“***UPDATED 3:00PM*** Scozzafava has endorsed Democratic candidate Bill Owens

The article below was written before they could confirm her endorsement.

“***UPDATED 3:00PM*** Scozzafava has endorsed Democratic candidate Bill Owens over conservative party candidate Doug Hoffman.

Moderate Republican candidate Dede Scozzafava's departure from upstate New York's special congressional election is, senior Democrats predict, bad news for the Democratic Party.

While the state's 23rd district is decidedly conservative, having last sent a Democrat to Congress in the 1800s, there had been hopes that a three-person contest would catapult Dem Bill Owens to the House of Representatives. Now, conventional wisdom holds that Scozzafava voters will likely head towards the conservative party's Doug Hoffman or simply stay at home.

In the White House, at the very least, officials are bracing themselves for a loss, calling Scozzafava's departure bad news for Owens. The one hope, they say, is if Scozzafava -- who has more philosophical similarities with the Democratic Party than Hoffman's brand of Republicanism -- was to formally endorse her former rival.

"This hurts," one administration official told the Huffington Post on Saturday, "unless we can get her on board." Cont…

Read more at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/11/01/white-house-pushing-to-ge_n_341436.html

Did Dems actually count on winning that seat?

this is so fun because now no matter who wins....the conservative wankers lose.

But may think they have a shot. You have the local girl dumped on by outsiders big footing it all over the place. You have Hoffman appearing before the editorial board of the local paper with Dick Armey by his side. Both got testy with the board because Hoffman didn't have answers to questions that had been printed in the morning edition. Armey got all huffy and called them parochial. The paper then endorsed Owens.

He is behind the whole tea-bagger 'movement' which was sold as ordinary Americans who were angry about the 'socialist take-over' of the government. When in reality it was a well-funded operation backed by rightwing groups which he is a part of. I bet he was behind bringing his gang of loonies there to interfere in the election.

He is such a stupid jerk to insult the people whose votes he's trying to get. I hope the locals are made aware of what he really thinks of them. Good for the paper for slapping him back with an Owens endorsement.

This is the most fun race ~ especially since Dems never expected to win. it will be interesting to see how it turns out.

I wonder what Boner's rank is in the Dick Army?

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/thefix/house/ny-23-scozzafava-endorses-owen.html

NY-23: Scozzafava Endorses Owens

State Assemblywoman Dede Scozzafava (R), who dropped from the special election in Upstate New York yesterday, has now thrown her support to Democrat Bill Owens.

"It's not in the cards for me to be your representative, but I strongly believe Bill is the only candidate who can build upon John McHugh's lasting legacy in the U.S. Congress," said Scozzafava in a statement released moments ago.

Owens said he was "honored" to have won Scozzafava's endorsement, noting: "Now more than ever we need bipartisan solutions to help bring jobs to Upstate New York to get our economy back on track and move our country forward."

The Dems never expected to win this race, even if she had stayed in it was a long shot. What this race has shown is how divisive the Palin/Beck crowd are to the Republican Party.

It's been nearly 150 years since a Dem won in that very Republican District, so it would be a real miracle if Owens pulled it off. However, it doesn't really matter, the fact is that the tea-baggers are tearing the Republican Party apart. Hoffman is a third party candidate. Scozzafava was chosen by the party and the tea-baggers have forced her out of the race.

If they do this in other areas that are not so far right, this can only be good news for Democrats.

But, it is an exciting race as a sort of sign of things to come.

Gingrich supported Scozzafava and is now at odds with the Palin/Beck wing of the party. He was blasted by the Palin wing of the party, but shot back at them claiming that they are only interested in 'feeling good'. :rofl:

I wonder how he will feel about her endorsement of Owens. If he's smart, he will blame it on the tea-baggers.

I was going thru the channels and happened to hear Fox start to tell about statins helping with the H1N1 flu. So I flipped back and listened but- while listening I happened to read the scroll across the bottom.

It said "Scozzafava has dropped out of the NY-23 race in order to help Hoffman"....and this is a fair and balanced news organization..no mention what so ever about her endorsing Owens. Ha ha what a joke.

denying that the party was in disarray. He also claimed that the tea-baggers just needed to be reassured that there was a place for them in the party. This was after being asked about the implications of this race. He didn't know about the Scozzafava endorsement for the Dem or his party's endorsement of Hoffman at that time.

What's next? Orly Taits filing briefs?

That ought to throw a nice monkey wrench into their machinery. All the RW Media Hatemongers
were hyping Hoffman. They ought to be good and pissed right about now. I love it!!

I wonder just how much dipshit's numbers will go up. My guess is when you count the number of votes (percentages my change if republicans stay home), not much

“Three days before the special election in New York's 23rd congressional district, the Republicans have lost their candidate. Dede Scozzafava has dropped out. This leaves upstate New York, parts of which have voted for the party of Lincoln since Lincoln, without a Republican choice.

They just have a Democrat -- law professor/Air Force captain Bill Owens.

And a Conservative -- cipher Doug Hoffman.

But no Republican. Chester Arthur would roll over in his grave, which is in New York's First District, which means he couldn't vote for Doug Hoffman in Tuesday's election, just like Doug Hoffman can't.

(Why shouldn't 99% of the money for Doug Hoffman's campaign come from outside the district? He comes from outside the district.)

(Here's the difference between Doug Hoffman and a carpetbagger: A carpetbag has mass and physical form.)

Dede Scozzafava, a lifetime Republican, and the former Mayor of Gouverneur, was driven out of the race by Doug Hoffman's out-of-state money and Doug Hoffman's dirty tricks. This might explain why she declined to endorse Doug Hoffman in her resignation.” Cont…

Read more at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/chris-kelly/bias-media-dirty-tricks-a_b_341141.html

The question is whether Owen can win even with the endorsement.

And the greater question is what this is doing to the Republican Party, particularly in NY 23. If Scozzafava and like minded Republicans decide that they are really more independents than Republicans, and in this and similar races, prefer the Democrat to the Republican, then this is big.

If the "conservative" wins and the moderate Republicans decide that they are just fine with that, then it's trouble.

race. Scozzafava was chosen by the Republican Party. Once she saw that she could not win, normally a Republican would endorse the candidate closest to Republican ideology, but she (and hopefully many of her Repub supporters) when given the choice between Dick's Army of tea-baggers and a moderate Democrat, chose the Democrat. If that trend is played out in more moderate districts, Republicans have a lot to worry about.

or at least to her version of it. She was a bit to the left of the Dem in some areas, he is a pretty blue dog.

It would be hard to endorse the conservative because he knew nothing about local issues...which the right wing endorsers said didn't matter...but it's pretty insulting to people in the district.

Hoffman, so it doesn't matter to them either. The Gingrich wing of the party will not be happy I'm sure, as Gingrich had endorsed her, telling the tea-baggers to basically 'grow up'.

As far as the tea-baggers not caring about local issues, neither does the GOP apparently. They more or less admit that. In their statement endorsing Hoffman they basically say they just want someone who will help them fight the Obama administration's policies.

As far as Scozzafava being more moderate than Owens, that's because of the Dem's belief that in Republican districts you have to run someone who is almost a Republican in order to win. She should have run as a Dem, which I think they asked her to do. But, she did the next best thing now that she's been driven out of the race.

Owens the Dem in the race, was running close to Hoffman before Scozzafava dropped out. She was in third place after the rabid rightwing tea-baggers decided to get involved. So they did have an effect on her support. It's possible that at least half of her supporters will back the Dem as some of her Repub supporters (60% are Repubs for her) will probably be pretty angry at the way she was treated. They might just stay home. Or, as she has done, support Owens. And the other 40% are probably centrist Dems and Independents so it's hard to know what they'll do.

Hoffman was getting one third of the votes in polls, so there's obviously a pretty large 'fringe' element in the dist. Let's hope that's all he can get and Owens rather than Hoffman benefits from the Scozzafava endorsement.

endorsed Hoffman ~

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/10/nrcc-to-officially-back-conservative-partys-hoffman-in-ny-23.php?ref=dcblt

Washington - The National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) today released the following joint statement from House Republican Leader John Boehner, House Republican Whip Eric Cantor, and NRCC Chairman Pete Sessions regarding the the special election in New York's 23rd Congressional District:

"As the House stands on the cusp of the forthcoming vote on a trillion-dollar healthcare reform measure, it is vital that we unify behind a candidate that will support reining in massive government spending and work with Republicans in Congress to restore fiscal sanity and propose thoughtful measures to get our nation's economy on the right track.

This is a direct contradiction of what Newt Gingrich said needed to happen if Republicans were to retake control of the government

Since he just took on the tea-baggers a few days ago for criticizing his endorsement of Scozzafava, telling them the Party in order to take back power, has to remain united, it will be interesting to see how views this teabagger defeat of a Republican he supported.

She should have taken their offer. She's more liberal than Owens and it's obvious to her now that her party has been completely taken over by loons.

:kick:

at least that is what I read yesterday.

If true, then it's still a 3-way race, isn't it?

:shrug:

can still vote her ~ what a mess. Headlines tomorrow should read 'GOP Caves to Demands of Tea-baggers, Endorse Third Party Candidate'.

Newt Gingrich is not going to be happy about this ~ he's been over-ruled by Glenn Beck and Mooselini ~

:rofl:

Not sure if this is funny in a sad sort of way; or sad in a funny sort of way.

From her press release she said a whole lot of money was being poured in from both sides, and she could no longer afford to stay in. I read it to mean that there are some hefty (& perhaps nasty) pocketbooks being emptied to marginalize the Republican party for the sake of something quite nefarious for us all - if they get a strong-hold.

As for the money pouring in. Well, Dick Armey's group is funding Hoffman. The tea-baggers are his paid operatives, despite the attempt to make it seem as if they are 'just ordinary people'. And he's been there. I wonder how the Repubs feel about him working against the party.

Gingrich said yesterday that the party needs to be united and told the tea-baggers to basically 'grow up'. He endorsed Scozzafava. Wonder what he thinks now?

It's like watching a comedy show. The Palin/Beck show is so far out there, they make people like Newt look reasonable. But I have to say, no one deserves to be ignored more than Newt considering how he behaved when he was Speaker. Karma is a bitch sometimes.

Meantime, I hope someone comes out of the woodwork and establishes a real Republican Party because neither side of this mess are qualified to be anywhere near the power structure of this country. And need at least two, although more would be fine too, political parties.

And lose he shall.

If he does, it would be a historical win for Democrats after more than a hundred years without winning in that district. But even more fun, a crushing defeat of the tea-baggers.

If it's close, I'm sure they'll hire Orly Taitz to handle the election fraud charges ~

Die-hard republicans were not voting for her anyway, and the ones who were voting for her were voting AGAINST the dem..She was never a strong candidate, so her supporters will probably just sit this one out.