The winner of the special election in New York is Jim Tedisco, although you would never know by reading the mainstream press. Tedisco represents the 20th US Congressional District (NY-20) in New York, a seat that was vacated when Democrat Kirsten Gillibrand was appointed to the open U.S. Senate seat.
Jim Tedisco Wins House Seat
Granted, Tedisco is only even with Scott Murphy on election night March 31st, or technically even slightly behind by 70-some-odd votes. However, ten thousand absentee ballots were mailed before Murphy last minute surge, and the majority of those were sent to GOP households. The mathematics tell us that the NY House race winner is James Tedisco by a cozy percent unless the Democrats manufacture votes as what happened in the Al Franken Minnesota Senate contest. As a precaution, Tedisco has successfully sued to impound all ballots.
Scott Murphy was heavily campaigned for by Democrats including Barack Obama himself in recent days. Obama was confident enough in Murphy’s prospects that he laid a little political capital on the line by recording robo-calls on his behalf. The latest two polls in the race showed Murphy leading by 2 points, overtaking a strong lead that Tedisco enjoyed early.
The New York house race was cast by the two candidates as a referendum on the Obama spending plans, sheepishly described as a “stimulus plan” by Obama and alternatively described as a waste of our money by opponents like Jim Tedisco. Unfortunately for Tedisco, he was only tepid in his opposition to Obama early on, which appears to have lost him some votes among an angry electorate in upstate New York’s NY-20 district.
The spinsters have been out in full force this week. The GOP establishment began preparing for defeat, while Murphy and Team Obama began gloatefully whispering about his prospects. Now with defeat in sight, Democrats are attempting to claim a moral victory by running close in a GOP-leaning district. They don’t want us to remember that the prior elected incumbent was a Democrat congresswoman.
The sting of the defeat is clearly lessened for Obama because of the close vote on election night. A tied contest was declared by the press, so inferences in the headlines are that the nation’s first referendum on the Obama presidency is a tossup. When Tedisco is declared the winner later, it will hardly make the news and the analysis of the results will not be so potent.
But this is the first significant election since Obama took office, the first one in which he attempted to spread coattails, and in truth a crushing defeat for Democratic political operatives. There is no moral victory in losing an election you expected to win.
As for the socialist agenda, there is now one less tree in Obama’s receding rainforest. The GOP will take solace from the narrow victory and build from here.
Jim Tedisco’s biography is unspectacular. He was born James Nicholas Tedisco in 1950 which makes him 58 years old. His most notable work in the New York legislature is on missing children, and he is credited with forcing Democrat Governor Elliot Spitzer’s scandalous resignation.
Tedisco – Murphy Race (Video)
April 1st, 2009 at 2:51 pm
Fascinating. This “through the looking glass” interpretation from the obstructionist party that refuses to accept the will of the voters in Minnesota (as well as the opinion of the courts) and chose to intimidate and finally usurp the voters of Florida by wielding a 4-3 vote in the Supreme Court to close the recount. For a third time–the Republican Party appears only interested in power, not in democracy– and will trash any law to achieve that end.
April 1st, 2009 at 3:08 pm
Huh? No. This was supposed to be a slam dunk for Tedisco. To spin it otherwise is just disingenuous.
April 1st, 2009 at 4:06 pm
A crushing defeat? Is the ‘fat drug snorting king of political radio’ writing this? The republicans had a 75k voter registration advantage, running a well known career politician (Minority leader in the New York State assembly) against a no-name newcomer (Scott Murphy). Tedisco had a massive lead in early polls and should have cruised to victory but actually appears to be the loser, even if he wins. The GOP can’t even win cleanly in the most republican of districts.
How is that a crushing defeat? I don’t expect any reasonable responses because there aren’t any.
April 1st, 2009 at 6:42 pm
“I don’t expect any reasonable responses because there aren’t any.”
that intelligent statement comes from someone who goes by the name of ‘Scooby Doo’. read the results and weep scoob.
April 1st, 2009 at 7:31 pm
“that intelligent statement comes from someone who goes by the name of ‘Scooby Doo’. read the results and weep scoob.”
Now there’s a reasonable response. You really showed Scooby Doo , Kate.
April 1st, 2009 at 9:30 pm
Republicans can try to spin this one but either way – they lost. Several prominent Republicans have already acknowledged that. How do you trumpet a narrow victory when you are starting two laps ahead. A Democrat won in 2006 and 2008 by a very narrow margin. If Scott is ultimately declared the winner I think Michael Steele wil have to resign.
April 2nd, 2009 at 5:52 am
You Libs have the power so why are you whinning. Oh yea I forgot, that all you know how to do is whine.
The day Democrats don’t care about Power, is the day I will respect them. The Republicans had power for 12 years and never used it in the way the Democrats do. We never took over banks and car companies.
Stop whinning. Change you panties and call you mother.
April 2nd, 2009 at 9:53 am
This is amazing to watch- a true exercise in Democracy and shows us the power of small is not dead in politics. Every vote really does count- a great push for those of us working on the ground- every door knocked on, dollar raised- makes a difference.
April 2nd, 2009 at 1:47 pm
George has obviously been snorting hips own flatulence. Yes the democrats have political power and want more of it. George missed the obvious difference–”through legal elections.” The huge socialization of debt began under Bush as did the rapine of the middle and working class. Bush’s regime has more indictments than W.G. Harding and more are on the way. By rewarding his friends with no-bid contracts and assuming that the market “will regulate itself” has left us with trillions of dollars of debt.
As far as whiners are concerned, you can barely hear the Goopers mention their faux budget over the incessant whining of the GOP regulars.
BTW–the congress under Republican rule increased earmarks from 230 in 1992 to well over 15,000 in 2006. No democracy there… As well, Clinton provided a budget surplus and reduced our national debt. Bush and his GOP supplicants reversed that in less than four years.
It’s time that the Republicans quit their machinating and blame throwing and strive to at least be in touch with a broader audience than their dead end reactionary minority.
April 3rd, 2009 at 6:55 am
My goodness.
The democRATS can’t even lose graciously
This is a STUNNING victory for the GOP, because, as I recall, this district was carried by Das Fuerher Obama by a WIDE margin.
Well, guess what, dems? You lost. Get over it, because it is only the first of many defeats coming upfor you.
JUST SAY NO TO OBAMA’S SOCIALIST AGENDA!!
P.S.
1/20/13. Obama’s LAST day in Te White House. Now, that’s CHANGE I can REALLY believe in. hehehe
April 3rd, 2009 at 10:41 am
Gosh Steve you is reel smart. Tell me more stories about civils in hour country. Gosh you democrats are not good at losing are you. I bet you are still upset about Al (I like your money sucker-Earth has a fever) Gore losing in 2000.
Barry in Charge will be a very short time.
April 3rd, 2009 at 3:09 pm
Most of the absentee ballots went to Democrats and independents, not Republicans. The fact that you would lie about this, as well as claim “victory” in an election where all of the votes haven’t been counted, explains why you and your party are the north-bound end of a south-bound brotosaurus.
Have a nice day.
April 4th, 2009 at 6:02 am
Only a democrat could spin defeat into victory
The fact is, that the American people are FINALLY realizing what a socialist threat Obama is, and they do NOT like it. Look at his poll numbers. They continue to go down every day, faster than a pregnant pole vaulter.
When the President of The United States has the power to fire the CEO of General Motors, shivers should go down the spine of every American.
Be afraid of Obama. Be VERY afraid!!
(O)ne
(B)ig
(A)ss
(M)istake
(A)merica
April 5th, 2009 at 11:24 am
Oh lord. If I hear another politically ignorant person use “socialist” one more time, I am going to get sick. Some of you really need to take a poly-sci 101 course – for real.
Unless you actually, really know what “socialist” means, then quit using the term. Because “Ric” and 99% of the other conservatives that keep using it have NO IDEA what it’s true definition entails. They are like a bunch of zombies that keep repeating what other people say without any idea of a proper definition.
Do us all a favor and use a dictionary.
Also, what’s funny is that REAL socialists think that Obama is just another liberal capitalist, which is the truth. Modifying capitalism with government intervention is NOT socialism; after all, most presidents over the last century have used government intervention to regulate or de-regulate, in one fashion or another.
Obama is not abolishing division of labor, nor capital itself. Also, his administration is not shifting the means of production to the worker class, to their ownership, which is one of the root definitions of REAL socialism.
The private sector is alive and well in America. Even if taxes are raised on businesses, this does nothing to remove the free enterprise system in this nation.
As a note, the free market system has already been in danger due to Republican supported large corporations that have a habit of destroying competition and creating monopolies….but the Republicans never seem to mention this detail.
And Obama does not want to “nationalize” health care – that is an old Republican lie (which has been used by the GOP since the 30’s). There is a difference between nationalized health care (ex: the British NIH), and Universal health care (the Canadian system). The former system is outright government ownership – in the latter, the system is paid by the government to private health providers. It is a big difference, but the Republicans can never tell the truth to the American people on this issue (and the people who would most benefit from this system ignorantly oppose it).
Meanwhile, the Republicans have never had issues with “upward” wealth redistribution, as we’ve seen the gap widen between the wealthiest 5% and the rest of the American citizens. They scream “socialist” all they want, but turn around and provide the intervention they can to support the wealthiest of American citizens and corporations.
Hypocrites, eh?
Also, what folks mentioned earlier is correct – Scott Murphy was not the favored person in this district, nor is this a heavily democratic district. It also does not matter if this district also voted for Obama in the presidential election: there is sometimes a variance between the local and presidential voting results.
April 7th, 2009 at 6:03 am
“The winner of the special election in New York is Jim Tedisco, although you would never know by reading the mainstream press. [...] However, ten thousand absentee ballots were mailed before Murphy last minute surge, and the majority of those were sent to GOP households.”
As with the rest of the article, the main premise is just crappy journalism. You don’t give any reference as to where your info about the absentee ballot distribution comes from. You can spin your opinions to your hearts content, folks from both sides do that, but you at least need to get the facts straight. Now you have zero credibility.
The true distribution can be seen here…
http://www.fivethirtyeight.com/2009/04/ny-20-absentee-ballot-distribution.html
…doesn’t look good for GOP. They are quite possibly going to unable to take back a predominantly conservative seat.
April 9th, 2009 at 9:49 am
Wow. What a bunch of Democratic spin ( AKA lies ) on this Blog.
This was a Democratic Seat – it was part of the sea change in the North East that gave the Democrats a majority in the US House of Representatives in the 2006 election.
If it goes back to the Republicans, then the tide may be sweeping in the opposite direction.
One news article said that absentee ballots could be mailed up to a week after the election.
If true Acorn could still manufacture ballots for the Democrats and pull this election out for the Dems.
Again, if New York actually allows absentee ballots to be submitted one week after the election then the Democrats will know exactly how many fraudulent votes to generate.
April 9th, 2009 at 10:10 am
Wow.
Here is an example of Democratic Spin ( AKA lies ).
The article says “ten thousand absentee ballots were mailed before Murphy last minute surge, and the majority of those were sent to GOP households.”
Individual posting under the screen name of “Rob L. Says” claims they have the “true distribution” of households and provides a link.
The problem for “Rob L. Says” is that the link provides no information what so ever on what the political affiliation of each household mailed to was.
“Rob L. Says” did not bother to go look it up – instead just lied.
Here is the link – you will note no information on the political affiliation of the households requesting the absentee ballots at all. Trying to represent Counties as the same as individual households is a true lie.
April 9th, 2009 at 10:13 am
Wow.
Here is an example of Democratic Spin ( AKA lies ).
The article says “ten thousand absentee ballots were mailed before Murphy last minute surge, and the majority of those were sent to GOP households.”
Individual posting under the screen name of “Rob L. Says” claims they have the “true distribution” of households and provides a link.
The problem for “Rob L. Says” is that the link provides no information what so ever on what the political affiliation of each household mailed to was.
“Rob L. Says” did not bother to go look it up – instead just lied.
Here is the link – you will note no information on the political affiliation of the households requesting the absentee ballots at all. Trying to represent Counties as the same as individual households is a true lie.
http://www.fivethirtyeight.com/2009/04/ny-20-absentee-ballot-distribution.html
April 13th, 2009 at 9:11 am
Dear Cryptical:
SOCIALIST OBAMA.
SOCIALIST OBAMA.
SOCIALIST OBAMA.
Are you catching my drift?
P.S.
I’ll sure YOUR President the same respect and support you showed MY President.
Fair is Fair, isn’t it?
And how is that “hope and change” working out for YOU so far?
January 20, 2009. The beginning of an “ERROR”………..
April 16th, 2009 at 1:43 pm
Well, almost all of the counties have reported, and Murphy has a 178 vote lead. The 2 remaining countiea are ones that Murphy won. So, it will be difficult for Tedisco to overcome the deficit. Go to the New York State Board of Elections website for the full results [http://www.elections.state.ny.us/]
For all of the misinformed, here are the actual statistic about the district. Gillibrand(D) won the district in 2006. Before that, Republicans had controlled the district for some 26 years. In 2008, Obama won the district 50% to 47% (not by a wide margin as some of the misinformed like to claim). George Bush won the district in 2000 and 2004(by 8 points).
MOST TELLING, as of Nov. 2008, Republicans had over a 70,000 voter registration advantage in the district (41% Repub., 26% Dem). Lets repeat, the Republicans had more than a 70,000 voter registration advantage. So, just because a Dem controlled the district recently, this IS NOT a Democratic district.
April 17th, 2009 at 9:37 am
Murphy now up by 264 votes. Could it be that rightpundits got it wrong? Wouldn’t be the first time……
April 18th, 2009 at 5:14 pm
There they go again…. the libs are pointing backward at George W Bush to justify running the debt up THRICE what is when Bush left office.(And I’m not even saying it was Bush. He DID have a democratic Congress the last couple years.) Anyway, how does the current debt justify increasing it? OH, OH, we owe SOOO much money!! It’s all Bush’s fault! Let’s get even by borrowing and spending some more! (???) Do libs ever get any education in rational, logical thought?
April 18th, 2009 at 5:26 pm
Cryptical,
No, Obama may not have done all that stuff…YET. Herr Hitler snuck up behind the people, too. Anyone who advocates MANDATORY volunteer service to the federal government (for OTHER people’s children is working their way up (actually DOWN) to socialism.
Oh, and thanks, Ric, for the suggestion:
Maybe if we all chant together, we can get Cryptical to throw up!
SOCIALIST OBAMA.
SOCIALIST OBAMA.
SOCIALIST OBAMA.
SOCIALIST OBAMA.
SOCIALIST OBAMA.
SOCIALIST OBAMA.
April 20th, 2009 at 6:29 am
The level of discourse here is appalling, of course the quality of the initial report is even worse. What is downright pathetic is the author of the article hasn’t amended it (or backed off his “Tedisco Won!” platform) despite the fact all the re-canvassing (and counting of absentee ballots) is virtually complete, with Murphy in the lead by 273. You can see the results by county here: http://www.elections.state.ny.us/
I would also point out that Kris’ assertion President Obama has run up the national debt three-fold is incorrect. When Bush left office, the national debt was just under $11 trillion. Projections are that Obama’s budget and the stimulus will add about $1.5 trillion to the debt, which is an increase of under 15% (versus Kris’ 300% claim).
What is really unfortunate is how angry and pessimistic the right is. Calling the president “Hitler” and “Socialist Obama?” How about trying to offer up constructive suggestions for the future of this country? Likening our president to a genocidal fascist responsible for the brutal deaths of more than 6 million Jews is counterproductive and demeans those who died at his hands and the brave soldiers who put an end to his tyranny. Moreover, calling the president names is — well — just childish.
April 20th, 2009 at 8:52 am
Yoshi99, u need to realize that the Republican party has no voice right now, and that all it really has left now is its base. Most of the people posting on here are part of that extremist base, hence the extremist comments. These people pay no attention to facts. They simply believe whatever Rush Limbaugh and others say and then they repeat those same words.
I mean, NY-20 is another example of how much support the Repub party has lost. The Republicans had a 70,00 voter registration adavantage here. In percentages, 41% are registered Repubs and 26% Dems. The fact that Repubs couldn’t win here, despite the over-reaching by Washington Dems, shows just how fed up people are w/ the Repubs.
And Kris, you need to check your own logic. Please go review what happened in the elections of 2006 and 2008. A LOT of people clearly blamed Bush and the Repubs for the poor state of this country. More important, Bush has been out of office for 3 months! So, there is nothing wrong in looking back at his policies and analyzing them.
And Kris, you know very well that even in 2008, Bush and the Repubs were still blaming Clinton for the state of the economy. I can’t remember how many times I heard Republicans say, “we inherited this recession from Bill Clinton”.