Who Runs Gov

In yet another sign of the intense national interest in the hard-fought House special election in New York’s 20th District, Vice President Joe Biden has cut a radio ad for Democratic candidate Scott Murphy that stresses the support the Dem has from the President himself.

A Democratic operative sent me the script last night (apologies for the delay in posting), and here it is:

This is Vice President Joe Biden. As a graduate of Syracuse Law School, I not only root for the orange, I root for Upstate New York as well. That’s why this special election you’ll be holding next Tuesday, March 31st is so important to me.

I’m supporting Scott Murphy for Congress, and so is President Obama. Scott’s a businessman who helped create over 1,000 jobs. He knows people have to work together to get things done, and he’ll work with Democrats and Republicans in Congress to get things done for Upstate New York.

That’s why Scott supports our economic recovery plan, because it means 76,000 jobs for Upstate and funding for schools, which helps keep property taxes down. We have a lot of work to do, and Scott will help get it done. So I hope you’ll vote next Tuesday. And I hope you’ll join President Obama and me, Joe Biden, in supporting Scott Murphy. He’s a businessman who knows how to create jobs for Upstate New York.

The ad invokes local economic distress and stresses that a vote for Murphy is a vote for Obama’s economic recovery plan.

Murphy has narrowed a large lead enjoyed by Republican James Tedisco for the former seat of Kirsten Gillibrand, who’s taking over Hillary’s Senate seat, and he’s now close behind in the polls with the race entering its final stretch. Voting is next Tuesday, and both national parties — and now the White House — have big stakes in the outcome.