The GOP's New York Fiasco

[question everything]

OCTOBER 21, 2009

The GOP's New York Fiasco
Republicans try to lose a House seat.
WSJ

Republicans are telling themselves that a political wave is building that could carry them to big election gains next year. Judging by their performance so far in a special election in New York, however, they deserve to wander in the minority for another generation or two.

The November 2 contest will replace nine-term Republican John McHugh, who resigned to become Secretary of the Army. President Obama carried the district along the Canadian border with 52%, but George W. Bush carried it twice and Republicans outnumber Democrats by 45,000 or so. With voters alarmed about the economy and runaway spending, this ought to be an easy GOP retention. Yet party bosses have managed to nominate a rare Republican who could lose: Assemblywoman Dede Scozzafava, whose liberal record has caused voters to flee to Doug Hoffman, a business executive who is running on the Conservative line. Mr. Hoffman has more than 20% support in the latest poll, which is only a few points behind Ms. Scozzafava, who is only a little behind Democratic lawyer Bill Owens.

(snip)

GOP county chairmen pushed Ms. Scozzafava for the job in July at the behest of GOP state party chairman Joe Mondello, who has since (and blessedly) stepped down. Mr. Mondello also hand-picked loser James Tedisco in another special Congressional election earlier this year. Our sources tell us the backroom boys picked Ms. Scozzafava because she is a woman with high name recognition who could appeal to Democrats. Too bad she doesn't appeal to Republicans.

One lesson of the Democratic gains in Congress in 2006 and 2008 is that a party needs to nominate candidates who fit their districts. Conservative stands won't always fit in the Northeast the way they might in the South. Single-issue litmus tests can be self-defeating. But GOP candidates ought to at least agree on some core principles, such as limited government and limits on the power of unions that have done so much to bust New York's budget and drive jobs from the state. Some Republicans think Ms. Scozzafava might even switch parties if she wins and faces the prospect of a tough GOP primary next year.

All of which suggests that the best result might be for Mr. Hoffman — who promises to caucus with Republicans — to emerge as the main opponent to the Democrat. A divided GOP vote could elect the Democrat and add to their majority. But Mr. Hoffman might even win if enough voters abandon Ms. Scozzafava. James Buckley won a Senate seat as the Conservative candidate in New York in 1970 against a pair of major-party liberals. Above all, a defeat would teach Republicans that running candidates who believe in nothing will keep them in the minority for years to come.

Printed in The Wall Street Journal, page A22

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704500604574483990102017038.html


:nopity:

[OswegoAtheist]

1. I still think

that Owens needs to earn the support of progressives in the district, something he has utterly failed to do. AFAIK, he doesn't even have a facebook or twitter page set up! Independents and undecideds don't make up their minds at the polls in off years, simply because they don't bother going.

Oswego "but he does have a fantastic ad in the next Poore Richardf Almanack"

[brooklynite]

4. What do Progressives have to do with Social Networking?

The fact that Owens is ahead of two candidates to the right of him tells me he's doing fine.

[existentialist]

2. The Congressional Quarterly take on the race is similar

http://innovation.cqpolitics.com/atlas/house2010_rr

In the aftermath of a 2008 national campaign year that was devastating to the Republican Party, there was much discussion about a battle for the GOP’s soul — between those who argued that the party must stick more strictly to its bedrock conservative principles, and those who said the party must be more pragmatic and field more moderate candidates in areas of the country, such as the Northeast, that have been trending strongly Democratic. These two factions have decided to stage a showdown in New York’s 23rd District, where a special election is being held Nov. 3 for the seat nine-term Republican McHugh vacated after President Obama reached across the aisle to tap him as his secretary of the Army. Republican county leaders in the far upstate 23rd opted for state Assemblywoman Dede Scozzafava as their nominee. But the choice of this political moderate, who has close ties to organized labor and liberal-leaning views on social issues, spurred a backlash among many conservative Republicans, and sparked an unusually strong third-party candidacy by accountant Doug Hoffman, the nominee of New York’s small but influential New York Conservative Party. . . .

Should the Republicans squander what should be a winnable race, it would be yet another blow in a state where their fortunes in recent years have plummeted. The Democrats already hold 26 of the state’s 29 House seats, including the neighboring 20th. That’s where Democrat Scott Murphy, a businessman and first-time candidate, came from behind to win a March special election to fill the vacancy created when Democratic incumbent Kirsten Gillibrand was appointed to the Senate. Democrats also currently hold both of the state’s Senate seats, the governor’s office, a wide majority in the state Assembly and a narrow edge even in the state Senate, in which the Republicans had held the upper hand for decades.

[question everything]

3. Is it any wonder that only 20% of the votres consider themselves

Republicans?

Many conservatives like to describe themselves as "libertarians."

Though I think they still drool over Palin.