Born To Run
Well, NY-20 Dems promised they'd select a nominee before kickoff, and they did. This afternoon, the CD's Dem county chairs nominated venture capitalist Scott Murphy (D) as their standard-bearer in a special election to replace Sen./Rep. Kirsten Gillibrand (D). Murphy will face Assemb. Min. Leader Jim Tedisco (R). Gov. David Paterson (D) has promised that he'll announce the date of the election soon, and most observers expect a spring contest.
As we've noted several times, this rural CD has the look and feel of GOP territory, but Pres. Obama carried it in '08, and as with much of formerly-red upstate NY, it's trending Dem. GOPers nominated Tedisco even before Gillibrand was sworn into the Senate, but Dems whittled down their field (reportedly as large as 30+ potential candidates) rather quickly as well, and settled on Murphy.
Tedisco may have a name ID advantage in this special election sprint, but Murphy may be able to self-fund the race -- a huge plus for the relative unknown as the DCCC stares at a $16M debt. Murphy has already drawn attention from GOPers, though, and a post on the conservative RedState.com reads like an oppo dump on the Dem. Included are the charges that Murphy owed over $21K in unpaid taxes and penalties, and the fact that MO native just recently moved into the CD.
Tedisco, though, will also be a new resident of the CD, as he does not currently live inside its borders. He plans to move into a house he owns in the CD in the near future.
Now, back to the game...
(TIM SAHD)