WASHINGTON -- Sunday's endorsement of the Democratic candidate in the state's 23rd Congressional District by the Republican nominee added a new twist to the nationally watched race to represent New York's North Country.

But regardless of who wins Tuesday, the results in this Republican-leaning district won't be a factor in next year's midterm congressional elections, political handicappers and congressional lawmakers say.

Instead, the No. 1 issue will be jobs when New York's 29 House seats and two Senate seats are on the ballot in November 2010.

With polls showing she has little chance of winning Tuesday and campaign donations lagging, state Assemblywoman Dede Scozzafava, the Republican candidate, announced Saturday she was suspending her campaign. Saturday's announcement gave the apparent edge to the Conservative Party candidate, Douglas Hoffman, until Scozzafava issued her statement Sunday endorsing Democrat Bill Owens.

"I have been always been an independent voice for the people I represent,'' Scozzafava said.

"I have stood for our honest principles and a truthful discussion of the issues, even when it cost me personally and politically. Since beginning my campaign, I have told you that this election is not about me; it's about the people of this district. It is in this spirit that I am writing to let you know I am supporting Bill Owens for Congress and urge you to do the same.''

Her announcement was a stunning rebuke to prominent Republicans, such as former Gov. George Pataki, who have endorsed Hoffman in the special election to fill the seat vacated by nine-term Republican John McHugh, who resigned Sept. 21 to become secretary of the Army.

A Siena Research Institute poll released Saturday showed Democrat Bill Owens and Hoffman in a dead heat, 36 percent to 35 percent. Scozzafava trailed at 20 percent, with 9 percent of voters still undecided. The phone survey of 704 likely voters, taken Tuesday through Thursday, had a margin of error of plus or minus 3.7 percent.

"This is such a strange race that I wouldn't extrapolate it at all,'' Charlie Cook, editor of the nonpartisan Cook Political Report, said earlier in the week before the Republican candidate's two announcements.

"I don't think the outcome of the special election is going to have any bearing on the 2010 midterm elections in New York.''

Some political analysts have described it as a battle for the soul of the Republican Party because conservative Republicans have backed Hoffman over Scozzafava, who supports abortion rights, gay marriage and legislation to make it easier for labor unions to organize.

Despite the interest in the race and the GOP split over who would best represent Republican values, experts agree the underlying issue for voters -- even now -- is jobs and the economy.

The Army's Fort Drum is the largest employer in the North Country district, which is bounded by Lake Champlain, the St. Lawrence Seaway and Lake Ontario .

Scozzafava , who campaigned with a promise to bring more jobs to Fort Drum , said Owens "will be able to provide the leadership and continuity of support to Drum.''

With New York's jobless rate at 8.9 percent, the importance of reviving New York's economy is not likely to diminish over the next 12 months. The state's rate is still below the national rate of 9.8 percent.

The chance that the national rate will fall below 9 percent by the November 2010 election is "pretty low,'' said Christina Romer, chairwoman of the White House Council of Economic Advisers.

Romer told reporters Thursday that the 3.5 percent growth in the gross domestic product in the third quarter, after four consecutive quarters of contraction, is directly attributable to the economic stimulus legislation enacted in February.

But that's the biggest quarterly impact the stimulus is expected to have, she said. Most economic forecasters are predicting economic growth of 3 percent or less in 2010, meaning unemployment will remain high, Romer indicated.

Cook thinks long-term unemployment will be a key issue in the mid-term elections.

"It's not that President Obama is being blamed for the recession, but there's an impatience that's going to kick in,'' Cook said.

"We will have had 18 months of 9 percent-plus unemployment going into this mid-term election. That hasn't happened since the Great Depression. Democrats will have to be perceived to be focused on the economy like a laser beam. Right now, they are not.''

Three of New York's freshmen Democratic House members -- Reps. Eric Massa of Corning, Scott Murphy of Glens Falls and Dan Maffei of DeWitt -- agreed that jobs and the economy will be next year's No. 1 election issue.

Massa said his focus has been on creating green jobs tied to alternative energy as a way to rebuild the upstate manufacturing economy.

Republicans, meanwhile, are hammering Democrats for enacting spending programs that have increased the size of government instead of encouraging private sector job creation.

"People have been very frustrated by what they perceive to be out-of-control spending and out-of-control borrowing and the tax burden,'' said Tim Kolpien, spokesman for Corning Mayor Tom Reed, who is seeking the Republican nomination to run against Massa.