By Josh Kurtz, CQ-Roll Call

Independent expenditures continue to flood into the three-way special election to replace former Rep. John M. McHugh in New York’s 23rd District, according to new filings with the Federal Election Commission.

On Oct. 16, the National Republican Congressional Committee dropped $102,000 for attack ads against the Democratic nominee, attorney Bill Owens, and paid another $21,000 for a survey by Public Opinion Strategies, a leading GOP polling firm.

Meanwhile, the Service Employees International Union dropped $100,000 into the upstate New York district Oct. 15 for two radio ads on Owens’ behalf.

Owens is battling Republican state Assemblywoman Dede Scozzafava and Doug Hoffman, the Conservative Party nominee, in the Nov. 3 contest to succeed McHugh, a Republican, who became secretary of the Army. It is a race that is defying conventional wisdom in many ways, and an independent poll released Oct. 15 confirmed just how tight the election has become. Owens had 33 percent, Scozzafava had 29 percent, and Hoffman had 23 percent.

The anti-tax group Club for Growth, which has already spent $250,000 on Hoffman’s behalf, spent another $9,600 in the district Oct. 15, including $8,100 for a poll by Basswood Research.

Another conservative group, the Susan B. Anthony Fund, dropped about $10,000 into the district Oct. 16 to pay campaign workers on Hoffman’s behalf.

Meanwhile, Owens began airing his fourth TV ad of the campaign Oct. 15, which touts his commitment to new approaches for creating jobs in the district and criticizes both Scozzafava and Hoffman for supporting Bush-era tax cuts that favor the wealthy.

The three candidates will show what they’ve been spending on the contest Oct. 22, when their latest campaign finance reports are due with the FEC.

CQ Politics currently rates the race a Tossup

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