NY-20: Senator Gillibrand Goes on the Air as Tedisco Gasps for It

Congresswoman-turned-Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D) is on the air in New York’s 20th Congressional District with a soft-focus endorsement of the Democrat who wants her old House seat, Scott Murphy. Gillibrand is, by miles, the most popular politician in the district — this week’s Siena Poll gave her a 78 approval rating, higher than 65 percent for President Obama, and higher than either of the candidates who want to replace her.

David Freddoso reports that the National Republican Trust PAC is going up with a $190,000 ad buy against Murphy. The far-right Our Country Deserves Better PAC (the people who did the “Thank You, Sarah Palin” ad last year) has been running anti-Murphy ads for a week, but it has not told me the size of its buy.

Republican candidate Jim Tedisco’s response: A blowsy declaration that he’s “taking over his campaign,” dissing the National Republican Congressional Committee’s ads, and leaving “the rest of the distortions to the other side.”

Remind anyone of this?

In the face of the deepening financial crisis, U.S. Sen. Norm Coleman [R-Minn.] said Friday he will pull all his negative advertising from television, print and radio and disavow any interest group ads that attack his opponents.

Appearing somber at a news conference at his campaign headquarters in St. Paul, Coleman told reporters that after a day of fasting and prayer for Yom Kippur, a “time of fasting, soul-searching and refocusing on your life,” he had decided to change the tone of his campaign.

This isn’t the kind of thing you do unless you’re desperate.