Posted on 05/13/2010 8:05:53 AM PDT by Behind Liberal Lines
Since Doug Hoffman's electrifying campaign in last fall's wild three-way special election in upstate New York, other candidates have thrown their hats in the ring for the GOP nomination for the seat now held by Democrat Rep. Bill Owens. Among those candidates is Matt Doheny.
Jude Seymour of the Watertown (N.Y.) Daily Times reports that Conservative Party chairman Mike Long says he's committed to supporting Hoffman this fall...
To grasp the problem now facing the GOP in NY-23 requires an understanding of New York's multi-party system. In addition to the Democratic and Republican parties, several other minor parties have ballot lines, and for a major-party candidate to pick up the endorsement of a minor party can be crucial in a close election. Last year in NY-23, for example, there were five parties on the ballot: Owens was on two lines (Democrat and Working Families parties), Scozzafava was on two lines (Republican and Independence) and Hoffman was on the Conservative line. If Hoffman wins the GOP nomination, he'll be on at least two lines, and could win the Independence Party endorsement, as well.
Mike Long has made the argument that no Republican can win NY-23 without the Conservative Party's endorsement, and he is adamant that the endorsement will go to Doug Hoffman this fall. So the question now is: Does the New York GOP wish to repeat last year's disastrous attempt to prove Mike Long wrong?
(Excerpt) Read more at spectator.org ...
The GOP is not called the Stupid Party for nothing.
Look at the MA Governor’s race for more proof of that.
They better listen— look what happened last yr
Vote for Scozzafava!
I thought this issue would be decided by a primary. Why is this guy deciding who the nominee is better than the Republican chairs deciding? Doesn't the rank a file get a say?
Silly me.
If the Republican national idiots hadn’t poured in a million dollars to defeat Doug Hoffman, he surely would have won.
And, contrary to this writer’s wording, the Conservative Party in New York is NOT a minor party. They have been around for a long time, and their role is, basically, to negotiate with the Republicans to ensure that they don’t get some flaming abortionist lover as a candidate.
If the candidate is at least decent, they’ll give him a second line on the ballot. But if the candidate is a lousy RINO, and the Republicans refuse to deal, then they nominate another candidate. The Conservative Party is usually pretty reasonable, and don’t make trouble unless they have to. Scozzafava, as we saw, was good reason to make trouble. She was a total disaster. The problem is that the Conservative Party is reasonable, but the Republicans are not. They are just plain greedy and stupid.
You need to re-read the article. The Chair of the Conservative Party is adamant that the endorsement of that party (not the GOP) is going to Hoffman. The Conservative Party doesn’t have a primary. The GOP does. The problem being created is that the GOP, rather than get behind Hoffman, is considering setting up another three-way race.
That's my point. One guy should not decide this, no matter how much you and I may like Hoffman. The rank and file voters should.
I'm not sure the party is doing any such thing - the GOP lacks the power to keep candidates off the ballot. If they go out and get the signatures, they'll be on the primary ballot, whether the "party" likes it or not.
The Republican Establishment would rather see Owens re-elected than see a conservative like Hoffman get in office.
I’d stay away from the Independence Party.
The Conservative Party can have a primary — it has on rare occasions. Like any other party, if a particular candidate polls a given percentage at the state convention (or district convention in this case), he or she can be on the primary ballot. At one time, that number was 15 percent. I think they may hve raised it.
Please not deja vu.
Look at the Pa. 12th where Burns and Russell will split the vote and allow the socialist Critz win. Nuts.
Only one will face Critz.
An enrolled Conservative can stage a primary without support of the Conservative party boss by getting enough signatures from enrolled members of the Conservative Party.
It’s something like 15% of the total number of Conservative Party votes for Governor in the last general election.
If you are NOT enrolled in a third party you can ONLY primary if you get a “Wilson-Pecula” letter/exception from the party boss.
The Republican party can’t be trusted. They are screwing us over in the 2nd CD of New York. You can read the details on my blog.
http://longislandpatriot.wordpress.com/
True, but if the other supporters stay at home, Critz will win. The GOP has to unite all factions as well as Indies, Libertarians and any Reagan Dems left in all 435 House districts to really unseat these socialist pacifists. I just do not like the Pubs killing one another off to be the most pure candidate when Dems keep piling on whoever , whatever Pub wins with smears. It is Pubs who in high dudgeon who stay at home if their choice loses.
The problem with this attitude of the Conservative party is that Hoffman wasn’t the best candidate during the special election, nor the most conservative.
What he was, was the only candidate willing to break his pledge to support Scozzafava.
I can’t disagree with that decision — Scuzzy was a bridge too far and her endorsement of the Dem sealed the deal — but plenty of other candidates would have worked.
If Hoffman can’t win the GOP primary, then he won’t be able to win the general election and his Conservative party candidacy is nothing more than that of another spoiled child (the same as Crist and Bennett) who can’t accept losing.
Hoffman is well-funded and well-known. There is no way that the GOP elders can railroad through some stealth candidate.
Accept the will of the voters, don’t threaten to take your ball and go home everytime it doesn’t go your way.
The GOP has a process for choosing their nominee, and it isn’t to rubber-stamp the Conservative Party choice, made months before the election based solely on the “he earned it” rule — a rule we regularly reject here.
Is the GOP having a primary? If so, how will you possibly rig it to force the voters to vote for Hoffman?
Doheney was one of the two solid conservatives who split the 55% vote in the republican party vote last year, before the liberals ignored thier constituents and threw the vote to Dede.
In any normal year, the Conservative party would be happy to have a candidate like Doheney. So why are the committed to last year’s losing candidate before they have seen the Republican party choice?
That’s usually what happens, but for some reason this year the Conservative Party has decided to announce that they are going to back Hoffman no matter whether he wins or loses in the Republican primary — even though Doheney is a good candidate.
Last year Hoffman was in the Republican nominating committee process with Doheny and a 3rd conservative. None of the conservatives picked Hoffman over the other two — Doheney was picked by many of them, and the other candidate by the rest. The two of them had 55% of the nomination vote.
Once Dede was chosen, the two conservatives who were cheated out of the nomination decided not to bolt the party and run 3rd-party, since we don’t like it when moderates do that. However, Hoffman was happy to do so, even though even without Dede winning, Hoffman was NEVER going to win the Republican nomination.
In the contest between Dede and Hoffman, Hoffman was the clear choice. In the contest between Doheny and Hoffman, I doubt the conservative in the district are going to choose Hoffman, a recent transplant who didn’t understand local issues, over Doheney, a long-time conservative in the district.
But Hoffman has months to make his case to the voters who he will represent, and if he wins the Republican Primary, he’ll be the candidate.
Well, I think the Conservative Party owes it to Hoffman after the RINO Scozzafava betrayal. And I can’t say that I blame them. I think the local Republicans and the NRSC need to bend over backwards to make up for their vile and stupid behavior in that special election. Normal rules don’t apply.
You make some good points. At the same time, Hoffman nearly won as a third party candidate on the conservative line. I can’t really blame the conservative party for sticking with the most successful candidate (excepting ones cross endorsed by the GOP) they’ve had in decades.
This time the primary voters get to decide.
They are more than willing to risk having the Demrats win in order to have a shot at putting their boy in the seat; more than willing.
But that was only because DeDe was more like a Democrat, the conservatives and a lot of Republicans were voting for Hoffman, especially when she dropped out of the race.
Republicans who just voted for a candidate in a primary aren’t going to jump ship and vote for a 3rd party candidate later.
Yep.I supported him with dough last time and will again if he wins the primary. He seems honest, conserv and concerned about the folks in his district not just about holding power. It will be interesting to see if the Country Club Pubs support him if if if he wins in the primary. They always seem to shoot their wounded.
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