[cnn-photo-caption image= http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2009/images/03/24/art.obama4.gi.jpg caption=" Obama endorsed Scott Murphy on Wednesday, less than a week before the special election."]WASHINGTON (CNN) - For the first time since taking office, President Obama is spending some political capital to get another Democrat elected.

On Wednesday, Obama e-mailed New York Democrats endorsing Scott Murphy, the venture capitalist who is running in the special election to fill the seat in New York's 20th congressional district that was vacated by Kirsten Gillibrand when she was appointed to the U.S. Senate in January.

Murphy's Republican opponent is New York Assemblyman Jim Tedisco. The special election is scheduled for next Tuesday. Though the Democratic and Republican campaign committees in the House of Representatives have pumped resources into the race, the president has so far kept his distance.

In the e-mail, Obama calls Murphy an "ally for change" and cites his support for the economic stimulus bill that the president signed in February, a piece of legislation that has become a hot-button issue in the race.

"Scott has the kind of experience and background we desperately need right now in Washington," Obama said in the message, which was sent to nearly 60,000 upstate New Yorkers on the e-mail lists of the Democratic National Committee and "Organizing for America," Obama's political organization.

"He's created jobs by building and growing small businesses while bringing people together to address difficult challenges," Obama said of Murphy.

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