By Emily Cadei, CQ-Roll Call

Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. will campaign Monday with Democratic candidate Bill Owens, who enjoys a narrow lead in the closely watched special election in upstate New York. Biden will join Owens at a rally Monday morning in Watertown, N.Y. seeking to energize Democrats and turn out the vote for Tuesday’s election.

Owens is running neck-and-neck for the open 23rd district House seat with conservative third-party candidate Doug Hoffman, who has received a wave of endorsements from Republican lawmakers and candidates in recent days as support for Republican party nominee Dede Scozzafava has crumbled.

The White House created the vacancy when it appointed nine-term Rep. John M. McHugh , R-N.Y., to be secretary of the Army over the summer, and would love nothing more than to pick off another Northeast House seat going into the 2010 midterm elections.

Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand , D-N.Y., who until this January represented the neighboring 20th district in Congress, formally endorsed Owens Friday and appeared with him in Lowville, N.Y.

Owens has benefitted from a deep split in the Republican party between establishment pick Scozzafava and conservative movement favorite Hoffman. It is Hoffman who is now running strongest against Owens, after Scozzafava, a longtime Assemblywoman, led in early polls. Many Republicans have objected to Scozzafava’s moderate record on social issues and ties to labor unions, and the barrage of attack ads from both the left and the right have taken a toll on her approval ratings.

With no candidate expected to win a majority, the three campaigns are now engaged in a turn-out battle, with each side hoping to gain an edge through their ground game.