Murphy Debates Sundwall, Tedisco Goes 3-D

The NY-20 debate-minus-one took place as scheduled last night, with Libertarian Eric Sundwall duking it out with Democrat Scott Murphy for the right to replace Kirsten Gillibrand in the House. Republican James Tedisco declined to appear. This being the age of AIG, Murphy was asked about Synacor, a Buffalo tech firm on whose board Murphy served, and the bonuses it paid while it was losing money. Murphy said Synacor is a "privately-funded company" that received no bailouts and a "success story." Sundwall, as expected, opposed stimulus, bailouts, and health care meddling ("As a Libertarian, it's not my responsibility to make sure my employees floss their teeth or have good health habits in place"). Meanwhile Jim Tedisco staged "Jim Tedisco in 3-D," not a laser-light spectacular with classic rock, but an Obama-style town hall in which the candidate answered questions from spectators, phone calls, Facebook, and Twitter, and was mildly more open to the stimulus than Sundwall. While the spending on this race hasn't matched last year's $9.2 million Gillibrand-Treadwell cashfest, the candidates each hovering around $1 million in funds. The special election is March 31.