N.Y. House Race Too Close To Call

The two candidates in a New York congressional race that focused on President Barack Obama's economic policies were separated by only 65 votes with all the precincts in and more than 150,000 votes counted Tuesday.

The race between Republican Jim Tedisco and Democrat Scott Murphy will come down to the roughly 10,000 absentee ballots issued by the state Board of Elections. Those ballots generally are cast by people who expect to be absent or unable to vote at the polls and usually are mailed in. They aren't required to be returned until April 13.

Murphy held the slim lead over Tedisco in the race to replace Kirsten Gillibrand, who was appointed to the U.S. Senate to succeed Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton.

The special election drew an unusual level of national attention, and both candidates had financial support from their national parties and political action committees - mostly spent on increasingly negative television ads, which bothered supporters of both candidates.

"I'm tired of candidates telling us what's bad about the other person instead of what's good about them," said Ralph Liporace, a 53-year-old independent who voted for Murphy at the Brunswick Volunteer Fire Department.

Vincent Poleto, 21, of Brunswick, said he voted for Tedisco "because I've known him for years."

"But I'm not happy about the negative campaigning," he said.

Despite ongoing campaigning and get out the vote efforts, polling places and local election boards reported light turnout, not unusual in a special election in which there are no statewide offices or big names on the ballot to attract more casual voters.

Republicans hoped a win would knock Obama off balance and put them back on the political map in the Northeast after two dismal cycles that saw them go from nine New York representatives before the 2006 elections to three after the 2008 vote. Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele had identified the race as one of the party's top priorities for this year.

Democrats looked for the reassurance of a win in a Republican district less than 100 days after Obama took office and in the wake of his $787 billion stimulus package, which was criticized for a loophole allowing bonuses for executives of the bailed-out American International Group Inc. insurance company.

Each campaign raised more than $1 million and got major support from national committees and political groups.

Murphy, 39, is a venture capitalist multimillionaire from Columbia, Mo., who has lived in New York for more than a decade.

Tedisco, 58, is the GOP minority leader in the state Assembly. He's been in politics for 27 years representing a mostly working-class district. He doesn't live in the congressional district, an issue used by Democrats during the campaign.

The diverse district stretches from the rural Adirondack Mountains, an hour south of the Canadian border, down to Dutchess County, about an hour north of New York City.

Pat Ginsberg, a Democrat in her 60s, voted Tuesday morning at the Martin Van Buren National Historic Site in Kinderhook, southeast of Albany.

"I wanted a Democrat because I wanted someone who backed Obama's policies," she said.

John Johnas, 62, an independent from Rensselaer County, said Obama's policies didn't figure in his decision to vote for Tedisco.

"I've always liked Jim," he said. "He's at least from the area. I don't know much about the other guy."