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Hundreds of Chris Gibson supporters welcome President Clinton to Gibson Country! Check out these photos!

SARATOGA SPRINGS, NY - 8:57 a.m.: The rally is over. Clinton said Gibson is an honorable man who should be respected for his miltary service. But Murphy has a better understanding of the economy. Clinton said the tea party should be supporting Murphy because he supported a bill to prevent future bailouts. "If you don't want more bailouts, you'd better vote for your current congressman." he said. Clinton said Murphy understands new technology. The U.S. Share of manufacturng batteries for hybrid cars has gone from 2 percent to 30 percent Clinton said. Clinton said the health care bill is important....

Republican Chris Gibson has catapulted ahead of Democratic Rep. Scott Murphy in the race for the upstate New York's 20th congressional district, according to an independent poll released Tuesday. The survey found that Gibson was leading Murphy 51-42 percent, reversing a 17 point deficit from last month, according to the poll by the Siena College Research Institute. The survey found that Gibson was now drawing strong support from Republicans and also was leading among independents, in the district that includes a number of counties around Albany. The district is one of several upstate New York districts won by Democrats in...

BRUNSWICK -- Chris Gibson's first political awakening came in 1979. He was 15, watching President Jimmy Carter tell Americans to turn down their thermostats. His father was collecting unemployment, out of work from his job as an elevator mechanic. "I remember just thinking, 'Is this it? Are our best days behind us?'" Gibson recalled recently. Then he heard Ronald Reagan, with his "sense of hope, his sense of optimism -- and I was attracted to the message." The same thoughts occurred to him in the summer of 2009 when Gibson, a colonel in the Army, became "concerned" with a growing...

New York’s 20th congressional district has a problem. It’s an R+2 district, one that Bush carried 54 percent to 46 percent in 2004, and one that Obama carried by 3 percent, a classic swing district. But their Democratic congressman, Scott Murphy, is one of those so-called “moderate Democrats” who are never moderate when it really counts. He voted for Obamacare, and staunchly opposes repeal. He voted against a ban on federally funded abortions. He voted for cap-and-trade. Murphy likes to talk a lot about his strong views on pay-as-you-go, but he voted to raise the debt ceiling. He voted for...

Freshman Rep. Scott Murphy, locked in a tight re-election contest in upstate New York, released a political advertisement Wednesday that may be the election season’s most aggressive embrace of the health care law passed by Congress this year. The advertisement doesn’t so much extol the health care law’s virtues as it attacks his opponent, Chris Gibson, for wanting its repeal. “Chris Gibson would let insurance companies go back to denying coverage for pre-existing conditions; he would let them restore lifetime limits on coverage. Chris Gibson would eliminate mandatory coverage for preventive care like mammograms and colon screenings, and seniors would...

Chris Gibson’s congressional campaign has issued a memo describing an internal poll showing the retired Army colonel from Kinderhook is trailing Rep. Scott Murphy, D-Glens Falls, by four points. In a head-to-head match up, the poll found Murphy leading Gibson 42-38. The pollsters write in a memo: “Among the voters most interested in the election, Gibson leads, 41%-40%.” The poll was conducted early last week by Public Opinion Strategies and surveyed 400 “likely” voters, determined by their self-rating. Dan Odescalchi, a Gibson spokesman, said the sample was 41 percent Republican, 27 percent Democratic and 32 percent un-enrolled or other parties....

American Bio Medica, one of Columbia County’s largest manufacturers, is fighting the federal government’s attempt to expand its regulation of the company’s products. The company makes drug testing kits for workplaces and government agencies. The FDA wants to begin regulating saliva drug testing kits, which make up about 20 percent of American Bio Medica’s product line. Chris Gibson, the Republican candidate for the 20th Congressional District seat, touring the plant on Smith Street Thursday, told the company’s assembled workforce this was “capricious legislation.” “Twenty percent of your company’s business is at risk,” he said. The saliva tests make up about...

Rep. Scott Murphy holds a 17-point lead over his Republican challenger Chris Gibson, a poll released today by the Siena Research Institute shows, and voters agree with major planks of the platform he and his fellow Democrats are carrying to the November elections. But Gibson, a retired Army colonel from Kinderhook, was able to gain the support of 37 percent of voters, and may have an opening if he can paint Murphy as just another incumbent tied to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of San Francisco. “This campaign has a long way to go,” said poll spokesman Steve Greenberg. “The vast...

They were the difference makers on health care reform: House Democrats who flipped from opposing the plan to supporting it, delivering a win on President Barack Obama’s signature domestic issue. Now, they are also among the Democrats’ most vulnerable incumbents, and none is building a reelection message around their famous vote.

New conservative candidates are emerging in New York House races ... updates are included in this thread. Perhaps the most exciting new conservative on the scene is Retired Army colonel Chris Gibson (R) in NY-20. (Recall that freshman Rep. Murphy was elected last spring in a tight special election over GOPer Jim Tedisco.) An Albany Times Union blog reports: "Retired Army colonel Chris Gibson of Kinderhook won an endorsement from the Clifton Park Republican Committee Thursday night. The members talked to Gibson as well as the other men looking to challenge Democrat U.S. Rep. Scott Murphy in the 20th Congressional...

Republicans in Italics: Bono MackCastleKirkLanceLoBiondoMcHughReichertSmith (NJ)

Almost a month after a special election in a heavily Republican congressional district, the Democratic candidate claimed victory Friday when his GOP opponent conceded in a race that focused attention on President Barack Obama's stimulus plan. After the March 31 election in New York's 20th District, Democrat Scott Murphy and Republican Jim Tedisco were separated by a handful of votes with thousands of absentee ballots to be counted. For nearly four weeks, the lead flipped back and forth but Murphy's advantage started to grow this week and was more than 400 votes on Thursday. Murphy said he expects to be...

Venture capitalist Scott Murphy (D) will be sworn into Congress next week to fill Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand's (D-N.Y.) vacant House seat. Murphy's Republican opponent conceded late Friday. Assemblyman Jim Tedisco (R) called and congratulated Murphy for a squeaker of a win that took more than three weeks from the March 31 special election to confirm. "This was a closely contested election that perhaps lasted a little longer than anyone may have expected or wanted," Tedisco said in a statement late Friday. "But it was important for our electoral process and for the hardworking people of upstate New York that it...

A finish line could be in sight in the race for the 20th Congressional District. With the numbers not looking good for Republican Jim Tedisco, sources tell Capital News 9 that Tedisco could concede to Democrat Scott Murphy as soon as Friday afternoon....

Reports: Tedisco concession coming soon; Murphy leads by 401 Two news organizations, RollCall and Capital News 9, are reporting that Republican Jim Tedisco has "abandoned hope" of winning the special election and "could conceded to Democrat Scott Murphy as soon as Friday afternoon." According to the latest official tally, Scott Murphy leads by 401 votes. He's held an advantage for nearly two weeks, which has grown steadily during the recanvassing.

Assemblyman Jim Tedisco (R,C-Saratoga) today issued the following statement after conceding the race for New Yorks 20th Congressional district: "Mary and I would like to thank the citizens of the 20th Congressional district for their kindness, courtesy and patience shown during this extended campaign. This was a closely contested election that perhaps lasted a little longer than anyone may have expected or wanted. But it was important for our electoral process and for the hard-working people of Upstate New York that it be resolved fairly and decisively. "Earlier today, I called and congratulated Scott Murphy on a hard-fought contest and...

Democrat Scott Murphy expanded his lead by another 92 votes late Wednesday in the race to fill a Capital Region congressional seat. Murphy, of Glens Falls, is now ahead of Republican James Tedisco, of Glenville, by 365 votes. The two are vying for a U.S. House of Representatives district that covers part or all of six area counties. The seat has been vacant since late January, when Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) was appointed to the U.S. Senate. As of Friday, Murphy has 79,951 votes; Tedisco has 79,586. The state Board of Elections is compiling the updated totals twice a day; all...

Here are two more signs that Republicans are holding out little hope that Jim Tedisco will win the still-contested New York special election. Democrat Scott Murphy currently leads Tedisco by 273 votes, with as many as 1,800 challenged absentee ballots left to be counted. A plurality of those ballots were cast by registered Democrats, making the math near-impossible for Tedisco to overcome his deficit. To that end, GOP state senator Betty Little told the New York Observer that he should begin thinking about conceding the race. Little challenged Tedisco for the nomination, and is a possible candidate for the seat...

Democrat Scott Murphy has lengthened a narrow lead over Republican Jim Tedisco in New York's special House election that now appears headed toward further legal challenges, even though a top Republican predicts the race is lost. "We lost the special election in New York. It's gone," said former Virginia Rep. Thomas M. Davis III, a veteran election vote-counter and former chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee.....