Scott Murphy

WASHINGTON – We’d know more this morning if a GOP vote-counter wasn’t a baseball fan.

But as it stands, Columbia native Scott Murphy, a Democrat, leads Republican Jim Tedisco 79,452 to 79,274 in their race for the congressional seat in the Hudson Valley district of New York.

Papers including the Poughkeepsie Journal reported this morning that the counting of hundreds of absentee, military and other ballots was interrupted when the Republican official charged with overseeing the canvas disappeared after adjournment for a late lunch.

According to the reports, the official took off to attend the New York Yankees home opener. (Well, it was a brand new stadium; Indians walloped Yanks 10-2.)

Even though he trails, Tedisco, a state legislator, deployed a court strategy yesterday by petitioning the Duchess County Supreme Court to declare him the winner based on an earlier count when he was ahead.

Murphy, 39, is the son of a postal worker and elementary school teacher. He worked for two Missouri governors before settling in New York after making it big as an entreprenuer and venture capitalist.