A Cliffhanger in New York

It's been a tight race in the special election in New York's 20th District tonight.

In the race to replace Kirstin Gillibrand, Democrat Scott Murphy holds about a 60–vote lead over Republican Jim Tedisco with all precincts reporting.

Murphy has 77,344 votes and Tedisco has 77,285.

Tedisco seems to have carried the largest of the district's 10 counties and claimed narrower victories in four others.

But Murphy, as of this writing, has the lead, thanks to more substantial margins in the five counties he appears to have won. However, as the Albany Times–Union reports, there are nearly 6,000 absentee ballots that remain to be counted.

And that figure doesn't include the absentee ballots that can still arrive during a week–long grace period. They need to be postmarked March 30 or earlier, but as long as they meet that requirement, they can be counted.

So we'll wait and see what the postman brings.