Battle of Saratoga: Groundhog Day Update

NY Democrats have chosen their candidate to try and replace Kirsten Gillibrand in the NY 20th District special election.

The have have selected "political newcomer" Scott Murphy a venture capitalist from Glens Falls to take on Assembly Minority Leader Jim Tedisco.

I'm not sure holding a nominating meeting at a diner on Super Bowl Sunday was the best way to drum up awareness of a candidate whom the Democrats admit was unknown, but I'll take Democrat bungles as well as Republican brilliance on this one. In picking Murphy, the Democrats passed over well known former news anchor Tracy Egan, so evidently they think Murphy  can overcome the lack of name recognition.

An editorial in Rensselaer County's daily paper, the Troy Record, opined that "Tedisco is going to be tough to beat." noting Murphy's arrival out of political nowhere.

Murphy is going to try and argue he has created jobs in chronically depressed upstate New York.(His firms webste indicates only a handful of his investments are in upstate NY)  Redstate's Brian Faughan however, points out a lot of checkers in Murphy's record such as deep ties to Missouri politics (quite unlike uber-Albany Gillibrand) and a Geithner-esq record of meeting his NY state tax obligations.

I note that Murphy's firm is deeply involved in "affordable housing" projects in St. Louis. I'm not going to spend my morning dissecting the balance sheet of these deals; but my experience in CT projects of this type suggests that the per unit taxpayer subsidy for these deals probably exceeds the average value of owner-occupied single family homes in the 20th District. Mowever , such deals provide tax credits to large corporations to offset their other liabilities. His firm also is deeply involved in the heavily subsidized Midwestern biofuel industry. 

(Note to NYS Republicans: Talk to tenants and take pictures of these housing developments.  Don;t ignore this sort of issue like the McCain campaign;slumlords don;t last in politics.)

Governor Paterson has yet to set a date for the special election.  I suspect he may put it off to try and let Murphy get around this sprawling district first. 

Democrats have had a good time running high tech businessmen in open seats. I'm not sure this counterprograms someone with Tedisco's resume well, though.  

Game (sorta) On!