Blurring the line in the Treadwell-Gillibrand race

The National Rifle Association is endorsing Democratic Congresswoman Kirsten Gillibrand in the 20th congressional district race.

The NRA's praise for Gillibrand drew this response from challenger Sandy Treadwell, the Essex County Republican:

Kirsten Gillibrand and I obviously don’t agree on much, but I am glad that after failing to even answer the NRA survey in 2006 she submitted it this year and is now 100 percent with the NRA. I congratulate her for being a staunch ally of President Bush and Vice President Cheney on this issue, learning the importance of gun ownership to upstate New Yorkers, and obtaining the NRA’s endorsement.

It's a tough bit of political gymnastics for Treadwell, who also received a high rating from the NRA.

He seems to want to tar Gillibrand for her association with an unpopular president and vice-president, who happen to be the leaders of Treadwell's GOP.

Gillibrand's response to the NRA endorsement:

As a strong supporter of the Second Amendment, it is a privilege to have the endorsement of the NRA and the support of Upstate New York’s gun owners and hunters.

The trick for Treadwell throughout this race has been finding issues and talking points that separate him sharply from Gillibrand.

That's what challengers have to do -- convince voters to do something different.

But in this race both candidates are pro-choice; they both opposed the Wall Street bailout; both describe themselves as centrists; and now both are favored by the NRA.

And the lines just get fuzzier.

In an interview with the Albany Times-Union, Treadwell talked passionately about "the greatest man he ever met" and "my hero."

Ronald Reagan? Nelson Rockefeller?

Nope - Martin Luther King Jr.

"His other hero," writes the T-U's Irene Jay Liu, was "Democratic President John F. Kennedy."

Centrism is well and good, but it's unclear whether this kind of post-partisanship is giving voters reason enough to change horses.

The bottom line? Without any kind of public polling, no one really knows how close this race remains - less than a month before the election.