Today brings the first in what is truly a Washington, D.C. sport during the Obama Administration, that being a special election in the Congress, that has both parties working hard.

The seat in play is in upstate New York, a more conservative district that went to the Democrats in 2006.

It opened earlier this year when Rep. Kirsten Gillibrand was chosen to replace Hillary Clinton in the U.S. Senate.

Before we go much further, let's establish some ground rules for how the parties will react.

If the Democrats win this race, they will trumpet the results as confirmation of Barack Obama's election last November, and how the American people want change and are rejecting the Republican Party nationally. 

If that's the outcome, the Republicans will downplay the results as meaningless.

If the Republicans win, the Democrats will say this district was overwhelmingly Republican and that a victory was out of reach.

Republicans meanwhile will trumpet from the highest hills the fact that they won, and will argue that it is a complete and total rejection of Obama policies on everything from A to Z.

The players are GOP State Rep. James Tedisco and a political novice, Democrat Scott Murphy.

Tedisco had a big lead in the polls for weeks, until Murphy gained momentum over the last 10 days.

Like I said earlier, both sides will spin the hell out of the results no matter what, but it's still an interesting race, because of the ongoing political debate over where the country is headed.

Really, this is a seat that should not be in play.

The district was held for years by Rep. Gerald Solomon, a former Marine and no-nonsense Conservative who would have been more than ready to duke it out with any Democrat any day of the week.

But his replacement stumbled badly, showing up once (after a few beers) at a local college frat party. Photos from various digital cameras helped bring about his demise.

So now we'll see if Democrats can hold this seat or not.