Dems Pick Murphy to Run in NY-20

It’s official. Democrat party leaders in the ten counties that make up the 20th Congressional District met today and selected venture capitalist Scott Murphy as their candidate. Though he is not well-known (certainly not as well-known as his Republican opponent, Jim Tedisco), the Democrats believe he has certain a$$ets that will help him keep the race competitive. Murphy, who has only lived in the region for three years, is a wealthy Wall Streeter who has founded a few online businesses, including Baazee.com, based in India, an eBay clone which was purchased by the online auction giant for $50 million. Murphy knows that he will have to face questions about Baazee.com, as it was scrubbed from his bio page for Advantage Capital (where Murphy is a managing director) as soon as he announced his candidacy for the congressional seat. View the bio before and after (h/t Brian Faughnan). On his campaign website, Murphy highlights his work for two Democrat governors . . . of Missouri - where he was a political operative and fundraiser. The Democrats certainly made an interesting pick, obviously banking on the fact that Scott Murphy can self-fund his campaign if necessary in a race where the GOP has the enrollment advantage, and Republican Jim Tedisco is favored.