The GOP & Sound Of One Hand Yapping

Special elections for House seats usually don't take on an outsized meaning, but the vote Tuesday in an upstate New York district to determine who succeeds Kirsten Gillibrand, who took Hillary Clinton's Senate seat, in Congress is large and then some.

And yet another indication of what extraordinarily deep trouble the Republican Party is in even in a heavily gerrymandered district where it has a 70,000 voter registration advantage. Oh, and how much across-the-board support Barack Obama still has.

While the president was not on the ballot, his presence looms large as Democrat Scott Murphy clings to a slim lead over Republican Assemblyman James Tedisco thanks to the withdrawal of the Libertarian candidate.

Tedisco may yet squeak by after absentee and military ballots are counted, but it should be noted that Murphy enthusiastically supports Obama's stimulus plans while Tedisco endorses the GOP's "Just Say No" policy.