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Democratic freshman Sen. Kristin Gillibrand is one of her party's most vulnerable incumbents, but New York Republicans can't come up with a political heavyweight to knock her on the ropes, and her campaign gains momentum with each passing day.

'Tis the season . . . to pick the winners and losers in state politics during a very turbulent 2009 -- and what a banner year for losers it has been. The people of New York are, again, the biggest losers -- burdened as they are with "leaders" who raised taxes and fees $8 billion during one of the worst recessions ever, a dysfunctional Legislature, and an unelected governor who plumbed record-low approval ratings in the polls. The annual list was put together with the help of public officials, government bureaucrats, lobbyists, union leaders and journalists, all of whom talked...

Former Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani has decided not to run for the Senate seat held by Kirsten E. Gillibrand, Republicans briefed on his decision said Monday evening. The decision by Mr. Giuliani, 65, leaves Senator Gillibrand — who was appointed to her seat less than a year ago, has never run in a statewide election, and is still unfamiliar to many voters — without a high-profile Republican opponent as she faces election to the seat. As recently as a week ago, a Quinnipiac University poll showed Mr. Giuliani leading Ms. Gillibrand in a hypothetical matchup, 50 percent to 40 percent....

What should Diedre Scozzafava want to accomplish by Sunday's appearance on Face the Nation on CBS? Is it just another post-election 'poor poor pitiful me' about being beat up by tea party thugs led by Dick Armey, who will be on the same show? Well, I hope not. Ms. Scozzafava knows politics aint bean bag and there is something for all to learn from the NY23 GOP meltdown. In retrospect, which is a lot like hindsight, Ms. Scozzafava was not the best hope for North Country Republicans and her selection by a handful of county chairs was another example of...

Few people knew that he was thinking about it in the first place, but Theodore Roosevelt IV, a wealthy investment banker with serious credentials on environmental issues and in foreign policy — and of course, that famous name — now says he will not seek the Republican nomination for the Senate from New York in 2010. Mr. Roosevelt, the great-grandson of the 26th president, worked at Lehman Brothers and is now a managing director at Barclays Capital. He said he began studying a run against Senator Kirsten E. Gillibrand, a Democrat, over the summer and was encouraged by talks with...

In what could be one of the most hotly contested Senate races in 2010, former New York City Mayor and failed Presidential hopeful Rudy Giuliani is in a statistical dead heat with New York Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, a new Zogby IVR poll finds. Forty-five percent prefer Giuliani and 43% side with the incumbent Gillibrand, well within the poll's 3.2% margin of error. 'IVR' or Interactive Voice Response is a polling methodology that uses a recorded human voice to administer a survey to participants who respond via a telephone touchpad. In another potential match-up Senator Gillibrand holds a slight lead over...

Pataki would actually be behind 45-42 if he ran. It's pretty clear to me who should run, and that's Rudy. I'm willing to look past the issues like abortion where he is less than conservative if it means a sure win over Gillibrand. I'm pretty sure Pataki isn't so conservative either, so really there's not much of a choice. Don't they have to announce pretty soon whether they are running? In Texas the deadline to get on the primary ballot is January 4th.

Giuliani Said To Be Leaning Toward Senate Race N.Y. Times report says he's decided against run for governor Former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani was reported by The New York Times to have ruled out a run for governor. By MICHAEL GORMLEY Associated Press Writer ALBANY, N.Y. - Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani is leaning toward running for the U.S. Senate rather than making a bid for governor, two Republican advisers said Thursday. "From staff, we have been hearing that he has been indicating quietly and privately recently that governor might not be the best fit for him...

There’s been virtually no change over the past two months in the hypothetical Election 2010 Senate match-up in New York State between Democratic incumbent Kirsten Gillibrand and former Governor George Pataki. Including the fact that Pataki still hasn’t announced for the race. A new Rasmussen Reports telephone survey in the state finds Gillibrand leading Pataki 45% to 42%. Seven percent (7%) prefer some other candidate, and five percent are undecided. The survey was taken Tuesday night prior to news reports that former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani is planning to run against Gillibrand.

Published reports out today have squelched the long-standing rumors that former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani will run for governor of New York State. But, what if Giuliani makes a bid for the U.S. Senate? Giuliani leads U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, the Democrat appointed by Governor David Paterson to fill the vacant seat left by Hillary Clinton. 54% of registered voters statewide would vote for Giuliani compared with 40% who would support Gillibrand. Even one-third of Democrats report they would back the Republican challenger, and Giuliani runs competitively against Gillibrand in overwhelmingly Democratic New York City.

Former Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani has decided not to run for governor of New York next year after months of mulling a candidacy, according to people who have been told of the decision. .. It remains unclear whether the former mayor is considering any other political race in 2010. Some have urged him to take on the newly installed Senator Kirsten E. Gillibrand, who has never run statewide and is still introducing herself to voters in parts of the state. The decision will be a boon to other Republican contenders. So far, Rick Lazio, a former congressman from Long Island,...

Former Mayor Rudy Giuliani has decided not to run for governor next year - but will run for U.S. Senate instead, sources told the Daily News. A source familiar with Giuliani's thinking said the failed presidential candidate has been telling people he plans to run against Democratic Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand in 2010 to fill out the remaining two years of Hillary Clinton's term. If elected, the source said, he could use that as a stepping stone to run for President in 2012 - rather than run for re-election to the Senate. A Giuliani spokeswoman downplayed the reports. "Rudy has a...

Bringing those accused in the Sept. 11 attacks to New York for trial would increase the security threat to the city and give radical Islamists a platform to propagate their ideology, former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani said Sunday. Giuliani's view that the Obama administration is erring in trying Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and four others near the site of the World Trade Center was echoed by other Republicans on the Sunday news programs. Democrats defended the decision of Attorney General Eric Holder to try the five in New York where more than 2,000 civilians were killed on Sept. 11. If...

Who is Dede Scozzfava? ... "This is my party, too," she insisted. "There are a lot of moderate people - Republicans, like me - and I'm hearing from an awful lot of them. And I think the Republican Party needs to know if they don't have room for us and they don't want us working with them, we're going to find a way to work against them." She acknowledged that many in the GOP would differ with her support for abortion rights and same-sex marriage. But she maintained that she approached those views from a conservative vantage point - a...

Reacting to media reports that Nancy Pelosi “secretly” dispatched a top lieutenant to meet with Dede Scozzafava before the Assemblywoman’s shocking endorsement of Bill Owens, Conservative Party Chairman Mike Long called for a Federal Election Commission investigation of any “illicit inducements” that may have been offered in exchange for Scozzafava’s support. “It a matter of public record that the Scozzafava family company is in financial difficulty. All her public statements about her withdraw mentioned money problems. Nancy Pelosi is desperate to win this seat,” Long said, adding: “Can it be a mere coincidence that Dede demand a face-to-face meeting, then...

Having been in the position of watching my favored candidate stumble badly in an endorsement session while a more liberal Republican alternative hit all the right notes, I reserved my opinion on the goings-on in the recent Congressional race in New York's 23 Congressional District. Now that it is over, I have concluded that while the local Republican Party leadership's endorsement of Dede Scozzafava may have been a what-in-the-world-were-they-thinking moment, I suspect that many would now be saying, "Can't they do any better than this?", had they had endorsed Doug Hoffman from the beginning. While Hoffman may have hit most...

... don’t believe the fact that Hoffman is a social conservative was the reason for his loss, but when it comes to priorities, Simon makes a point worth considering: Hoffman’s capital “C” Conservative campaign tried to separate itself from the majority parties by making a big deal of the social issues. He was all upset that Scozzafava was pro-gay marriage, seemingly as upset as he was with her support for the stimulus plan. The majority of Americans are conservative — not just on matters of fiscal policy, but also on many social issues. After all, in the last presidential campaign...

The big topic of discussion this week is the role conservatism played in the wins in Virginia, New Jersey, and elsewhere, as well as in the loss of New York’s 23rd congressional district. Recent polls show that many more Americans self-identify as conservative than liberal, so it should not be terribly surprising that so many conservative candidates won Tuesday. It should not even be terribly surprising that some won big. Though if that is the case, what is the explanation for Doug Hoffman’s loss in New York? There are many possible reasons — including the spectacle that the race turned...

Republican leaders in New York are raising the possibility of "punishing" state Rep. Dede Scozzafava, who withdrew from the race for Congress in New York's 23rd district and endorsed a Democrat, the Los Angeles Times' Top of the Ticket reports. Scozzafava endorsed Bill Owens after national Republicans backed third-party candidate Doug Hoffman and undermined support for her campaign. Conservatives said Scozzafava, who supports gay rights and abortion rights, was too liberal to run as a Republican. New York Assembly Minority Leader Brian Kolb has been holding meetings with Scozzafava, in which he expressed his displeasure with her endorsement. He has...

WASHINGTON – It was a big election night for Republicans overall. But their lone disappointment – the loss of a New York congressional seat in a crossfire between moderates and conservatives – could portend struggles next year for GOP leaders. Channeling the Tea Party-inspired energy is a particular headache for Dallas Rep. Pete Sessions, whose costly effort to keep the New York seat was a casualty of the civil war. "There's a huge revolt going on in the country against the political establishment," said former Virginia congressman Tom Davis, who once held the challenging political job that Sessions now has...

Conservatives owe NY-23 candidate Doug Hoffman immeasurable gratitude. He overcame impossible odds (single digits just a month ago) to come within two points of defeating Democrat Bill Owens. Hoffman had zero name recognition. National Republican Party officials dumped nearly $1 million into the race on behalf of radical leftist GOP candidate Dede Scozzafava, who then turned around, endorsed Owens and siphoned off 5 percent of the vote with her name still on the ballot after she dropped out. Conservatives’ money went to pay for specious attack ads against Hoffman run by the NRCC like this. Conservatives’ money went to...

<p>ALBANY, N.Y. - Democrat Bill Owens had an early lead in a special Congressional election in northern New York that grabbed national headlines in its final days as it highlighted divisions within the Republican Party.</p> <p>Owens led with 51.4 percent to 43.7 percent for Doug Hoffman, a member of New York's Conservative Party, with just 29 percent of precincts reporting in New York's 23rd House district.</p>

New York Republicans got a rock in their trick-or-treat bags over the Halloween weekend, as Dede Scozzafava ripped off her million-dollar Republican mask and revealed herself to be a Democrat. It was never a very good disguise, but every previous attempt to peer beneath it was punished with stern lectures from Newt Gingrich and the rest of the party establishment. The bags of contributor money Republicans handed to the Scozzafava campaign would have been more usefully spent hiring detectives to trail ACORN operatives, and keep Democrat voter fraud down to manageable levels. The Scozzafava campaign is the latest dreadful mistake...

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...

Media Release WATERTOWN, N.Y., November 1, 2009  —  Matching a pledge that they made to Republican candidate Dede Scozzafava, the House GOP leadership has now promised to offer Conservative Doug Hoffman "the next available" seat on the House Armed Services Committee if he wins Tuesday's vote. Here's the full statement issued today. “Doug Hoffman has our full support for the next available seat on the House Armed Services Committee so he can best serve the interests of Fort Drum and the troops and military families of New York’s Twenty-Third Congressional District. “The strategic and economic importance of this military base...

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....

..."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 will be an independent voice devoted to doing what is right for New York. Bill understands this district and its people, and when he represents us in Congress he will put our interests first."...

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...

I want to personally thank Republican Dede Scozzafava for acting so selflessly today in the NY District 23 race. Now it's time to cross the finish line with Doug Hoffman so that he can get to work for District 23 and the rest of America. With Congress poised to overhaul one-sixth of our economy with so-called health care “reform” (which is really a government takeover of health care) and with plans to enact a cap-and-tax bill just as our economy struggles to recover, Doug Hoffman will be a voice for fiscal responsibility and common sense in Washington. We need candidates...

An interesting thing happened on the way to the congressional election in New York's 23rd district. The Republican candidate, Dede Scozzafava, dropped out of the race. This bodes well for the Conservative Party candidate Doug Hoffman, who, as it turns out happens to be a Republican who ran on a third party ticket against Scozzafava and the Democrat Bill Owens. This is a fascinating race to watch, because it forces those in the Republican Party to take a hard look at what has become of the GOP. In the last few weeks, there has been a huge rift within the...

Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele says the committee is endorsing the conservative in New York’s 23rd Congressional District race after Republican Assemblywoman Dierdre Scozzafava suspended her campaign and released her supporters. Calling Scozzafava’s move a “selfless act,” Steele says the RNC’s change of course is effective immediately and will include financial backing and get out the vote efforts for Conservative candidate Doug Hoffman.

Under pressure from conservative forces within her own party, Dede Scozzafava, the regular Republican nominee in the interim House race for New York's 23d District, suddenly withdrew from the race today. Though endorsed by the Republican National Committee and big GOP establishment names like ex-House Speaker Newt Gingrich, Scozzafava had fallen to third place in polls of the upstate longtime Republican district next to the Canadian border. Her retreat came in the face of a vigorous campaign by Conservative Party candidate Doug Hoffman, who was backed by Sarah Palin, Dick Armey and Fred Thompson, among others. Her surprise move sets...

I've had it with progressive media outlets out there talking up third parties as the route for conservatives. Please tell me that all of you see through this. We here on FR have to be largely immune to these attempts at misdirection by the media. Here is one example: The Doug Hoffman Effect Strikes in Two Key Races for GOP With Conservative Party candidate Doug Hoffman running neck and neck with the Democrat in Tuesday’s special election in New York, some other disaffected Republicans are seeing the third-party route as more viable. Here is the clinton news network doing it,...

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...

I want to personally thank Republican Dede Scozzafava for acting so selflessly today in the NY District 23 race. Now it's time to cross the finish line with Doug Hoffman so that he can get to work for District 23 and the rest of America. With Congress poised to overhaul one-sixth of our economy with so-called health care “reform” (which is really a government takeover of health care) and with plans to enact a cap-and-tax bill just as our economy struggles to recover, Doug Hoffman will be a voice for fiscal responsibility and common sense in Washington. We need candidates...

Rep. Pete King (R-N.Y.) endorsed GOP special-election candidate Dede Scozzafava on Monday, saying a vote for her Conservative Party opponent is tantamount to a vote for the Democrats in the close 23rd Congressional District race in New York http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/63643-pete-king-a-vote-for-conservative-nominee-is-a-vote-for-dems

Significant battles sometimes take place in obscure places. Until the last month, New York's 23rd district was known mostly for its cold climate, its history of electing Republicans to the House and its relatively moderate politics. The GOP has held the district for more than a century. As a result of a surprise announcement on Saturday, Republicans are likely to continue to hold it for the time being. But the developments that put Republicans back in a stronger position to win a special House election on Tuesday will reverberate unpredictably far beyond the boundaries of the 23rd district. By the...

Hoffman worries some incumbents By Reid Wilson - 10/31/09 04:23 PM ET The ascendance of the Conservative Party nominee in a New York special election suggests that some centrist candidates may be at risk to conservative challengers, strategists and members of Congress said this weekend. Businessman Doug Hoffman, running on the Conservative Party line, has seen his support surge in recent weeks. On Saturday, Assemblywoman Dede Scozzafava, the Republican nominee in the district, said she is suspending her campaign, and national party leaders rushed to back Hoffman. Strategists said the new developments are a shot in the arm for the...

Congressional campaign in upstate New York could play a big role in the GOP's approach to the 2010 elections and beyond. What began as a little-noticed congressional campaign in upstate New York has become a high-profile battle for the direction of the Republican Party, and it could play a big role in the GOP's approach to the 2010 elections and beyond. With Conservative Party candidate Doug Hoffman mounting a serious challenge to moderate Republican Dede Scozzafava and Democrat Bill Owens, prominent Republicans are splitting support between Hoffman and Scozzafava, providing an unusually raw display of the party's divisions. Supporters of...

Lots of people want credit for Dede Scozzafava dropping out today. I feel like I have had a view from the inside. Lots of people are trying to give me credit for rallying the base since last July for Hoffman, but from my vantage point, there are four that are being overshadowed by Pataki, Pawlenty, and Palin, but who genuinely and truly deserve a hell of a lot more credit than most. Please though, remember these four: 1. Susan B. Anthony List. First in and last out, they have been under the radar for months. Before the tea party activists....

WASHINGTON (CNN)– Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, who came under fire from some conservatives for endorsing Dede Scozzafava in next week's special Congressional election in New York, is now backing Conservative Party candidate Doug Hoffman.

’m certainly happy to be a modern woman. The possibilities are numerous — career choices, children, freedom. Life is good. American women have all these things, yet there is a notable lack of women, both Democrat and Republican, in national political office. Why? Well, the job is demanding as hell and requires extended periods of separation, for one. Another reason: I’ll call it Sarah Palin Syndrome. Women, especially conservative women, are chewed up by the media. (This also happens to women bloggers. Related thoughts here.) Leftist feminists feel that conservative women disparage the very things feminists work for while enjoying...

With liberal Republican Dede Scozzafava suspending her campaign in New York’s 23rd congressional district, Conservative party candidate Doug Hoffman tells NRO that he will reach out to her in the campaign’s final days in order to bring conservative voters together to defeat Democrat Bill Owens.

Hours after Republican candidate Dede Scozzafava bowed out of the NY-23 House race, top House GOPers are rallying together to support Doug Hoffman, her Conservative Party challenger. In a joint statement released Saturday afternoon, House Republican Leader John Boehner (Ohio), House Republican Whip Eric Cantor (Va.) and National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) Chairman Pete Sessions (Texas.) announced they would support Hoffman's bid to defeat Democratic candidate Bill Owens in the race to fill former Rep. John McHugh's open seat. "As the House stands on the cusp of the forthcoming vote on a trillion-dollar healthcare reform measure, it is vital that...

With about 200 interviews down we had Hoffman 45 Owens 26 Scozzafava 17...her withdrawal will just make it that much easier for Hoffman Well that wrecks our NY-23 poll. We're finding Hoffman with more support than Owens and Scozzafava combined...explains the withdrawal

SCOZZAFAVA's DROPPING OUT: WHO DOES IT HELP? HOFFMENTUM! Dede Scozzafava is suspending her campaign in New York's 23rd Congressional District. From BREAKING: Scozzafava suspends NY 23 campaign: Republican Dede Scozzafava has suspended her bid in next Tuesday’s NY 23 special election, a huge development that dramatically shakes up the race. She did not endorse either of her two opponents -- Conservative party candidate Doug Hoffman or Democrat Bill Owens. Scozzafava has “probably made her last campaign appearance between now and Election Day,” spokesman Matt Burns told POLITICO. “She’s releasing her support to the two other candidates." "I had a discussion...

Republican state Assemblywoman Dierdre Scozzafava has suspended her campaign for upstate New York's 23rd Congressional seat, leaving Democratic nominee Bill Owens and Conservative Party nominee Doug Hoffman in the race that will conclude Tuesday. The move comes on the heels of a new poll that showed Scozzafava had fallen behind her two competitors in a race too close. The Siena College poll has Owens picking up 36 percent of the vote, while Hoffman has 35 percent. Scozzafava has 20 percent, with nine percent of voters undecided. It's a turnaround from the first Siena poll on the race in September, which...

Dede Scozzafava, the Republican and Independence parties candidate, announced Saturday that she is suspending her campaign for the 23rd Congressional District and releasing all her supporters. The state Assemblywoman has not thrown her support to either Doug Hoffman, the Conservative Party candidate, or Bill Owens, the Democratic candidate. "Today, I again seek to act for the good of our community," Ms. Scozzafava wrote in a letter to friends and supporters. "It is increasingly clear that pressure is mounting on many of my supporters to shift their support. Consequently, I hereby release those individuals who have endorsed and supported my campaign...

Stacy McCain reports today that Dede Scozzafava has quit the special election in New York after an independent pollster found her badly trailing both Douglas Hoffman and Democrat Bob Owens. Reportedly, she tearfully withdrew and threw her support to Hoffman: Just confirmed that Republican candidate Dede Scozzafava has quit the race. Speaking to supporters, Scozzafava broke down in tears. UPDATE: Scozzafava, the hand-picked choice of the New York state GOP in the key 23rd District special election, reportedly will throw her support to Conservative Party candidate Doug Hoffman.

State Assemblywoman Dede Scozzafava (R) announced on Saturday she would suspend her campaign to fill former Rep. John McHugh's open House seat, citing dismal poll numbers just days before the much-hyped special election. Her exit from the race offers serious momentum to Doug Hoffmam, the Conservative Party candidate who has stolen from Scozzafava a slew of important GOP endorsements and donations in recent weeks. "Today, I again seek to act for the good of our community," Scozzafava wrote in a letter to supporters, obtained by the Watertown Daily Times. "It is increasingly clear that pressure is mounting on many of...