Election day in wild NY House race

ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) - In an off-year election cycle, a single special election for an upstate congressional seat wasn't supposed to get much attention. But a lot of things happened that weren't supposed to in New York's 23rd Congressional race.

Tuesday's race started about five weeks ago with three candidates, and ends with two - Democrat Bill Owens and surprise contender Conservative Doug Hoffman. Republican Dierdre Scozzafava (skoh-zuh-FAH'-vuh) abruptly quit the race over the weekend and backed Owens after Hoffman's backers accused her of being too liberal for the largely Republican district because of her support of abortion rights and same-sex marriage.

Hoffman started in a distant third and was viewed as a spoiler at best, cutting away at Scozzafava and opening the door for Owens.