New York State Race a Showdown for GOP, Democrats

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• GWEN IFILL:

  But it's Election Day tomorrow, and a few key contests could end up saying a lot.

  Judy Woodruff has the story.

• JUDY WOODRUFF:

  Until recently, the main focus of the handful of 2009 so-called off-year elections has been on the gubernatorial races in New Jersey and Virginia. The New Jersey contest is a three-way battle between the incumbent Democrat, Jon Corzine, Republican Chris Christie, and Independent Christopher Daggett. The latest polls show Corzine and Christie running almost even, with Daggett trailing well behind.

• U.S. PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA:

  How it's going, New Jersey?

• JUDY WOODRUFF:

  In a sign of the contest's national importance, President Obama made his third trip to New Jersey this weekend on behalf of Corzine.

• BARACK OBAMA:

  Your voice will get Jon Corzine four more years as governor of New Jersey.

• JUDY WOODRUFF:

  In Virginia, meanwhile, Republican Bob McDonnell threatens to take the governorship away from the Democrats. Most polls there show him with a double-digit advantage over Creigh Deeds.

  But, at the 11th hour, a third contest has catapulted to the front of the political scene. Republican Dede Scozzafava's surprise Saturday withdrawal from the race for New York's 23rd Congressional District put the spotlight on the rift between the moderate and conservative factions of the Republican Party.

  That divide became all the more apparent yesterday, when Scozzafava, a moderate who supports abortion rights and same-sex marriage, endorsed her Democratic opponent, Bill Owens, instead of fellow Republican Doug Hoffman, who is running as the Conservative Party candidate.

  At a campaign rally over the weekend, Hoffman said what was happening in the New York 23rd was the Republican Party coming back to life.