Election Eve

Biden Stumps in N.Y. House Race

Paints Palin-endorsed candidate as extreme.

Joe Biden spent Monday morning in Watertown, N.Y., trying to seal the deal in the heated special House election. The vice president visited the rural military town to support Bill Owens, the Democratic candidate for Congress, in the conservative district that has been represented by Republicans since the 19th century. Owens faces a very tight race against Conservative Party candidate Douglas Hoffman. “This has never been a place that embraced extremism on the left or the right,” Biden said at a community center. “This is a place where very different views are included in the debate. They’re not cast aside. That’s one of the reasons why what’s happened in this campaign is, in a sense, so strange and so important.” The crowd booed when Biden listed Sarah Palin as one of Hoffman’s endorsers. The race narrowed down to two candidates Saturday, when Republican candidate Dede Scozzafava withdrew under pressure from conservative grassroots activists. Scozzafava then crossed party lines and endorsed Owens.