| At the event in the Saratoga Springs VFW Post, Murphy was as gracious and articulate in person as he was in his diary and comments, sincerely thanking more than 100 volunteers present who helped him eke out a win that went to the absentees for almost a month.
He emphasized the importance of every vote, recalling that for the first weekend after the election, the race was officially tied, then got a big cheer when he said that his winning margin had grown to more than 700 votes.
And he mentioned the three votes he had made last week, in support of the Mortgage Reform and Anti-Predatory Lending Act, the Fraud Enforcement and Recovery Act to prevent misuse of stimulus funds, and the Credit Cardholders Bill of Rights.
After speaking, Murphy stayed around for more than an hour, chatting with everyone who wanted to, and posing for lots of photos.
In my short chat with him, he again thanked me (and, by extension, all of you, again) for my diaries about the race. I replied that it was relatively easy to do a diary almost every day since there was so much material -- debates, events, media coverage, TV and radio ads, etc.
And I again encouraged him to support a public option for health insurance, which he will.
The Albany Times Union has a story today about our new Congressman.
The story discusses the three votes, and his work marking up a bill in the Armed Services Committee that would make contracting more efficient.
It also notes that Murphy will not be sharing an apartment because he wants a place where his three children can visit:
I want to walk around and get a feel for the neighborhoods before I decide where to live and I haven't had the chance to do that yet.
The story also notes that Murphy is (wisely) continuing Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand's tradition of holding informal Congress on Your Corner events to meet and greet constituents. Earlier Saturday, he did two such events in Delhi, Delaware County, and Red Hook, Dutchess County.
And, after the VFW event, he was off to a fund-raiser at the Parting Glass for Joanne Yepsen, a Saratoga County Supervisor who also helped in his campaign.
In Googling to see if there was any coverage of the VFW event (there was a reporter-type there), I came across a story Saturday in the Moonie Times, of all places.
The story is about how Murphy will "follow Gillibrand's path" in doing stuff like Congress on Your Corners.
Murphy didn't return the reporter's calls, but two informed people in the district did -- a Skidmore political science professor and the Democratic chairwoman of Washington County.
Here's what the prof, Bob Turner, said:
I think he should really take a page out of the Kirsten Gillibrand playbook and be omnipresent in the district. We need to see you everywhere, every day in the newspaper, town meetings every weekend to meet as many constituents as possible.
Kirsten Gillibrand really solidified this district. So many people met her, they liked her, they said, "Wow, she's not a politician, she's smart and she's very honest." It produced tremendous loyalty.
There's obviously going to be votes where he's going to feel those cross-pressures the way Kirsten Gillibrand did. With a Democratic Congress controlled by liberals, again, what kind of room is there for moderates? The way we've heard him talk about immigration, about gun control, he sounds like he's going to be a moderate, and I would just think by his background he would be temperamentally so.
Here's the bit about the county chair:
"My heart broke when we lost her (Gillibrand) as our representative," said Sheila Comar, Washington County Democratic chairwoman. Mrs. Comar said her support for Mr. Murphy was sealed after he made a visit to her home on his birthday and gave her his resume and talked for about an hour and a half.
"It was magical, the same intelligence, the same enthusiasm, the same grasp of the issues, the family dynamics," she said.
Though Mr. Murphy has never held office, Mrs. Comar noted that he worked as an aide to Govs. Mel Carnahan and Roger Wilson of Missouri, eventually rising to be Mr. Wilson's deputy chief of staff.
"He understands that whole dynamic," she said.
For balance, the story includes some obvious stuff from a GOP operative:
"Given how close and competitive the special election was, it will naturally be a seat we will have our eyes on for 2010," said Paul Lindsay, a spokesman for the National Republican Congressional Committee. "We will be watching to see how closely Scott Murphy ties himself to Nancy Pelosi and the one-party rule in Washington that is mounting trillions of dollars in debt on future generations."
Murphy will surely be one of the top NRCC targets next year, given the narrow margin of his victory and the fact that 2010 will be the last year that NY-20 will be gerrymandered to be the most Republican district in the state, by registration.
He will need netroots support in his first re-election campaign -- and early money is like yeast, even for a guy.
Finally, the California wingut outfit that spent more than $150,000 on negative ads in the special still has Murphy in its sights.
Howard Kaloogian/Sal Russo-funded Our Country Deserves Better will reprise its epic FAIL coast-to-coast Stop Obama bus tour with another that ties in with the teabaggers' plan for a big rally in D.C. on Sept. 12.
The Tea Party Express, featuring the same D-list nobodies as the Stop Obama failure, will hold an anti-Murphy rally in Albany (which is not in NY-20) on Sept. 10.
The CA wingnuts are going out of their way to "rally" against Murphy, because:
It's time to take our country back! Let's speak out against the out-of-control tax and spend policies of Congress and the White House. Let's defeat those running government who would call our veterans and conservatives "right-wing extremists."
From August 28th to September 12th the "Tea Party Express" bus will tour the country, hosting tea party rallies across America. Find the tea party nearest you and join our efforts to boot out of office some of the worst offenders in government. With your help we'll clean house in the upcoming congressional elections!
Besides the basic reasons why we should support Scott Murphy, another is that wingnuts from way across the country are obsessed with defeating him. |
