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ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) - After a frenzied, bruising special election, a New York congressional race that became linked to President Barack Obama's economic recovery efforts won't be decided for at least two more weeks. Democrat Scott Murphy led Republican Jim Tedisco by a scant 65 votes out of more than 154,000 cast Tuesday. After the count of machine votes in 610 voting precincts spread over the mostly rural, 10-county district, the unofficial count was 77,344 for Murphy to 77,279 for Tedisco. That puts the focus on the more than 10,000 absentee ballots mailed to voters who are registered in the...

    RNC Chairman Michael Steele, who was the first to elevate the 20th CD race to a contest of national importance by declaring it a must-win for the Republican Party, just issued the following statement on last night's cliffhanger:"With over 5,000 absentee and military ballots still left to count, this race is far from over. We are confident that the Republican advantage in these absentee and military ballots can put Jim Tedisco over the top, and the Republican Party will do everything in its power to make sure all lawful votes are counted.” ”We are proud of Jim Tedisco...

ALBANY — After a short, tense campaign, the two candidates in a New York congressional special election that focused on President Barack Obama's popularity and his economic policy were separated by fewer than 100 votes, and it looked likely the race would be decided by absentee ballots. With all but one of the 610 voting precincts in the 20th Congressional District reporting, Democrat Scott Murphy led Republican Jim Tedisco by 81 votes out of more than 154,000 cast Tuesday in the race to replace Democrat Kirsten Gillibrand. A problem with a machine in Saratoga Springs delayed the final reporting from...

The New York Congressional District #20 election to replace Democrat Kirsten Gillibrand took place today. The numbers are astounding! Tonight, with all 610 precincts reporting, Democrat Scott Murphy leads Republican Jim Tedisco by 65 votes -- out of more than 154,000 votes! The numbers are: Murphy 77,344, Tedisco 77,279. It's not over because there are more than 6,000 absentee ballots remaining to be counted. Those ballots have reportedly be impounded under court order, and will not be counted until after a court conference schedule for next Monday. So, no winner to be decided for now. I'm not really up on...

Tedisco Campaign Seen as More Negative; Murphy’s More Positive But By 10-Point Margin, Voters Think Tedisco Will Win the Special Election Loudonville, NY. As the special election in the 20th C.D. enters the final weekend, Democrat Scott Murphy has reversed a four-point deficit and turned it into a four-point lead over Republican Assembly Minority Leader James Tedisco. Murphy leads 47-43 percent, having trailed two weeks ago by a 45-41 percent margin, according to a new Siena (College) Research Institute poll of likely voters. Tedisco’s campaign is viewed by voters as more negative by a 44-25 percent margin, while Murphy’s campaign...

Is the special election in New York's 20th district a referendum on the national political environment - on President Barack Obama, Washington, D.C.'s handling of the American International Group bonus scandal, the economic stimulus package and the national reputations of the two parties? Or, rather, is it about the skills and appeal of the two candidates? It's about both. Republican Jim Tedisco initially appeared to possess the most important qualities for the brief campaign. A veteran of the New York state Legislature, he is known as "Mr. Schenectady" and has deep roots in the area. He also appeared to benefit...

Geithner, Daschle, Franken, and Now their Nominee in NY's Special Congressional Election I wrote yesterday about Scott Murphy — the Democrat candidate for Kirsten Gillibrand’s old House seat. I pointed out that he was trying to send part of his resume down the memory hole — suddenly erasing from his biography his role in starting an Indian rival to Ebay. I pointed out that he’d also had problems paying his taxes in the past. But now I see that his firm — Small World Software — still has outstanding liens against it with the New York State Department of Taxation....

Perhaps seeking to regain some luster to his presidency, Barack Obama has jumped into the political fray and endorsed Scott Murphy for Congress in NY 20th district. In an email sent to around 50,000 supporters in the district, the president urged people to organize for the democratic candidate who is running against Republican Jim Tedesco with the winner to take over the seat vacated when Kirsten Gillibrand was elevated to the senate: Today I'm announcing my support for Scott Murphy, candidate for New York's 20th Congressional District," the email reads. "He's created jobs by building and growing small businesses while...

ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) -- Republican James Tedisco leads Democrat Scott Murphy in the race for the 20th Congressional District seat Kirsten Gillibrand left for the U.S. Senate, according to a poll released Thursday. The Siena College poll reports Tedisco, the state Assembly's Republican leader, has a 46 percent to 34 percent lead over Scott Murphy, a venture capital manager...

ALBANY—Scott Murphy is a rich carpetbagger, out-of-touch with the needs of the average voters in the 20th Congressional District he hopes to represent because he actually grew up in Missouri. He hasn't even voted in recent elections. He was a lobbyist, for Pete's sake, taking his clients to the Cotton Bowl and lavishing them with expensive meals. As a "venture capitalist" he outsourced work overseas; that's probably why his campaign website isn't calling him "Mr. Jobs" anymore. Oh yeah: he cheats on his taxes—just like all those other Democrats, who have no problem voting to raise yours.As for Jim...

A new poll released by Jim Tedisco’s campaign suggests why Republicans rallied around his candidacy so quickly in the special election for Kirsten Gillibrand’s House seat. He’s well-known from his tenure as the Republicans’ state Assembly Leader, and well-liked — at least for now — by voters in New York’s 20th District. The poll, conducted by Public Opinion Strategies, shows that a 51 percent majority of voters view Tedisco favorably, while 13 percent hold an unfavorable impression. His 64 percent name identification is quite high for a first-time congressional candidate. Tedisco holds an early lead over Democratic businessman Scott Murphy,...

October 29, 2008, 1:30 p.m. Pennsylvania’s M&M Brothers Have Gotta Go!On Iraq, Murtha and Murphy would rather repeat damaging lies than admit their misjudgments. By Pete Hegseth While the Minnesota Twins were unable to make the playoffs this year, the team’s fans nonetheless can look forward to many years of watching two of baseball’s best — Joe Mauer and Justin Morneau. Powerful at the plate, and “good guys” — that rarity in the world of pro sports — the “M&M brothers” are an indispensable part of the Minnesota sports landscape. They play the game with grace and good-natured grit...

Mike Murphy’s know it all moment won’t hurt the man he once worked for. But who will ever hire him again? All my days I was raised among the wise, and I discovered that there is nothing better for a person than silence. (Mishna Avot) The silence of the wise is becoming; it is even more so for fools. (Talmud Pesachim) Train your tongue to say "I don't know," lest you get caught in an embellishment. (Talmud Brachot) Murphy's Law and its many corollaries are always good for a grim chuckle. Whatever can go wrong will go wrong, it states....

Well, I just got mugged by the nature of modern media, and I wish it weren't my fault, but it is. Readers deserve an explanation, so I'm putting a new top on today's column and, with the forbearance of the Journal, here it is.

Wednesday afternoon, in a live MSNBC television panel hosted by NBC's political analyst Chuck Todd, and along with Republican strategist Mike Murphy, we discussed Sarah Palin's speech this evening to the Republican National Convention. I said she has to tell us in her speech who she is, what she believes, and why she's here. We spoke of Republican charges that the media has been unfair to Mrs. Palin, and I defended the view that while the media should investigate every quote and vote she's made, and look deeply into her career, it has been unjust in its treatment of her...

Earlier she says "It's OVER!" "You Republicans ALWAYS do that!!" I'd like to thank the moonbats at DAILY KOS for the tip-off on this example of an "UNBIASED" media presentation!! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CrG8w4bb3kg&eurl=http://www.dailykos.com/story/2008/9/3/161834/7679/859/584943

After a segment with NBC's Chuck Todd ended today, Republican consultant Mike Murphy and Wall Street Journal columnist Peggy Noonan were caught on a live mic ridiculing the choice of Sarah Palin. "It's over," said Noonan, and then responded to a question of whether Palin is the most qualified Republican woman McCain could have chosen. "The most qualified? No. I think they wen tfor this-- excuse me -- political bullshit about narratives," she said. "Everytime Republicans do that -- because that's not where they live and it's not what they're good at and they blow it." Murphy chimed in: "The...

We have observed spectroscopic changes in temperature sensitive molecular lines, in the magnetic splitting of an Fe I line, and in the continuum brightness of over 1000 sunspot umbrae from 1990-2005. All three measurements show consistent trends in which the darkest parts of the sunspot umbra have become warmer (45K per year) and their magnetic field strengths have decreased (77 Gauss per year), independently of the normal 11-year sunspot cycle. A linear extrapolation of these trends suggests that few sunspots will be visible after 2015.

Mike Murphy, the garrulous Republican political strategist who helped Sen. John McCain dump the Karl Rove-led George W. Bush candidacy on its butt in the 2000 New Hampshire primary, is joining NBC News in an expanded role as political pundit. [ed. DEFINES MURPHY'S ASSESSMENT OF MCCAIN'S CHANCES???]

Murphy At The Bridge I have been a friend and critic of Mike Murphy, the Republican consultant. I have criticized him on these pages, chiding him for going "Hollywood" which he denies and pointing out Rick Lazio's terrible campaign that allowed Hillary Rodham Clinton to go to the US Senate. Now is no time to quibble about past races lost. The future is at stake. Today I reverse course. Murphy is both talented and persuasive. The McCain campaign has had no strategic vision, no plan to define McCain or Obama and no message discipline. Surely the Rove gang, headed by...