GOP spends big for 20th District seat

Republicans are pouring money into the March 31 special election to fill New York’s 20th Congressional District seat in an effort to reverse the momentum Democrats gained in last year’s presidential and congressional elections.

More than half the independent expenditures made so far have been by the National Republican Congressional Committee, which has spent $343,902 to run two television ads attacking Democratic candidate Scott Murphy…

…” The numbers show that the Republicans have a lot more at stake here than do the Democrats,” said Stuart Rothenberg, editor of the nonpartisan Rothenberg Political Report. “The fact of the matter is that this is seen as a Republican-leaning seat that the Democrats held for a couple of cycles and that Obama won.”

Republicans hold an edge in voter registration in the 10-county district that stretches from Dutchess County north to Lake Placid. But Democrat Kirsten Gillibrand took the last two elections there, winning a second term by 75,000 votes in November.

A Siena Research Institute poll released last week shows the race tightening, with Tedisco’s lead over Murphy down to 4 points – 45 percent to 41 percent – from an earlier 12-point lead. The poll’s margin of error is plus or minus 3.7 percentage points.
Click here to read the full story.