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Governor David Paterson called an unusual joint session of the Legislature Monday to implore recalcitrant lawmakers to close the state's huge budget gap before New York runs out of money. To some lawmakers it's nothing more than a photo op to help Paterson get re-elected. But the governor is dead serious. He said if the Legislature doesn't cut the budget now the state could run out of money by next month

Obama said the main message he took from last week’s election results – with Republicans winning gubernatorial races in New Jersey and Virginia – was that Americans are “nervous, and they’re worried and they’re anxious.” “I don't think there's any denying the fact that people are worried out there,” he said in an interview with ABC’s Jake Tapper today. Obama said Democrat Bill Owens victory in the special election in New York’s 23rd congressional district, the one bright spot for the president’s party last Tuesday, “sent an important signal.”

LEWISBORO, NY -- The voters' revolt against high taxes and a deep recession was so intense that even community leaders of New York's sleepiest hamlets got tossed. Nowhere was this more evident than in the tiny town of Lewisboro -- a northern Westchester municipality of 12,000 near the Connecticut border. Mirroring the upheavals in higher-profile races, like the defeat of New Jersey Gov. Jon Corzine, cranky voters in Lewisboro threw out their own Democratic leaders.

Julian Robertson wins one for taxpayers. For every Sunbelt refugee who has tried to leave high tax bills behind in the cold Northeast, Julian Robertson scored a victory this week. By proving that he was outside New York City for half the days in the year 2000, the former hedge-fund titan avoided $27 million in city taxes, thanks to a ruling by New York's tax court. No thanks are due the New York State Department of Taxation and Finance, which had ruled he was a resident and therefore liable for the multimillion-dollar tab. In the upside-down world of tax law,...

(The following is an extrapolation from the article.) A spokesman for Congressman Owens stated the following: Mr. Owens has recanted his solid positions on the following; he now supports the public option in the Health Reform bill; he will support cutting Medicare benefits; he supports taxing health care benefits; and will support increased taxes on the middle class.

November 05, 2009, 4:00 a.m. Republican Civil War?Our experts respond. An NRO Symposium The NY-23 race has political commentators abuzz: Is there a Republican civil war going on? If so, who started it, and can there be a truce? If not, why is everyone saying there is one? National Review Online asked a few close observers of the Right to report in on these rumors of war. KEN BLACKWELLDede Scozzafava’s record in the New York State legislature was pro-tax, pro-abortion, and anti-marriage. She even accepted the endorsement of ACORN. But she got the local party elders’ support, based on...

I just got through to my Congressman, Eric Massa (D-NY). I asked if he had made up his mind on Nancy Pelosi's health care bill and the staffer tole me he was voting NO, and was committed to that position.

To the list of hundreds of schools, hospitals, and community health centers that have received limited allocations of the H1N1 swine flu vaccine, you can now add some of New York's largest employers. In the past week or so 13 companies, including Citigroup (C) and Goldman Sachs (GS), have begun receiving small quantities of the vaccine, according to city health authorities.

Riyadh, Nov 5 (DPA) Around 5,480 people converted to Islam in Saudi Arabia through the ‘Bring me to Islam’ cell phone hotline service, media reports said Thursday. The service, provided in 12 languages, was launched to raise awareness among foreign communities in the kingdom, the Saudi daily Okaz reported. Any person can suggest names of non-Muslims he thinks might convert to Islam through text messages to the hotline, along with their phone numbers and the language they speak. Later, preachers would call these non-Muslims and try to introduce them to Islam, without revealing the number of the person who suggested...

Note: Video included. Peaceful preaching inside, violent message outside a New York mosque New York (CNN) -- SNIPPET: "Protected by the Constitution of the country they detest, radical Muslim converts like Yousef al-Khattab and Younes Abdullah Mohammed preach that the killing of U.S. troops overseas is justified. In their thinking, so were the September 11, 2001, attacks on the United States -- and so are attacks on almost any American. "Americans will always be a target -- and a legitimate target -- until America changes its nature in the international arena," Mohammed said in an interview to air on tonight's...

In the midst of New York's 23rd District race, a disturbing amendment allowing inmates to volunteer for non-profits was given the thumbs up from New York voters by an overwhelming 67 percent. According to the New York Times, The amendement would allow New York's State Legislature to write a law allowing prisoners to volunteer at churches, social service groups, and other nonprofit organizations. As of December of 2008, around 60,000 inmates are currently serving time in the state's correctional facilities, according to New York's Department of Correction

NOTE: HERE IS THE NEWS YOU'VE BEEN HEARING REGARDING THE 23RD DISTRICT IN NEW YORK -----Democrats win New York congressional race, but conservatives claim victory too Posted: November 4th, 2009 02:06 AM ET From CNN Political Producer Rebecca Sinderbrand (CNN) – The three-way race in New York's 23rd congressional district ended Tuesday night with a surprise Democratic win - the first for the party in the reliably-Republican district since the 19th century. Democrat Bill Owens defeated Conservative Party candidate Doug Hoffman to claim victory in a race where an internal GOP fight drew national attention - and forced the party's...

From a New York political observer: The biggest defeat for RINOs in New York wasn't the pre-election collapse of Dede Scozzafava in the 23rd CD. It was tonight's stunning victory by conservative Republican Rob Astorino in the race for County Executive of Westchester County—the affluent and heavily taxed suburb just north of NYC, which has been solidly Democratic for more than a decade. Astorino's victory is a stinging rebuke to the brand of New York Republicanism personified by Assemblywoman Scozzafava, former Gov. (and Westchester native son) George Pataki, and Westchester's famously liberal former state Sen. Nicky Spano of Yonkers, who...

Here is video of Ben Stein last night on Larry King Live where he said Conservative Doug Hoffman lost the New York 23 Congressional Race because the Republican candidate "actively sabotaged" him, and was "shockingly disloyal" in endorsing the Democrat, Bill Owens. Stein was talking about liberal Republican Dede Scozzafava, who was anointed by GOP Party insiders as the candidate, but who eventually withdrew from the race after a revolt by conservatives who refused to support her liberal policies. Stein said Democrats should not be excited about winning a race where Republicans had such a "disloyal" candidate. . . (VIDEO)

ALBANY -- Bill Owens unexpectedly turned back an aggressive challenge by Conservative Party upstart Doug Hoffman to win an upstate congressional seat yesterday, becoming the first Democrat to represent the area in more than 100 years. Owens, an attorney and retired Air Force captain, was leading by 3 percentage points. Hoffman conceded shortly after midnight. "We stood up against two major parties that had a lot of money, but we got this far on determination," Hoffman told supporters gathered in Saranac Lake. "I want to really thank everybody here and around the district and around America who stood up for...

By David Weigel 11/3/09 10:50 PM SARANAC LAKE, N.Y. – I caught Watertown, N.Y., Mayor Jeff Graham, who endorsed NY-23 Conservative Party candidate Doug Hoffman this weekend, looking very glum at Doug Hoffman’s election party. I asked him what happened in Jefferson County, where Watertown is located, and where Democrat Bill Owens is leading the vote. “We lost,” said Graham. “The Scozzafava endorsement, the [Watertown Daily Times] endorsement of Owens–I mean, they roughed Hoffman up.” Could Hoffman still pull out a win? Graham grimaced. “It’s over.”

Breaking News: Fox News Projects: Democrat Owens Wins Race for New York's 23rd Congressional District

USS NEW YORK (LPD-21) PUBLIC SHIP VISITS ... – Wednesday, November 4 – 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. – Thursday, November 5 – 1:00 to 4:00 p.m. – Sunday, November 8 – 9:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. – Monday, November 9 – 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. – Tuesday, November 10 – 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. – Wednesday, November 11 – 9:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. (Dates and times are subject to change; updates will be posted here.) NO LARGE PACKAGES OR BACKPACKS WILL BE PERMITTED. Those who plan to go aboard the ship are advised to: -- Arrive...

Why would a Republican Congressional candidate after dropping out of her Congressional race endorse the Democrat remaining in the race over the Republican remaining in the race? (see story) Just as Republicans suspected Dede Scozzafava was just another Democrat RINO mole attempting to burrow her way into the National Republican Party to undermine it from within. Could it be that her decision to endorse the Democrat in the race for the 23rd Congressional District in New York is an indication of what type of Republican she is and what kind of Congressional representative she would have been? I think yes!...

There’s not much time left, but Vice President Joe Biden traveled to Watertown, N.Y., to try to build support for Democrat Bill Owens in the roller-coaster congressional contest in upstate New York. “We’re not asking you to switch your party,” Biden said in an appeal to centrist Republicans who supported Dede Scozzafava, the GOP candidate who withdrew from the race on Saturday amid flagging poll numbers and criticism from prominent conservatives for being too liberal. “We’re just saying, join us in teaching a lesson to absolutists who come and tell us that no dissent is permitted within their own party.”

Good news, but with lots of caveats. Here are some interesting facts from our unweighted numbers so far: -In a three way contest Doug Hoffman leads Bill Owens by 19 points. In a two way contest Hoffman leads Owens by 15 points. So the Dede Scozzafava withdrawal and endorsement will probably tighten the race some but not nearly enough. -58% of Republicans think that Scozzafava’s a liberal and that was obviously before her endorsement today.

SAN FRANCISCO, CA -- Like the song goes, "something going on over there". What's happening in the New York 23rd Congressional District may have national significance. It's looking like a political earthquake in progress, and it has a San Francisco flavor to it....In San Francisco style, a Republican abandoned her own party's candidate and chose a liberal Democrat, saying it was the best choice for her district. (Recall the hundreds of San Francisco republicans who were strong early financial supporters of Democrat Mayor Gavin Newsom and his defunct run for California governor over the Republican candidate.) Didn't make much difference....

Vice President Joe Biden and the woman who ran against him last year did some long-distance sparing today. Biden, at a rally for New York congressional Democratic contender Bill Owens, took a verbal shot at former Alaska governor Sarah Palin, who's a supporter of Conservative Party nominee Doug Hoffman in Tuesday's crazy special election for New York's 23rd district (where Republican nominee Dede Scozzafava has dropped out and endorsed the Democrat). Using energy as an issue with which to score some rhetorical points, Biden said that "the fact of the matter is, Sarah Palin thinks the answer to energy is...

A New York City imam accused of tipping off a suspected al Qaeda-trained militant that he was under investigation pleaded not guilty on Monday to lying to the FBI. Ahmad Wais Afzali was arrested in September as part of a probe in which federal prosecutors allege the prime suspect, Najibullah Zazi, was planning to set off bombs in the United States. Attorney General Eric Holder has called the purported Zazi plot one of the most serious security threats to the United States since the attacks of September 11, 2001, saying it could have killed "scores" of Americans had it been...

So Sarah Palin has started endorsing candidates, by boosting conservative Doug Hoffman for an upstate New York congressional seat in tomorrow’s elections. Maybe she should make that a regular practice. Endorsements matter, despite what the chattering heads say on cable news. And multiple Palin stamps of approval could be good for the recipients, the Republican Party, and ex-Governor Palin herself. Plus, the ads would be fantastic. Decoder can see one now: “Hi, I’m Sarah Palin, Brander of MavericksTM. I’ve taken time from my busy schedule here in Alaska because it’s important you know that [CANDIDATE NAME] is a maverick, just...

Elections in Virginia, New Jersey, New York Could Yield Pro-Life Gains Richmond, VA (LifeNews.com) -- The off-year elections in Virginia, New Jersey and New York provide the pro-life movement with an opportunity for pro-life gains. They also provide the first chance for voters to sound off on the pro-abortion record President Barack Obama has compiled since taking over the White House. http://www.LifeNews.com/state4533.html

School nurses mistakenly gave the swine flu vaccine to two students who didn't sign up for it - including a Brooklyn girl with epilepsy who wound up in the hospital. "I was outraged," Naomi Troy, 26, told the Daily News after her 6-year-old daughter, Nikiyah Torres-Pierre, had a possible allergic reaction to the shot. Officials at Public School 335 in Crown Heights called an ambulance to take Nikiyah to SUNY Downstate Medical Center when she fell ill following the arm jab. "My stomach was hurting, and I was itching," Nikiyah said after she was released from the hospital. The snafu...

Click on photo to enlargeThe soon to be commissioned USS New York sails up the Hudson River approaching midtown Manhattan a few minutes after pausing near the World Trade Center. A detail rendered a 21-gun salute in remembrance of the 2,976 murdered on September 11, 2001 as 9/11 family members, first responders, and a honor guard gathered just west of Ground Zero.

Sarah Palin and Fred Thompson had the guts to do what Mike Huckabee, Mitt Romney, Newt Gingrich and the entire Republican Party would not do. One month ago, Thompson became the first prominent national Republican to endorse Conservative Party candidate Doug Hoffman in the New York District 23 Congressional race. Palin made an even bigger impact by endorsing Hoffman a week and a half ago. In doing so, Palin lived up to her penchant for going against the mainstream and taking on powerbrokers inside her own party. For those who have not heard about this race, local and national Republican...

WASHINGTON, Nov. 1 (UPI) -- There is a "political rebellion" going on in America that the Republican Party is hoping to speak for, the U.S. House minority leader says. Rep. John Boehner of Ohio, speaking Sunday on CNN's "State of Union," said an incident in which a GOP-endorsed New York congressional candidate withdrew from an election under pressure from Republican conservatives showed that "we're in the middle of a political rebellion going on in America." Boehner said, "This rebellion are by people who really have not been actively involved in the political process. And they don't really care whether you're...

Republican Dede Scozzafava endorsed her former Democratic opponent Sunday in the race for an upstate New York congressional seat, one day after Scozzafava dropped out of the contest. Scozzafava dropped out after Conservative Party candidate Dough Hoffman experienced a late-in-the-game surge. But on Sunday, Scozzafava backed Democrat Bill Owens -- the announcement was made in a statement send out by the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. "I am supporting Bill Owens for Congress and urge you to do the same," she said. "In Bill Owens, I see a sense of duty and integrity that will guide him beyond political partisanship. He...

WATERTOWN, N.Y. — On a Sunday evening conference call with conservative bloggers — where he was joined by former Dede Scozzafava campaign manager Matt Burns — Rob Ryan, spokesman for NY-23 Conservative Party candidate Doug Hoffman, said that former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani had recorded a robocall for the campaign. That makes Giuliani one of the small number of Hoffman endorsers to put deeds behind his words, joining former House Majority Leader Dick Armey and former New York Gov. George Pataki, who’d appeared in the district, as well as Fred Thompson, who is speaking at the campaign’s last big...

Assemb. Dede Scozzafava (R) may be crossing party lines to support atty Bill Owens (D), but her now ex-mgr Matt Burns isn't going along with that decision. "Dede is entitled to her own opinion, as is everyone, but I obviously disagree with her decision," Burns told us today, a day after leaving the campaign. "I am supporting Doug Hoffman, because denying Nancy Pelosi another foot soldier is vital to restoring fiscal responsibility and common sense in Washington." Burns, who was raised in the CD but now works in MN, said he decided to join Scozzafava's team in order to keep...

Lifelong Republican(RINO) throws support to Democrat Owens Sen. Charles E. Schumer, D-N.Y., was among those who urged Dierdre K. Scozzafava to endorse Democratic congressional candidate William L. Owens, the senator's spokesman said Saturday. The spokesman, Maxwell Young, said the senator called a number of north country political leaders after Ms. Scozzafava suspended her campaign and had more than one conversation with the Republican candidate ahead of her announcement. He said the senator also called other Democratic leaders about the situation, including White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel. Mr. Owens said he was “honored” by the endorsement. “Over the course...

PublicPolicyPolling (ppppolls) on Twitter via kwout

"Republican Dede Scozzafava today endorsed Democrat Bill Owens, her former opponent, in Tuesday's election to fill the North Country congressional seat formerly held by John McHugh. Scozzafava suspended her campaign for the 23rd District seat Saturday, citing weak poll numbers and inadequate campaign funds. In a statement released this afternoon, she called Owens ''an independent voice devoted to doing what is right for New York.''"

Media Release WATERTOWN, N.Y., November 1, 2009  —  Doug Hoffman the Conservative candidate for Congress in New York’s 23rd District today received the endorsement of former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani.  Rudy Giuliani said: “On Tuesday, the voters of the North Country have a very clear choice when they cast their vote for Congress. It’s a choice between a tax and spend Nancy Pelosi Democrat and a common sense conservative Republican named Doug Hoffman. “Doug Hoffman has what it takes to be a great Congressman. He’s not a professional politician; he’s a private citizen, and a successful small businessman....

NEW YORK — Meb Keflezighi became the first US man in more than two decades to win the New York City Marathon on Sunday, while Derartu Tulu ended Paula Radcliffe's two-year grip on the women's title. Keflezighi, the 2004 Olympic silver medalist, earned his first major marathon with a time of 2hr 09min 15sec.

Boehner stresses big tent in wake of Scozzafava election shakeup By Bridget Johnson - 11/01/09 10:46 AM ET Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) shrugged off the notion Sunday that the Scozzafava shakeup in New York was a sign of growing backlash against moderates in the Republican Party while stressing the need to show conservative activists that the GOP was the party for them. Boehner was grilled on CNN's "State of the Union" about the Saturday decision of Dede Scozzafava, the Republican nominee for the NY-23 special election to fill the House seat vacated by Army Secretary John McHugh, to pull...

SNIPPET: "This jihadist wannabe is a "terror" on the road. Yousef al-Khattab is a Jewish-born, Jersey-raised convert to Islam who schleps tourists on his pedicab by day and propagandizes for the terrorists he idolizes by night." SNIPPET: "He spends his free time annoying mainstream Muslims by handing out hate-filled literature outside the city's mosques with a handful of followers in tow or posting death threats against Jews disguised as prayers on his "Revolution Muslim" Web site. "Anyone who denies jihad is not a Muslim, that is what the Koran says," the bushy-bearded al-Khattab -- birth name Joseph Leonard Cohen --...

Base sends GOP warning shot in NY-23 By: Jonathan Martin and Alex Isenstadt October 31, 2009 07:43 PM EST Republican Dede Scozzafava’s decision Saturday to drop out of the New York special congressional election gave conservatives a big win, but may present a challenge for Republicans heading into next year's mid-term elections. The long-term implications from Scozzafava’s Halloween surprise will depend on what lessons Republicans take from the race, where Conservative Party nominee Doug Hoffman now seems poised to consolidate center-right support and win the seat previously held by Republican John McHugh, who resigned to become President Obama’s Secretary of...

ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) - Fighting plunging support, Republican Dierdre Scozzafava abruptly suspended her campaign Saturday in a special election for a U.S. House seat that has exposed a rift among national factions of the party. Campaign spokesman Matt Burns said Scozzafava is essentially withdrawing from the race, although her name will remain on Tuesday's ballot. She thinks stepping aside is best for the party, he said. "It is increasingly clear that pressure is mounting on many of my supporters to shift their support," Scozzafava said in a written statement. "Consequently, I hereby release those individuals who have endorsed and supported...

BARACK OBAMA’S most devilish political move since the 2008 campaign was to appoint a Republican congressman from upstate New York as secretary of the Army. This week’s election to fill that vacant seat has set off nothing less than a riotous and bloody national G.O.P. civil war. No matter what the results in that race on Tuesday, the Republicans are the sure losers. This could be a gift that keeps on giving to the Democrats through 2010, and perhaps beyond. The governors’ races in New Jersey and Virginia were once billed as the marquee events of Election Day 2009 —...

Look what Scozzafava’s favorite ACORN front group is up to now By Michelle Malkin  •  October 27, 2009 09:13 AM The Working Families Party, an ACORN front group whose ballot line Newt Gingrich-endorsed radical leftist Dede Scozzafava has embraced on multiple occasions, is up to no good again.The NYPost reports: The labor-backed Working Families Party has engaged in “an audacious scheme to violate the law” to help the party’s favored political candidates get elected, a sweeping new lawsuit charges.The first-of-its-kind suit says the WFP created a political outfit, Data and Field Services, that it is using to “circumvent state election and...

The surrealities of a "healthy" economy never end. The latest indication of the new banrkupt normal is New York State itself. A new report by NY state comptroller Thomas DiNapoli entitled "Highway Robbery: State's ailing road and bridges robbed; State siphoned money to pay for operations and debt service" tells you all you need to know about just how prosperous the ailing economy really is. According to DiNapoli, "only one-third of the money in the Highway and Bridge Trust Fund has actually been used to pay for highways and bridges. The rest has been siphoned off to pay for debt...

<p>As Gov. Paterson and legislative lead ers meet today to tackle a multibil lion-dollar budget shortfall, they should note a new report's warning: New Yorkers are fleeing in droves -- and it's wreaking havoc with the public fisc.</p> <p>The report, by the Empire Center for New York State Policy, shows that some 1.5 million people left the state between 2000 and 2008 -- including 1.1 million from New York City alone.</p>

WASHINGTON, DC -- The American Conservative Union's political action committee, ACU PAC, today formally endorsed New York Conservative Party candidate Doug Hoffman in the upcoming Special Election in New York's 23rd Congressional District. ACU PAC Chairman David Keene said in announcing the endorsement that the New York State Conservative Party has given the people of the 23rd District the choice Republican leaders would deny them. "Doug Hoffman is an intelligent, sincere leader who can and will win this election and at the same time send a message to NY State GOP leaders that they won't be able to ignore," Keene...

Exclusive: NUTBUSTERZ Launched To Expose Working Families Party/ACORN Scam Posted By Capitol Confidential On October 29, 2009 @ 7:15 am In ACORN, Big Labor, Exclusives, Politics, State Politics | 9 Comments A new citizen action group is committed to exposing the danger that ACORN and the Working Family Party poses to our democracy based on their record of subverting elections through voter fraud, falsifying petitions and engaging in absentee ballot fraud for favored candidacies, looting government housing programs, blackmailing corporations and cheating the public campaign finance system.Nutbusterz will serve serve as a clearinghouse for media coverage of the illegal activities of...

As high-profile Republicans (other than Newt Gingrich) flock to endorse Conservative Party candidate Doug Hoffman in New York's 23rd district special election over the Republican in the three-way race, Dede Scozzafava (R) still has one prominent supporter besides the former Speaker: Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele. "I support the republican nominee as the republican party chairman, and that's the way it should go, right?" Steele told NBC's Chuck Todd this morning during an interview on MSNBC's Morning Joe (video here--fast forward to 4:55). Conservatives far and wide have alleged Scozzafava is too liberal, as Hoffman has won endorsements from...

One trial down, one restraining order to go. Less than two weeks after state Sen. Hiram Monserrate was convicted of assaulting Karla Giraldo, she's asking a judge to lift an order of protection that has kept the couple apart for more than 10 months. Monserrate's lawyer had announced after the verdict that the separated lovebirds plan to marry, but a wedding would be impossible without the order being vacated. Giraldo's lawyer, Glenn Marshall, wrote to state Supreme Court Justice William Erlbaum, who in a bench trial convicted Monserrate of reckless assault, saying the couple wishes to resume their "intimate relationship...