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ALBANY—Barack Obama just came out strong for Scott Murphy.

The following e-mail was just sent "from" Barack Obama to people who signed up to receive e-mails during his presidential campaign. As Irene notes, Obama is popular in the district. And as the A.P. points out, this makes the race something of a referendum on the direction of his administration.

XXXXXXXX --
I'm writing to you now because you have the opportunity to make a big impact on my efforts to bring about a lasting economic recovery.
Today I'm announcing my support for Scott Murphy, candidate for New York's 20th Congressional District.

ALBANY—Here's a copy of the lawsuit filed against the state Board of Elections yesterday, alleging that the special congressional election scheduled for Tuesday does not allow enough time for overseas voters or those serving in the military to submit absentee ballots.

Bob Brehm, a spokesman for the B.O.E doesn't think it will delay the vote on Tuesday.

"I don't think that's what they're looking for," Brehm said. "I think what they're looking for is to deal with the military and overseas voters to have their paper ballots be returned and considered in this special election."

It's possible that the absentee ballots could delay the results of the election, however.

Attorneys are still reviewing the suit, Brehm said. It might be discussed at a meeting of the board's commissioners later today.

Jimmy Vielkind

Duke will turn four this weekend.

MENANDS—Assembly Minority Leader Jim Tedisco continued his offensive blitz against Democrat Scott Murphy during a live televised debate last night, the second-to-last candidate forum for the race to succeed Kirsten Gillibrand in Congress.

Several times during the hour-long session, which was moderated by Jim Kambrich of NBC affiliate WNYT, Tedisco challenged Murphy to say whether or not he read the economic stimulus bill before declaring his support for the measure and blasting Tedisco for not taking a position on it.

"My teachers always taught me to do my homework, and that has been validated right now," Tedisco said,

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Barclays' Bob Diamond in better times with a stadium model.

The shaky state of affairs for a proposed pro basketball arena in Brooklyn is turning heads across the Hudson.

Despite developer and New Jersey Nets owner Bruce Ratner’s plans to move the Garden State’s only N.B.A. team to New York City as part of his Atlantic Yards mega-development project, New Jersey electeds have generally refrained from publicly disparaging the plans, at least in the past couple years. But now, with the more than $4 billion project on death watch due to the economy and a lengthy legal battle, there seems to be a change in tune.

Today, U.S. Rep. Bill Pascrell publicly released a letter he wrote to Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner, requesting that the Obama administration act to block Barclays from leasing naming rights for the arena—a move that, if realized, would be a major blow to the project.

Jimmy Vielkind

SARATOGA SPRINGS—The federal stimulus package is still the central issue in the race to replace Kirsten Gillibrand in Congress, but it's gone from a bludgeon used by Democrats to a new line of attack on their standard-bearer, Scott Murphy.

The change can be summarized in three letters: A.I.G. During a Thursday evening candidate forum, the first question Murphy was asked had to do with whether he was aware of language within the stimulus bill that did not prohibit the insurance company from awarding executive bonuses after accepting billions of dollars from taxpayers. Murphy called the clause a "clarification" and said he supports the stimulus bill anyway.

Tedisco for Congress

ALBANY—A campaign worker for Assembly Minority Leader and congressional candidate Jim Tedisco just sent along this photo from an event this morning in Glens Falls, where he was endorsed by the National Federation of Independent Businesses.

The picture is of Tedisco with State Senator Betty Little, who he beat for the Republican nomination for Kirsten Gillibrand's House seat. Little's absence at previous events has been noticed.

A poll last week found that Tedisco trailed Murphy within the northern counties of the district, where Little is widely popular, and where Murphy has family roots. She had been quoted as saying she endorses "the Republican candidate," but after the poll showed the race tightening, told me she was supporting Jim Tedisco, and would appear on his behalf.

Jimmy Vielkind

ALBANY—Scott Murphy raised slightly more money than Jim Tedisco in their race for Congress, federal campaign finance records show.

Murphy took in a total of $899,161 so far during the election cycle, with a sizable amount from bankers and financial professionals, some people from his native Missouri, members of the New York congressional delegation as well as Nancy Pelosi and Steny Hoyer, the D.C.C.C. and lots of people with the last name Hogan. Murphy also loaned his campaign $250,000.

Tedisco raised $836,612 through his regular campaign and another $40,000 through his Freedom PAC. A lot of the money is coming from around the Capital Region, including donations from the owners of Stewarts and Price Chopper as well as some members of the Republican conference in the Assembly.

Jimmy Vielkind

They call him 'leader.'

HALFMOON—Why attend a televised debate when you can gain all the publicity with none of the hassle?

For 57 minutes, five television cameras remained fixed on Jim Tedisco as he stood, his collar open as broadly as his smile, answering questions from a standing-room-only crowd in his campaign headquarters as part of a "people's town hall."

The three local network affiliates were there, as well as the 24-hour cable news channel and even a camera and reporter for Fox News. All were rolling as Tedisco answered animatedly before an Orwellian montage of 35 of his campaign signs. The Tedisco campaign also billed this event as "Jim Tedisco in 3-D," referring to people asking him questions in person, via phone and over the Interweb through Facebook and Twitter.

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Hillary Clinton may not be allowed to push for a plan to build a controversial and pricey fleet of presidential helicopters for Barack Obama anymore, but Chuck Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand are picking up the slack.

At a private party last week, Clinton said she did everything in her power as senator to make sure that the manufacture of the helicopters in upstate New York went forward, and that any concerns about the future of the project, now endangered by President Obama's publicly expressed doubts and a Pentagon review of its soaring costs, should be addressed to Chuck Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand.

Clinton said in a conversation at a private gala on March 11 in Washington that she had done "everything she could" to get the contract, according to one attendee.

ALBANY—Tonight, public broadcasting affiliate WMHT will televise a forum for candidates vying to replace Kirsten Gillibrand in Congress. The station has been planning for weeks, months, but it will not be attended by Republican candidate Jim Tedisco.

Susan Arbetter, who is moderating the debate with Times Union State Editor Casey Seiler, wrote to tell me that both campaigns were informed that WMHT was producing a forum on Februrary 3—two days after Scott Murphy was designated as the Democratic candidate. On February 13, the date was set; Murphy's campaign accepted the invitation that day.

"These debates are held to educate the voters, WMHT & the Times Union will do everything it can to ensure that tonight's program is both insightful and worthwhile," Arbetter wrote.