From The Wall Street Journal‘s Political Diary:
Tedisco Rises to the Occasion – Maybe
HUDSON, N.Y. — GOP Assemblyman Jim Tedisco has run a weak campaign in tomorrow’s special election to fill the House seat vacated when Democrat Kirsten Gillibrand was appointed to the Senate. Mr. Tedisco has lacked a coherent message for much of the race while Democrat Scott Murphy, a venture capitalist, at least offered the mantra that President Obama’s policies will produce jobs if voters have enough patience.
But the Tedisco campaign has shown signs of life in recent days, especially since a Siena College poll jolted it awake by showing Mr. Murphy with a four-point lead. Mr. Tedisco’s slip into second place after leading much of the race is due largely to his failure to nail down his Republican base. After weeks of declining to criticize union plans to end the secret ballot for workplace elections, he has finally come out forcefully against “card check” legislation. Ditto for Mr. Obama’s stimulus package, which he finally said he would have voted against after ducking the question for weeks.
Mr. Tedisco has been handed a last-minute gift in the form of leaks that detail a wide range of tax increases about to be imposed by Democratic Governor David Paterson and the New York legislature. One of Mr. Murphy’s most powerful charges has been to label Mr. Tedisco, who leads his party in the state Assembly, as “a typical Albany politician.” But since Republicans are actually powerless in Albany’s back rooms, Mr. Tedisco was never privy to the secret negotiations behind the budget deal. That’s left him free to go on the offensive, blasting the plan as an effort by state government to “dig its greedy hand even further into the taxpayer’s pocket because it lacks the political will to make the long overdue changes that taxpayers and small businesses have been demanding. Albany is still irreparably broken.”
The race will come down to whose supporters are better motivated to come to the polls. At the 11th hour, it appears Republicans have decided to stop playing it safe and take on the consequences of liberal rule in both Washington and Albany.
– John Fund
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