A special election is being held today in New York's 20th congressional district, an area that was a Republican stronghold until 2006, when Kristen Gillibrand won the seat during the big Democratic take over of Congress. Gillibrand is now a United States Senator, appointed to that chamber when Hillary Clinton became Secretary of State. Today's election will determine who holds that House seat until the mid-term elections in 2010.
The Republican candidate, Jim Tedisco, was leading in early polling but his Democratic opponent, Scott Murphy, has taken the lead over the last week or so.
However...polling for House races is notoriously unreliable for special elections, when turnout is generally very low.
If Murphy pulls out a win, what's left of the Republican Party's stature will become a pile of shit dust. If Tedisco wins, then the GOP will hype the victory as some sort of repudiation of Obama administration policies.
This should be interesting.
