The race to fill Kirsten Gillibrand's seat will end with next week's election. At least, I'm hoping this isn't some sort of long, drawn-out recount and that next Tuesday night, we have a winner. The last time we looked at this race, Tedisco was ahead in the polls, and ads were just starting.
Since then, Scott Murphy has slashed Jim Tedisco's lead from 21 points to 4 points, with 13 percent undecided.
Murphy raised $900,000, and supplemented that total with a $250,000 loan to his campaign. Tedisco raised $830,000 and put in $200,000 of his own money.
Murphy reported $444,000 on hand in his campaign account, while Tedisco banked $467,000. The reports cover the period between January 1 and March 11; the candidates weren’t selected until February.
Of that $900,000 Murphy raised, $235,000 came from ActBlue...so if you're flush... by the way, since 11 March, the ActBlue numbers have increased and are now over $312,000.
In addition to not living in the district, Tedisco refused to answer the question of whether or not he would have voted for the stimulus package. Finally, he did, and the local news noticed:
The Murphy campaign had this up the next day:
So there you have it. Some people are saying that this race is a referendum for the IIE on Michael Steele and whether he can win an election in a Republican district. Others are saying this is a referendum on the stimulus package itself. Theoretically, this should be a low turnout race, since it's a special election in an off year. Me? I think Scott Murphy takes it: I believe no one gets elected saying he wants to keep the electorate unemployed, uninsured, and hungry.
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