The winner will replace Kirsten Gillibrand (D), who was appointed to the Senate in late January.

But the winner may not be known any time soon. Local elections officials are likely to begin a recanvass as early as Wednesday. Absentee ballots must be counted and overseas military ballots will still be coming in for another two weeks.

Just as a resolution appeared somewhat closer in the long-disputed Minnesota Senate race, it appears likely that the national political parties will have to gear up for a legal fight over the New York House seat.

National Republicans began the campaign with high hopes. The 20th district has 70,000 more registered Republicans than Democrats, and Tedisco, a pugnacious 26-year legislative veteran who is Minority Leader of the state Assembly, was a well-known commodity in upstate New York.

But he stumbled over President Barack Obama’s economic stimulus package, refusing to say for almost a month whether he would have voted for it.

Murphy went on the attack and newspapers demanded an answer — and when Tedisco finally came out against it, Democrats pounced yet again, arguing that upstate would benefit from the economic development and infrastructure spending in the bill.

Republicans and their affiliated groups spent particularly heavily on the race, waging a brutal campaign against Murphy, a wealthy businessman and a political novice. National Republicans and their allies spent about $2 million on the race, while Democrats and their allies spent in the neighborhood of $1.2 million. Each candidate raised more than $1 million.

In addition to GOP missteps, Murphy was able to take advantage of recent political trends nationally and locally. Despite the district’s Republican overlay on paper, it has been trending Democratic, given Gillibrand’s two significant victories in 2006 and 2008. Obama won the district by about 3 points last November.

Recent polls have shown Gillibrand and Obama to be popular figures in the district. The president sent two e-mails to supporters on Murphy’s behalf, and Vice President Joseph Biden cut a radio ad for him. Gillibrand campaigned by his side, appeared in a TV ad for him and also placed robocalls on his behalf.

Democrats hold a lopsided 25-3 advantage in the New York House delegation.

http://www.rollcall.com/news/33713-1.html

3/31/09
NY House race too close to call, 65-vote Dem lead
By VALERIE BAUMAN – 24 minutes ago

ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) — The two candidates in a New York congressional race that focused on President Barack Obama's economic policies were separated by only 65 votes with all the precincts in and more than 150,000 votes counted Tuesday.

The race between Republican Jim Tedisco and Democrat Scott Murphy will come down to the roughly 10,000 absentee ballots issued by the state Board of Elections. Those ballots generally are cast by people who expect to be absent or unable to vote at the polls and usually are mailed in. They aren't required to be returned until April 13.

Murphy held the slim lead over Tedisco in the race to replace Kirsten Gillibrand, who was appointed to the U.S. Senate to succeed Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton.

The special election drew an unusual level of national attention, and both candidates had financial support from their national parties and political action committees — mostly spent on increasingly negative television ads, which bothered supporters of both candidates.

"I'm tired of candidates telling us what's bad about the other person instead of what's good about them," said Ralph Liporace, a 53-year-old independent who voted for Murphy at the Brunswick Volunteer Fire Department.

Vincent Poleto, 21, of Brunswick, said he voted for Tedisco "because I've known him for years."

"But I'm not happy about the negative campaigning," he said.

Despite ongoing campaigning and get out the vote efforts, polling places and local election boards reported light turnout, not unusual in a special election in which there are no statewide offices or big names on the ballot to attract more casual voters.

Republicans hoped a win would knock Obama off balance and put them back on the political map in the Northeast after two dismal cycles that saw them go from nine New York representatives before the 2006 elections to three after the 2008 vote. Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele had identified the race as one of the party's top priorities for this year.

Democrats looked for the reassurance of a win in a Republican district less than 100 days after Obama took office and in the wake of his $787 billion stimulus package, which was criticized for a loophole allowing bonuses for executives of the bailed-out American International Group Inc. insurance company.

Each campaign raised more than $1 million and got major support from national committees and political groups.

Murphy, 39, is a venture capitalist multimillionaire from Columbia, Mo., who has lived in New York for more than a decade.

Tedisco, 58, is the GOP minority leader in the state Assembly. He's been in politics for 27 years representing a mostly working-class district. He doesn't live in the congressional district, an issue used by Democrats during the campaign.

The diverse district stretches from the rural Adirondack Mountains, an hour south of the Canadian border, down to Dutchess County, about an hour north of New York City.

Pat Ginsberg, a Democrat in her 60s, voted Tuesday morning at the Martin Van Buren National Historic Site in Kinderhook, southeast of Albany.

"I wanted a Democrat because I wanted someone who backed Obama's policies," she said.

John Johnas, 62, an independent from Rensselaer County, said Obama's policies didn't figure in his decision to vote for Tedisco.

"I've always liked Jim," he said. "He's at least from the area.

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/art ... QD979DO8G1

National Review Online
Tuesday, March 31, 2009

HORSERACE

No Winner in NY-20 For a While, It Seems

With all 610 precincts reporting, Democrat Scott Murphy leads, 77,344 to 77,279 over Republican Jim Tedisco — a 65 vote margin out of 154,623 cast.

There are 6,000 absentee ballots and word is "absentee ballots and emergency paper ballots in the 20th Congressional District special election have been impounded under a court order, said Bob Brehm, a spokesman for the state Board of Elections." Nothing gets opened until Monday at the earliest.

Also, the New York State Board of Elections extended the deadline for Military and Overseas ballots for the NY-20 race until April 13th — they must be postmarked by March 30th.

Republicans think they have an advantage in absentee ballots, both in terms of voters they know who used absentee ballots, and traditionally in the district.

03/31 10:45 PM

http://campaignspot.nationalreview.com/ ... kwZWRmOTM=

Tedisco: We'll Have a 'Tremendous' Victory

Tuesday, March 31, 2009 9:11 PM

Republican James Tedisco vowed Tuesday night to his supporters that he’d defeat Democrat Scott Murphy in the too-close-to-call New York special election.

Murphy leads Tedisco by just 65 votes but as many as 10,000 absentee ballots remain to be counted, according to election officials.

“I believe when the smoke clears we will have won a tremendous victory,â€

Registered Republicans traditionally have cast a plurality of the absentee ballots.

As a retired military member, I can attest to this. It's a known fact that the majority of military members have traditionally voted Republican. However, we are talking about New York.

My fingers and toes are crossed for Tedisco.

How many non-citizens voted for the Democrat?

The good news is that Saratoga County is the largest county in the 20th and Tedisco took that county. It is safe to say that the most absantee ballots will come from Saratoga.

There is a fairly large illegal network that lives in the Saratoga area due to the Saratoga Horse Track.

We can only pray, I'm really surprised that Murphy got as many votes as he did but then again, Obama, Guillibrand and Schumer all came out and endorsed him along with the Democratic PAC that ran constant negative ads that said he collected 17000 dollars in per dium while only living 11 miles away. What they did not say was, that that was over a 12 year period and included his trips for Assembly Business.

Breaking news,
www.wnyt.com

Murphy's lead dwindled to only 25 votes ahead of Tedisco.
The ballots can not be opened until April 6th by court order.