Methinks someone is smelling victory in the air. After all of the official canvassing was completed in the NY20 slugfest between Jim Tedisco and Scott Murphy,the race has ended in a dead tie. Apparently, Republican candidate Tedisco feels he has it in the bag, because he has stepped down from his position as New York State Assembly Minority Leader, no doubt in preparation for his role in the House of Representatives. Or was that really the reason?

James N. Tedisco is so optimistic about winning the deadlocked race for Congress from upstate New York that he was giving up his coveted job as minority leader of the State Assembly. Or at least that was what he said in a farewell news conference on Friday.

But fed-up fellow Republicans were about to shove him out if he didn’t jump first, several assemblymen said, out of pent-up anger at his insistence on keeping the leadership post, and its perks, despite his time-consuming pursuit of the Congressional seat.

As we discussed with you previously, the stars seem to be aligning in Tedisco’s favor, given the number of Republican and military absentee ballots requested, so he may feel quite confident indeed. But at the same time, this is a quick bit of insight into Empire State politics.

Competition is fierce, with only 41 Republicans in the Assembly and 109 Democrats. Even the most junior members can have visions of moving up quickly with such a limited field of competition. Tedisco’s exit, assuming he wins the House seat, will open up opportunities, and the minority members are wasting no time in feeding on the corpse.

Should Murphy win, however, Disco Jim will find his electoral loss more costly than he might have imagined, both in terms of war chest dollars and state political power. We may not know for weeks or even months what the final tally is, but the counting begins on Tuesday.

EDIT: Changed title to reflect the fact that Jim Tedisco did not resign from the Assembly, but just the Assembly Minority Leader position.