Wednesday Must-Reads: It’s Not Over

Yesterday’s vote in NY-20 provides us with another thriller that’s bound to stretch well past Election Day. With all districts and over 150,000 votes counted, Democrat Scott Murphy leads by just 65 votes. But 10,000 absentee ballots were mailed to voters and there is still a week before they need to be returned—and almost two weeks for military voters overseas. As we move into overtime, Democrats are hailing Murphy’s comeback, as the candidate at one point trailed by 21 points in polls, and noting that if the vote was truly a referendum on Obama, even this tight split looks good in a Republican-leaning district. Republicans, meanwhile, express confidence that Jim Tedisco will prevail. In an email to supporters, Tedisco asked for contributions to help prevent Democrats “from stealing this election with a lot of lawyers and dirty tricks.”
Speaking of lawyers and dirty tricks (and overtime elections), judges declared just 400 new absentee ballots be opened in the Minnesota Senate race, less than Republican Norm Coleman was hoping for. He will appeal, of course, so that fight’s not over, either.
Meanwhile other fights are just beginning. In New Jersey, low-polling incumbent Gov. Jon Corzine is holding back against presumed Republican opponent Chris Christie. But Democratic surrogates are beginning to attack in his stead. In Connecticut, another Republican—state Sen. Sam Caligiuri—made his expected entry into the race against another low-polling Democrat, Sen. Chris Dodd. And in Virginia, Joe Trippi plays up Brian Moran, his candidate in the Democratic gubernatorial primary, who holds a just-barely statistical lead over media favorite Terry McAuliffe. An interesting note about that poll: African-Americans are heavily undecided; they may play a key role in the primary.
Finally, the confusion over Sarah Palin’s appearance at the June Repubican fundraising dinner has been resolved, with Newt Gingrich keynoting instead.