Today was the special election in New York State to fill a Congressional seat vacated when Kirsten Gillibrand was elevated to fill Hillary Clinton’s Senate seat. As I write this, the election is too close to call with Democrat Scott Murphy leading by 65 votes through the unofficial count – this doesn’t factor in absentee or military votes, though. (h/t Suitably Flip).
While the registration advantage is to the GOP, Barack Obama won the district in 2008 so this election was seen as a referendum of sorts on the Obama economic policies. Perhaps this special election may have been a factor in some recent Obama Administration decisions on the economy; however it’s apparent that BHO’s current high approval numbers may have helped the Murphy cause.
In any case, this seat is likely not going to have an occupant for several weeks as the closeness of the election will dictate a recount – unless of course there’s some ballots “found” in a safely Democrat area of the district (like that which happened in Minnesota).
If Tedisco manages to pull off the win though, it will make the GOP streak three in a row following post-November wins in Georgia’s U.S. Senate runoff – where Saxby Chambliss won handily – and Louisiana’s 2nd Congressional District, where the first Vietnamese-American Congressman was elected (Joseph Cao). These Republican triumphs weren’t mentioned much in the pre-inaugural hoopla over Obama but may be noticed now – needless to say if Murphy wins the spin from inside the Beltway will be that Obama’s populist economic policies have the stamp of approval from the public.
I can tell you though that hard times will continue unless and until some sanity is brought back to those who run government. Regardless of who wins in New York’s 20th District, sanity is not likely to happen before next year’s election.
