Before voters went to the polls on Tuesday in New York's 20th Congressional District, there seemed to be compelling arguments in favor of either major party winning the race to fill the House seat formerly held by Democrat Kirsten Gillibrand, who was appointed to succeed Hillary Rodham Clinton in the Senate. Those arguments seemed to cancel each other out, so in my CongressDaily column on Tuesday morning, I predicted a very close election.
The outcome could not be much closer. At press time, 39-year-old venture capitalist Scott Murphy, the Democrat, held a 65-vote lead over 58-year-old state Assembly Minority Leader Jim Tedisco, the Republican, 77,344 to 77,279.
That tally does not include absentee ballots; 10,055 were apparently issued and 5,907 were returned by Election Day. Military and overseas ballots postmarked before Election Day will be accepted until April 13, while other properly postmarked absentee ballots must be received by April 7.
My Tuesday column argued that this contest would take on real significance only if one party won big, likely indicating great enthusiasm on one side, lethargy on the other,
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