A victory on Tuesday by the Republican, Bob Turner, in a traditional Democratic stronghold like New York State’s Ninth Congressional District would reinforce concern among Democrats that President Obama’s standing with voters may have deteriorated substantially, and Mr. Turner urged voters to send just such a message. The Democratic candidate, Assemblyman David I. Weprin, who trailed by six points in a poll released on Friday, shook off questions about his campaign and said he expected to be celebrating a “big victory” on Tuesday evening.
“The only poll that counts is the one tomorrow,” Mr. Weprin said as he campaigned on Monday. “We’re going to have every union behind us, we’re going to have more troops in the field, and we’re going to pull out the traditional Democratic vote.”
The race to replace Mr. Weiner had not initially been expected to be competitive: registered Democrats outnumber Republicans in the district three to one, and a Republican last won the seat in 1920. But Mr. Turner has framing the contest as a chance for voters to rebuke Mr. Obama for what Mr. Turner considers the president’s ineffectual handling of the economy and his lukewarm support of Israel, and Mr. Weprin appears to have compounded his challenges by running what members of his own party acknowledge has been a weak campaign.
Jerry Skurnik, a political consultant who is not involved in the race, projected that only about 10 percent of the district’s 343,000 registered voters would participate in the election. The two campaigns predicted a modestly higher turnout.
In interviews on Monday, many people in the district said they were unaware of the special election. Several asked a crowd of reporters and campaign volunteers gathered outside Mr. Weprin’s campaign office what the commotion was about; invariably, they registered a blank look when told about the special election. But some registered voters found the race increasingly hard to avoid, thanks to the barrage of automated phone calls and mailings in recent days. And the race’s national implications have drawn increasing attention from the news media.
In the final hours of the race, both candidates tried to motivate residents to vote with endorsements from prominent politicians. Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo and former President Bill Clinton, both Democrats, recorded automated phone calls on behalf of Mr. Weprin, and the Obama re-election campaign sent its supporters text and e-mail messages on Monday asking them to help with get-out-the-vote efforts.
Meanwhile, Mr. Turner got help from two former New York City mayors: Edward I. Koch, a Democrat, recorded a phone message for him, and Rudolph W. Giuliani, a Republican, appeared with Mr. Turner at the Long Island Rail Road station in Forest Hills, Queens, in front of a battalion of television cameras.
Mr. Giuliani declared the election an opportunity to send a message to Mr. Obama, whose new jobs proposal he described as “warmed-over spit.” Mr. Giuliani compared Mr. Turner to Senator Scott Brown, a Republican who won an upset victory last year in a special election in Massachusetts, and to the Republicans elected in House races across the country last year after campaigning on the promise of cutting government spending.
“The enthusiasm and the emotion is on Bob’s side — the machine politics is on the other side,” Mr. Giuliani said. “So we’re going to see which trumps the other.” |
