N.Y. special election a preview of 2010
HOOSICK, N.Y. -- The midterm elections are more than a year away, but voters who live in the small towns and rolling farms of Upstate New York are providing an early look at how President Obama's economic policies may play out on the campaign trail in 2010.
Months before races heat up elsewhere, two candidates here are vying for an open House seat in the nation's only competitive special election — a swing district where the $787 billion stimulus law and bonuses paid to AIG executives have become key issues. The winner may provide a blueprint for how to campaign next year in an election that will decide control of Congress.
Democrats built wide majorities in the 2006 and 2008 elections with support from traditionally Republican districts such as this one, and both parties are searching for clues for whether that trend will continue in 2010. The seat is now vacant because its congresswoman, Democrat Kirsten Gillibrand, was chosen to serve the remaining Senate term of Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton.
"One element of the race is whether we move beyond the last four years or not," said Stuart Rothenberg of the non-partisan Rothenberg Political Report, which calls Tuesday's election a tossup. "A lot of politics is mood and momentum, and the Republicans really need a win."
The candidates, Republican James Tedisco and Democrat Scott Murphy, have battled for weeks over Obama's response to the economy and now the American International Group bonuses. Both are echoing messages heard in Washington: Murphy says the stimulus is imperfect but necessary to stem further job losses, and Tedisco argues the measure includes wasteful spending that will not help the economy.
Tedisco also has tried to tie Murphy's support of the stimulus to AIG because the law includes a provision that allowed the bonuses to be paid. Murphy has countered that Tedisco's opposition to the stimulus would have cost the state tens of thousands of jobs and killed a tax break intended to benefit middle-income residents.
Both candidates have focused on job creation as they hustle for votes at diner counters and small businesses scattered throughout the district. Murphy has visited what Obama calls "shovel-ready" infrastructure projects expected to receive federal stimulus money while Tedisco has filled in as a waiter to pitch his jobs platform.
"The issue here is all about the economy," Murphy, 39, said minutes before speaking at an event this month to tout $1.5 million in stimulus money that will be used to replace a closed, single-lane bridge in the town of Hoosick. "Right now, that's what everybody in this district is concerned with."
