Mar 13, 2009 2:49 am US/Eastern
Gillibrand Pumps Up Support For Dem House Hopeful
ALBANY (AP) ―
-
-
Rep. Kristen Gillibrand, D-Greenport, will be appointed to fill the next two years of the New York U.S. Senate seat vacated by Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, according to an aide of Gov. David Paterson.
U.S. House of Representatives
The Democratic candidate in the 20th Congressional race is unleashing one of his most powerful weapons -- Kirsten Gillibrand, the popular politician who last held the upstate New York seat.
With a districtwide 78 percent approval rating in a Siena College poll released Thursday, Gillibrand's support for Scott Murphy is expected to be a valuable tool in the special election against seasoned Republican Jim Tedisco. In a new ad, she asks voters to elect Murphy on March 31, saying he's the only candidate with business experience.
"This is one of the most difficult recessions in our country's history, it's why I'm asking you to elect Scott Murphy to fill my seat in the House," she says in the ad, released Friday.
"If she has a personal following, she can help transfer that personal following to the new candidate," said Dr. Harvey Schantz, a politics professor as the State University of New York, Plattsburgh.
Gillibrand is so popular, even Tedisco has pointed to similarities he shares with her. He notes that she was among the first to join him in opposition to former Gov. Eliot Spitzer's plan to give driver's licenses to illegal aliens. The 58-year-old Tedisco is the Assembly minority leader who has more than 25 years of experience in state government and rose to national fame fighting Spitzer's plan.
"We're focusing on what we've been doing," Tedisco spokesman Josh Fitzpatrick said when asked about the impact Gillibrand's endorsement could have on the race. "I think the local endorsements we've been getting have been very important."
Tedisco has been endorsed by Republican State Sen. Betty Little, former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, former Gov. George Pataki, and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.
Murphy, 39, has been endorsed by the Independence Party, the New York state AFL-CIO and several other unions.
They're competing to represent a diverse district from the rural Adirondack mountains south to Dutchess County. It includes Columbia, Delaware, Greene, Otsego, Rensselaer, Saratoga, Warren and Washington counties.
Murphy's campaign wouldn't say how much the ad featuring Gillibrand cost. She's supported Murphy from the beginning, but perhaps not as visibly until now.
"I am campaigning hard for him because I think he will make a difference," Gillibrand said in a statement Friday.
Former President Bill Clinton co-hosted a fundraiser for Murphy Thursday in New York City, and Gov. David Paterson held a fundraiser there Friday.
Neither campaign will say who's contributing to their campaigns or how much they're spending. The first campaign filings are due March 19.
Thursday's Siena College poll showed Tedisco leading the race 45 to 41 percent, compared to a 46 to 34 percent lead he had in the last week of February.
The district has more than 196,000 Republicans registered compared to 125,000 Democrats. There are also 118,000 voters not affiliated with a party.
Paterson appointed Gillibrand to the U.S. Senate to replace the seat vacated when Hillary Rodham Clinton became Barack Obama's secretary of state.
For Republicans, a win would be a bright spot after two dismal election cycles in heavily Democratic New York while Democrats look to shore up their standing in the district that was safely Republican for decades until Gillibrand took it from John Sweeney in 2006.
(© 2010 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)
Top Secret: Military Jets
Click to enlarge
Stumble It!
Comments