NY-20 Tedisco concedes! Has the Michael Steele Watch begun?
Jim Tedisco finally conceded and it's official. The GOP's ship has sunk completely.
GOP congressional candidate Jim Tedisco has conceded the congressional race in the 20th district. Tedisco moments ago called Democrat Scott Murphy to concede and Murphy has declared victory.
Murphy will be issuing a press release shortly, and will organize a press event with volunteers tomorrow in Glens Falls. The location has not yet been determined.
Here's the DCCC's remarks:
“In trying to win the NY-20 special election, the RNC, NRCC, and their Republican allies went all in on the losing gamble that voters would prefer their ‘just say no’ approach to President Obama’s bold plans to get the economy back on track.
“Scott Murphy’s victory in this district where Republicans outnumber Democrats by more than 70,000 represents a rejection of the obstructionist agenda and scare tactics that have become the hallmark of House Republicans.
This race should never have been close, but to think Murphy beat Tedisco in a mostly Republican district is stunning. He was up by over 20 points before they turned into the Limbaugh National Committee and Michael Steele and the GOP started blocking everything President Obama tried to do. Don't forget, there were ads there targeted at Limbaugh and they did not disappoint. As for Steele, has the Death Watch begun? I wrote this a little while ago.
The latest word on the street is that if he fails to deliver NY-20, a Republican district, he will be ousted, but Tedisco has a solid lead in the polls.
According to multiple former high-level RNC staffers familiar with the dynamics involved, Steele is unlikely to survive in the post if favored Republican Jim Tedisco loses his open-seat race to Democrat Scott Murphy. The special election, scheduled for March 31, is to fill a vacancy left when Kirsten Gillibrand took Hillary Clinton’s Senate seat. If Tedisco loses, the ex-staffers said, “Steele is done.” Completely, definitively?
In all likelihood, NY-20 will turn Republican no matter who had won the RNC job, but that won't give Steele a reprieve for very long.
If Tedisco had won, Republicans and the media would be screaming that Obama's leadership caused the win for him and that the Democratic Party is in BIG trouble. The media would have done segment after segment asking the question, Is President Obama's agenda in trouble? And then he would have had to defend himself over and over again. Let's see how it plays out in the media.
And now for the some comedy musings of Rep. Pete Sessions:
Rep. Pete Sessions (Texas), chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee, said that although Tedisco came up short that his message of fiscal discipline provided GOPers a blueprint on which to run next year.
"Since Election Day, we continue to hear the growing chorus of frustrated and concerned citizens who demand more from their government than profligate spending and mountains of debt that will be paid for in higher taxes by our children and grandchildren," said Sessions. "Although Jim was unsuccessful in his hope to change Washington, he has shed light on our Party's efforts to win back the majority in the House."
Chris Cillizza gives a mild response to the outcome, but does say:
As we have said before, the closeness of the result makes it tough to draw too many national conclusions from this race. One thing is for sure: this is an opportunity lost for Republicans.
With the Teabaggers leading the way, Tedisco never had a chance.
Keith Olbermann gives the dubious honor to Kaloogian for the phony photograph.
