ALBANY - Candidates battling in New York's 20th Congressional District are working hard in the last days of the high-profile race to make sure their supporters vote, knowing that turnout means everything in a special election held months from the normal November glare.

Volunteers for Democrat Scott Murphy and Republican Jim Tedisco are making calls, knocking on doors, sending Twitter messages, and adding friends on social networking sites ahead of the March 31 election. Without a full slate of statewide races or a big-name candidate to draw people to the polls, special elections historically attract far fewer voters than general elections, meaning they can be decided by a relatively tiny margin.

The candidates are running to fill the vacancy left after Gov. David Paterson appointed Democrat Kirsten Gillibrand to take the remainder of Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton's U.S. Senate term.

Both campaigns will staff phone banks on the day of the election, reminding people to vote. They're running in a sprawling upstate district, extending from Dutchess County in the Hudson Valley north to Essex County in the Adirondacks.

Joseph Mercurio, a New York City-based political consultant, said the election could come down to a few hundred votes, making these last-minute efforts vital.

“The activity by supporters - whether it's physical knocking on doors, or whether it's the new technology versions where people are contacting friends through social networking sites, or e-mails or Twitter - however people are communicating - it's essential that people get that vote out,” Mercurio said.

The last two special elections for Congress in New York were in 1990. In the 14th Congressional District, which includes parts of Queens and Richmond counties, about 50,000 people voted in the 1990 special election, although more than 243,000 were registered to vote in the district, a turnout of just over 20 percent.

In last year's regular election for the 20th Congressional seat, won easily by Gillibrand, 334,716 people voted out of 477,682 eligible voters.

A Siena College poll released earlier this month showed Tedisco leading Murphy by 4 percentage points. The poll had a margin of error of 3.7 percentage points.

“It's really incredible it got so close,” Mercurio said. “If the Republicans do win in the end, it's simply a demographic win. If the Democrat wins, it's a referendum on the Republican party nationally.”

The district was long held by a Republican until Gillibrand knocked off a weakened incumbent in 2006. The special election has gained national attention and is viewed as a test of Obama's strength and the Democrats' ability to carry momentum from the last two congressional elections into the 2010 races.

The district is heavily Republican, with more than 196,000 registered voters compared to just over 125,000 registered Democrats.

There are more than 118,000 voters who aren't affiliated with either party.

Saratoga County Clerk Kathy Marchione, a Republican, is helping organize volunteers for Tedisco, the state Assembly minority leader. She says the campaign has knocked on “thousands and thousands” of doors.

“We've had hundreds of volunteers making phone calls, going door to door,” Marchione said.

Democrats, too, said they have “thousands” of grassroots supporters, including several thousand signed up to get voters to the polls. Local phone banks and door-to-door canvassing are part of the process in all 10 counties, said Ryan Rudominer, a spokesman for the Murphy campaign.

In Washington County, in the northern, more rural part of the district, about 30 people have been taking turns going door-to-door, and more than 50 are making phone calls on behalf of Tedisco, said Mike Bittel, chairman of the county committee.

“The biggest things is to not only tell people about Jim Tedisco, but to remind people about March 31st,” Bittel said.

On the Net: http://www.scottmurphy09.com/

http://www.jimtedisco.com/