Posted on 09/27/2009 7:35:07 AM PDT by EternalVigilance
The upcoming New York special election to succeed Rep. John McHugh (R-N.Y.) is shaping up to be a real free-for-all, with a new poll showing any one of the three candidates having a shot to win.
The anti-tax Club for Growth commissioned a poll showing Republican Dede Scozzafava, Democrat Bill Owens and Conservative party candidate Doug Hoffman all within three points of each other.
Scozzafava leads with 20 percent, with Owens and Hoffman tied at 17 percent. That’s consistent with the results of an internal poll conducted by Hoffman’s campaign – and privately, Republican and Democratic strategists report hearing similar numbers from other surveys.
The Club for Growth is seriously considering endorsing Hoffman in the race, given the polling suggesting the third-party candidate has a path to victory.
"Although we haven’t made an endorsement, we're looking very closely at the race and these poll results clearly show that New Yorkers may deliver a stunning rebuke to the big spenders in both the Republican and Democratic establishments,” said CFG’s Executive Director David Keating.
Of course, an endorsement by the Club for Growth would greatly boost Hoffman’s fundraising efforts, and would lend insider credibility to his campaign. Scozzafava has faced difficulty fundraising for the race, according to several Republican operatives, and is the only candidate not to go up with a campaign advertisement yet.
If Hoffman is able to outraise Scozzafava – and win the support of the national conservative donor base -- that could seriously complicate the Republican's path to victory.
Hey GOP: CAN YOU HEAR US NOW?!
Dump the RINOs and go conservative or LOSE!
Let the GOP lose regardless...I would love to see 3rd party candidates elected to Congress, ESPECIALLY if they are on the political Right.
Wouldn’t it be fantastic to see the Conservative Party candidate win?
The ground is moving out from under the feet of the arrogant, unprincipled, corrupted, political establishment.
Maybe the GOP should consider this: don’t run candidates against conservative third party candidates. We all know they hate conservatives, but going out and funding campaigns to damage conservatives will be their undoing.
Posted on Saturday, September 26, 2009 8:00:30 AM ET by ETL
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2348728/posts
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Protesters hold eye-catching boards that condemn city Comptroller candidate John Liu. (Helena Zhu/The Epoch Times)
http://www.theepochtimes.com/n2/content/view/22038/
Anyone know anything about DeDe? It’s in my district.
I will never vote for another Republican as long as I live after how the GOP treated Ron Paul.
Constitution Party for me.
Thank you.
“Wouldn’t it be fantastic to see the Conservative Party candidate win?”
Indeed it would....and I am donating.
NY 23 is a tough district for a conservative party candidate to win.
Some of those small North Country college towns like Plattsburgh(dad stationed there for several years) are loaded with far leftists.
Mr Hoffman needs all the support he can get.
Even though I’m the Chairman of America’s Independent Party, I have to say that if you’re a Ron Paul supporter, the CP is probably a better fit for you than AIP. We’re unswerving in our Reagan personhood pro-life, peace through strength views.
Not going to happen. If we’ve learned anything from the 2008 elections, in close elections, the Dems are going to steal it every time.
She’s a liberal Republican from everything I know.
Amazing.
Yes, I read that further down. Thank you. I should probably go, then, with Doug Hoffman?
Dede is far more liberal than the Democrat Bill Owens. She is even to liberal for the RNC. They won’t even back her.
A lot of republicans were going to vote for the Democrat Owens, until Conservative party candidate Doug Hoffman entered the race.
Third party is not a winning strategy. Maybe in isolated cases, like this one . . .but not nationally. We should work to reform the Repub party from within.
Hoffman's best chance of winning would have been to run in the Republican primary. He didn't do that. So instead he will split the conservative vote and the stinking liberal will win...which is why the liberal loving Politico pushes this push-poll story.
Here's some more info on the race. Wikipedia does have its uses:
The 2009 special election for the 23rd congressional district of New York will be held to replace Republican John M. McHugh, whom President Barack Obama has named to the post of United States Secretary of the Army. After several weeks of McHugh's nomination being blocked indefinitely by Kansas Senators Pat Roberts and Sam Brownback, who used procedural strategies to filibuster it, McHugh was finally confirmed on September 16, 2009 and was sworn in September 21, 2009 after resigning his congressional seat.[1][2]
New York Governor David Paterson will issue a proclamation for a special election, which will be held within the next 30 to 40 days.[3] Rather than holding primaries, the County Party Committee Chairmen represented within the congressional district have chosen their respective nominees, similar to the procedure of the 20th district special election.[4] For logistic reasons, the election is widely expected to be scheduled for the general election day, November 3, 2009.[1]
Contents |
The 23rd has historically been one of the more Republican districts in the Northeast. A Democrat has not represented the district or its predecessors since 1871, and portions of the district have not been represented by a Democrat since 1851. McHugh has kept this tradition going; he has never won less than 60 percent of the vote.
However, in recent years, the district has shown itself to be more competitive in presidential elections. In 2008, Obama defeated John McCain in the district 52%-47%, but George W. Bush won the district in both 2004 against John Kerry (51%-47%) and 2000 against Al Gore (49%-47%).[5]
Seven Republicans have announced their intentions to run including Paul Maroun, Dierdre Scozzafava, Douglas Hofman, Ronald Uva, Joshua Lynch, Matthew Doheny, and Gary Cooke. [6]
McHugh's chief of staff, Robert Taub,[7] State Senator Joseph Griffo, and assemblyman Will Barclay were considered potential candidates, but all have declined to run.[8][9]
State Senator David Valesky initially said he was interested in running,[7] but later decided against it.[10] State Senator Darrel Aubertine, who won a special election in a district that covers much of the western half of the 23rd district in February 2008 against Barclay, was the most widely circulated potential candidate, but he too also declined.[11] The state Party committee hesitated to nominate either Valesky or Aubertine, since a victory would mean vacating the State Senate seat, where Democrats only have a 2-seat majority as it stands now, made even more tenuous as a result of an abortive coalition coup of the state senate.[4]
Also declining to run was assemblywoman Addie Jenne Russell
Mike Oot, who ran against McHugh in 2008 and lost, has announced his candidacy.[12]
The chair of the New York Democratic party has stated that Scozzafava's husband had spoke to many local democrats of the possibility of her switching parties before running for the seat. The chair also said Scozzafava back taxes will likely be an issue in the election. [13]
The Conservative Party of New York will not cross-endorse Scozzofava, and will run Douglas L. Hoffman for congress [26]. Doug Hoffman is an accountant from Lake Placid and had also been a candidate for the Republican nomination.
Jim Kelly, a retired police officer and activist from Wilmington (unrelated to the quarterback of the same name), had previously expressed an interest in running on the Conservative Party line.[27] Jon Alvarez, a military serviceman from Hannibal who is currently serving in Afghanistan, also sought the Conservative Party nomination,[28].
Doug Hoffman, accountant from Lake Placid.[29]
Jon Alvarez, military serviceman
The chairman of the Independence Party of New York announced that the party would have cross-endorsed Aubertine had he run,[30] but with his decision not to run, the party has instead backed Scozzofava.[31]
The Working Families Party has not yet decided whether or not it will field a candidate.[32]
| Source | Date | Dierdre Scozzafava | Bill Owens | Doug Hoffman |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| McLaughlin & Associates† [33] | September 9, 2009 | 30% | 20% | 19% |
| Basswood Research[34] | September 17, 2009 | 20% | 17% | 17% |
† Poll commissioned by Conservative Party candidate Doug Hoffman
Cited examples?
The lesser of two evils is still evil.
Prop me up?
Dude, I'm a registered independent.
Don't make things up.
Your best bet if you wish to make a point is to back up your "Dede is a liberal" claim by showing Dede to have a liberal record.
She’s another Arlen Specter, pass her by.
Conservative Party special election candidate Doug Hoffman is up with an ad in the race for former Rep. John McHugh's (R-N.Y.) seat, and it takes square aim at the GOP nominee.
Hoffman, who has garnered plenty of attention as a little-'c' conservative alternative to centrist GOP Assemblywoman Dede Scozzafava, uses the ad to push Scozzafava to the left.
The ad features a series of costumed characters and suggests Scozzafava is trying to hide her real ideology. The last costume features a suit and a Ronald Reagan mask.
"Pretending can't make you a Reagan Republican," the narrator says. Look for Hoffman and Democratic nominee Bill Owens to continue to focus their message squarely on Scozzafava, who enters the race as the frontrunner.
They always call liberals “centrists”. Stupid media bias...
Concerned Women Political Action Committee Endorses Conservative Doug Hoffman for Congress in NY-23 Special Election
Hoffman squares up against two liberals in special election
Washington, D.C. – Concerned Women Political Action Committee (CWPAC) has announced its endorsement of Conservative Doug Hoffman in his campaign for Congress in New York’s Twenty-Third District.
Concerned Women PAC is affiliated with Concerned Women for America Legislative Action Committee, the nation’s largest public policy women’s organization with more than 500,000 grassroots members nationwide.
New York’s 23rd Congressional district became an open seat when current Congressman John McHugh announced he was resigning to become Secretary of the Army. Doug Hoffman was nominated by the Conservative Party of New York to run against Democrat Bill Owens and liberal Republican State Assemblywoman “Dede” Scozzafava.
“Its hard to call someone a Republican when they have a conservative rating of 15 (out of 100), lower than 46 Democrats in the legislature and they have been endorsed by the liberal Working Families Party the same year they endorsed Barack Obama,” said Beverly LaHaye, founder and chairman of Concerned Women for America Legislation Action Committee and Concerned Women PAC.
“Doug is the only conservative in the race, and the only candidate who is pro-life and pro-family. That is why Concerned Women Political Action Committee has endorsed Doug Hoffman.”
Concerned Women Political Action Committee was started in 2002 to help elect solid pro-family, pro-life conservatives to Congress. Concerned Women PAC sends out a monthly letter to members encouraging them to financially support conservative candidates like Doug Hoffman. For more information on this race, please contact Mike Mears at 202-408-4941.
Her record is such that the Democrats tried to recruit her to run for them. She’s to the left of the relatively weak Democrat nominee. She has no known Conservative position whatsoever. Pro-abort, pro-gay, pro-labor, anti-2A, et al. How she managed to get the nomination by a handful of local GOP chairmen is astonishing to the point of potential criminal misconduct on their part (were they paid off ?). All of them that supported her selection should be stripped of their posts.
Your turn.
I never claimed that she was a liberal or a conservative.
I doubt that the Democrat nominee is anything but a Pelosi loving socialist.
About the Republican nominee and 2A, I don't think that you are correct.
Project Vote Smart:
2008 In 2008 New Yorkers Against Gun Violence gave Assembly Member Scozzafava a grade of F, in its scorecard for candidates seeking office in 2008.
Why do you think the "Working Families Party" endorsed her the same year they endorsed Barack Obama?
She was also endorsed by the Conservative party.
(Again, I never claimed that she was a liberal or a conservative.)
Seems pretty obvious.
I don’t see the individual votes listed, and I stand on everything else I said with respect to her positions on social AND fiscal issues and her links to labor. I know the Democrats were trying to recruit her, that is WELL known, her voting record is well to the left of a good percentage of Democrats in the body (to the point she is the equivalent of Linc Chafee). But, again, the Dem is to her right. I also expect if she is elected, she WILL switch parties (why would someone with an 85-90% liberal rating want to caucus with the GOP ?).
From Club for Growth: “”Dede Scozzafava’s liberal record that includes support for card check legislation, Gov. Paterson’s budget and President Obama’s stimulus bill makes her very vulnerable,”
Type in “Dede Scozzafava liberal” in Google and it will produce an avalanche of stories outlining her record.
Doug Hoffman is the candidate we’re backing. He’s the REAL Republican in the race.
Go Hoffman!
Where can I send money to him?
Looks like someone put a link in post #8.
Actually the Conservative Party rating that you cite is for 2008. The Conservative Party rating for previous years has been around 50% and they have endorsed her in previous elections.
Other ratings: The liberal New York City Americans for Democratic Action, gave her voting record a 30% favorable rating. The NRA has always given her voting record an A and A+ rating. The New York State Right to Life Committee gave her voting record a 60% approval rating. The New York National Federation of Independent Business gave her voting record a 75% approval rating.
Look, I'm making no recommendation on who to support, Scazzofava or Hoffman. I think the entire situation in NY 23(a place I used to live) is a mess. What I am telling you is that because both candidates are in the race, the liberal Democrat will win.
And please don't tell me that the Dem (who will caucus with Pelosi)is to the right of Scozzafava. They NEVER are. Owen will support everything that Obama and Pelosi tell him to support.
The guy is tied at the hip to Obama and his socialism.
I am telling you that. I already told you she will switch parties if elected. This woman is not a Conservative, she is not even a moderate. She's a liberal. She is considered a de facto Democrat, the Democrats LOVE this woman, they have tried to get her to run for office. She's to the left of a chunk of the Democrat members of the Assembly. Pro-gay marriage, pro-abortion, pro-big government, pro-Porkulus. What else is there ? This isn't an example of two Conservatives splitting the vote. There's only one Conservative, that's Hoffman, and two liberals, one the official Democrat, and the other the de facto soon-to-be Democrat once in DC. If anything, she has to fear Owens taking votes from her and vice versa. I don't fear if Owens wins, because his vote will have been due entirely because of corrupted GOP local officials that ignored warnings not to put up this liberal Democrat as the nominee, we can take out Owens in Nov '10 if necessary, or we can elect Hoffman now, who will join the Republican caucus without any worries. He's the choice of the base. Scuzzyliberal is not an option under any circumstances. No more damnable trojan horses.
This is a hopeful sign. It was absurd for Republicans to nominate Dede Scozzafava, a pro-partial birth abortion, pro-gay marriage liberal whose husband has ties to ACORN. The district isn’t in Manhattan, after all.
Hey, RATs and RINOs, We The People Are Coming in 2010 and 2012; that’s a vow.
http://iowntheworld.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/capitol-view-lo-res.jpg
Let your voices be heard at the polls.
Thank you. I’ve learned something here today.
Thanks!
Thanks, EV. LOTS of things to digest here. I like knowing more about the politicians who are running. Alvarez, I believe, is a Freeper from Syracuse. He often writes letters to the editor for the Sub Standard.
Thanks, Kara.
“Hoffman’s best chance of winning would have been to run in the Republican primary. He didn’t do that. So instead he will split the conservative vote and the stinking liberal will win...which is why the liberal loving Politico pushes this push-poll story.”
I read the whole article but did not see one little bit of info: What is the date of the election??
Sounds like DeDe is pretty bad, except for her A grade from the NRA.
I sure hope Hoffman can pull this off, it will be a shot across the bow to the clueless NYGOP and it will be fun to the see " vote RINO cuz third parties NEVER win" crowd have egg on their faces. A third party victory in a rare circumstance in U.S. politics, but this race has given us the unusual circumstances to make it happen.
The main reason I see third parties doing so poorly is they often field candidates in races where the major party candidates agree with them, but run nobody in districts where the major party candidates are horrible and voters would be willing to support anyone else (the Libertarian Party of Illinois was notorious for this -- they'd run people against Phil Crane and Chris Lauzen every year, while not lifting a finger against people like Ray LaHood and Mark Kirk) They also seem to be rather poorly communicating their message. Most voters couldn't tell you the differences between the Libertarian and the Constitution Party.
Speaking of third parties, if Mark Kirk is the GOP nominee (which unfortunately is extremely likely as long as the conservative opposition is split in the primary among six candidates), a third party candidate in November could probably get double digit support over the combine socialists the GOP and RAT parties selected. That's the one statewide race where there will be MASSIVE disenfranchised conservatives. Now I've discussed this with the Illinois Constitution Party, but it seems to have fallen on deaf ears. Randy Stufflebeam has all his efforts focused on mounting a second bid for Governor, which wouldn't have nearly the same impact it had four years ago when his opponent was Topinka. Even in a worse case scenario with the GOP candidate being Obama loving, big government combine stooge Kirk Dillard, Dillard's likely to get more conservative voters than Topinka simply because he holds marginally "conservative" views on abortion, guns, and taxes. Randy needs to find someone to run against Mark Kirk, or even switch from the Governor's race to the Senate race himself if there's no one on the horizon. I talked with Chad Koppie the last couple days (he was the conservative alternative to RINO George Ryan and Steve Sauerberg), and Chad is of the same mindset that we need someone with name recongition to go against Kirk in November if he makes it past the primary. Chad's willing to do it again, but he's pushing 80 and even said he'll happy step aside for a more viable conservative.
EV, have the Keyes people surveyed the situation with Kirk in Illinois? He's second only to Obama in glowing coverage from the liberal Chicago media. Our state Constitution Party needs to make this their MAIN priority but it's not happening. The AIP wasn't on the ballot here in 2008 so the CP is our only conservative alternative at the moment.
I did find out today there's an Illinois version of "Bob Conley" running around, basically saying he used to be a Republican but he switched parties because of the Iraq War and now he's a "conservative Democrat" (basically claiming to a pro-life, pro-gun, anti-cap n' trade, etc. DINO) He's some downstater who thinks he can win the RAT primary with the three Chicago socialists splitting the liberal vote. Of course he would then be the "more conservative" candidate in November even though he's a RAT. But I doubt it will happen since Alexi Giannoulias has huge clout as an elected statewide official and polling far ahead of anyone else in the RAT primary. I don't think this guy has a clue or a prayer (plus any "conservative" who joins the RAT party at this time is flakey)
McHugh wasn’t confirmed as Secretary of the Army until September 16, and didn’t resign from the House until September 21. That means that Paterson couldn’t announce the date of the special election until last Monday at the earliest, and I don’t believe he’s set the date yet. The special election could be set ona date between 30 and 40 days from Paterson’s announcement, and The Green Papers speculates that they’ll hold the election on November 3.
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