Beltway Dems Found Another Republican To Recruit-- This Time In New York

New York Democrats are counting on Hillary to turn out the voters in 2016. NY-21-- the North Country-- has an even PVI, although Obama beat McCain 52-47% and then beat Romney 52-46%. When Obama appointed John McHugh, the incumbent Republican, Secretary of the Army in 2009, the Republicans nominated a well-known moderate Assemblywoman, Dede Scozzafava; the Democrats nominated a barely known Republican-lite New Dem, Bill Owens; and the Conservative Party nominated a teabagger, Doug Hoffman. A few days before the election, Scozzafava, who had been brutally attacked by Sarah Palin and her crazed far right allies, withdrew and endorsed Owens, who beat Hoffman 48-46%. In 2010 the NRCC targeted Owens and put up a wealthy Wall Street bankster, Matt Doheny. Owens won, again 48-46%. And in 2012 the Owens-Doheny rematch gave Owens a 50-48% win. Owens announced he wouldn't run again in 2014 and the Democrats nominated a very weak candidate, Aaron Woolf, who was thrashed by Republican newcomer Elise Stefanik, 55.2% to 33.5%.

Now the DCCC would like to win back the seat and they've been trying to recruit another Republican opportunist-- their specialty-- William Derrick, a retired Army colonel. Derrick has nothing to do with the Democratic Party or the values and principles of Democratic voters. From 1980 to 2004 he was a registered Republican, and then he became politically inactive. In 2006 he registered as an independent (unaffiliated) in Colorado and soon switched back to the GOP. Last month he moved back to New York and reregistered... as a Democrat.

Democrats don't have enough of their own garbage candidates that their corrupt Beltway committees have to hunt for Republican garbage to run? Just what we need-- another opportunist like Patrick Murphy! What makes the DCCC and DSCC recruit candidates like Owens, Derrick and Murphy? They seem to always favor candidates based on their Republican-ness-- Are power-mongers like Chuck Schumer, Jon Tester, Steve Israel, Rahm Emanuel and Chris Van Hollen self-loathing Democrats? Wall Street whores? A little of each? Did the Cro-Magnons recruit the Neanderthals? Did the Romans recruit the Vandals? Did the British recruit the Mau Maus? When did it start to be a good idea that you pretend to be your opponent? They are killing off any motivation for anyone to vote Democratic. They act as though a party is a social club, like the freakin’ Kiwanis. Or a business venture for a pack of career-obsessed egomaniacs. No Republican-lite candidates on this page-- not ever.

Streams Of Consciousness

It took the Austin jury 19 hours of deliberation but they decided unanimously that there was one Texas turkey who does not get a reprieve: Tom DeLay was convicted on money laundering charges.

The trial also opened a window on the world of campaign financing in Washington, as jurors heard testimony about large contributions flowing to Mr. DeLay from corporations seeking to influence him and junkets to posh resorts where the congressman would rub shoulders with lobbyists in return for donations.

Mr. DeLay faces up to life in prison on the money laundering charge.

The Palin Family Freak Show

The Queen of America's White Trash Nation struck back at Barbara Bush today for the remark she made on Larry King's show about how Palin was pretty but should stay up in Alaska. Palin "denounced the Bush family as 'blue bloods' in an interview posted Wednesday and remarked that a mentality like theirs helped to cause the economic downturn." She also mentioned she loves the Bushes.

And then, presumably because she was upset about Bristol's DWTS loss and how crudely she handled it, Palin declared some kind of an alliance between Alaska and North Korea, on the Glenn Beck Show. To his credit and without a script, Beck actually knew the North were the bad guys and the South were the good guys. Palin can take out her frustrations clubbing halibut until her ratings failing reality show is eased off the air.

Bill Owens Just Kiddin' About Voting For Boehner

In case you were concerned that conservative New York Democrat Bill Owens, who the DCCC had just rescued with $946,672.85 worth of Independent Expenditures (following the $882,473 they spent helping him win the 2009 special election), was taking his narrow 48-46% win and jumping the fence into Republicanville... well, he was just "blowing off steam." Yesterday he was threatening to vote for Boehner as Speaker but today he explained that "I was agitated that neither one of them [Pelosi or Hoyer] had responded to me" in regard to the Bush tax cuts. He says he'll vote for Pelosi "as long as she plans to govern from the center and focus on jobs." Since being elected last year his ProgressivePunch score is pretty abysmal. On the contentious votes dividing the two parties his 48.65 score indicates he voted slightly more frequently with... yes, Boehner. Was he blowing off steam then too?

Any Threats To Stability On The Distant Horizon?

Tonight's video... getting you ready for an obnoxious brother-in-law teabagger tomorrow-- in case foreclosures come up:

What Happened Last Night? Short Answer: Mixed Bag

Last night's biggest losers

Although younger voters and African-Americans didn't bother voting yesterday-- and Republicans did well in Virginia and New Jersey-- the most recent polls show that Obama is still as popular today as he was when he was elected. 54% of Americans approve of his job performance, one percent higher than his winning total a year ago. And even Southerners agree he's been doing a better job than Bush did. (True that is an exceedingly low bar... but still... Alabama, Mississippi, South Carolina, Tennessee...)

With GOP factions arming themselves for a bloody civil war, and N.Y. Republican Assemblywoman Dede Scozzafava talking about how all the hyperbolic right-wing hate and lies wore her down, the Republicans are celebrating their expected victory in Virginia and their surprise one in New Jersey. Democrats who went for that whole Hope and Change thing a year ago just didn't feel all that inspired and didn't bother turning out. Deeds basically lost the Virginia governor's race when he declared in a debate that if he was elected, he would opt out of the public option. But Republicans already had a candidate they liked; all Deeds did was give Democrats a reason to stay home; a good one. And the results were disastrous-- not just for Deeds who deserved to lose, but for the whole ticket. Most tragic of all, progressive Delegate Margi Vanderhye was defeated by lunatic fringe GOP nutjob Barbara Comstock. Margi lost by about 300 votes, thanks to Deeds' stupidly-run, conservative campaign.

An even bigger disappointment came in Maine where bigots took away the right of marriage equality for gays and lesbians, 53-47%. It was close all night but what I just couldn't understand is how medical marijuana legalization won in Maine while same sex marriage lost. Stoners voted against gay marriage? And although Maine passed its medical marijuana referendum by a hefty vote (59-41%), in Breckenridge, Colorado it was a 3 to 1 landslide, not for medical marijuana but for full on pot decriminalization. Only 27% of voters opposed de facto legalization.

"This vote demonstrates that Breckenridge citizens overwhelmingly believe that adults should not be punished for making the safer choice to use marijuana instead of alcohol," said Sean McAllister, a Breckenridge attorney who proposed the ordinance.

The measure's victory is considered symbolic because it conflicts with state and federal laws. However, supporters of the measure say it inches the whole state closer to full legalization.

And at least the pro-gay ordinances won in Kalamazoo, Michigan and in Washington state. And openly gay Mark Kleinschmidt won the mayoral race in Chapel Hill, North Carolina and Detroit elected an openly gay City Council president, Charles Pugh.

California Congresswoman Ellen Tauscher was a socially liberal, fiscally conservative Democrat is suburbs north of San Francisco, in a district that was Republican just over a decade ago. She often voted with them on crucial issues like bankruptcy and other bills that empowered banksters and Wall Street thugs. She was appointed to a minor job in the State Department and last night she was replaced in Congress by John Garamendi, a hard working progressive. He beat Republican David Harmer 56-40%.

But the big race, of course-- the one the media had hyped beyond recognition-- was in NY-23, where Sarah Palin, Glenn Beck, Rush Limbaugh, Darrell Issa, Jim DeMint, Tim Pawlenty and the teabaggers slimed the mainstream Republican candidate so badly that she withdrew, leaving a confused Republican Party in complete disarray. They switched en masse to the teabagger third party candidate, Doug Hoffman, who then proceeded to lose to conservative barely-Democrat Bill Owens, 49-45%. It was the night's biggest shocker-- or at least one that was tied with Corzine's loss in New Jersey and Bloomberg's near loss in NYC (after dumping $100 million of his own money into the race against someone who no one has ever heard of). The biggest losers were Palin and Beck-- and the GOP has so much egg on its face that it'll never figure out how to clean itself off. Does this mean Marco Rubio should throw in the tea-towel down in Florida?

I'll be on the radio this afternoon (1-2pm, PT) with Nicole Sandler, who's sitting in for Randy Rhodes, and we'll be talking about the election results and about how screwed up the GOP is with their deadly teabagger problem. The call in number is 866-87-RANDI.

You, Me, Dede, And NY-23... Oh, Yeah, And Newt And Issa

I don't know about you, but if I were Rep. Steve Israel, Senator Chuck Schumer or general all-around sleaze bucket Rahm Emanuel and I had just cut a deal with Dede Scozzafava to toss a lifetime of Republicanness away for some as yet undelineated bribe, one of the last people I would feed that info to would be anyone whose Rolodex even contained the phone number of weepy Republican blabbermouth Darrell Issa. But Issa claimed on TV yesterday that "top Democrats... promised her favors in return for her endorsement of the remaining Democratic candidate."

Issa also called on Republicans to donate promptly to Hoffman's war chest so that the party writ large could "send a message to Barack Obama that he can't buy this election."

Right-wing front organizations and hate groups have pumped over $4 million dollars into this race so far. Issa himself, who had originally endorsed Scozzafava, became frightened with Glenn Beck, Rush Limbaugh and the other pipers wishy-washy Republicans like Issa dance to and switched his allegiance to Hoffman late in the game.

Issa and other right-wing extremists keep referring to "Democrat" Bill Owens as a "leftist." If only! On many issues-- primarily social-- he is significantly to the right of Scozzafava. Overall, though, his kind of cautious and turgid reactionary bent puts him closer to Scozzafava than Hoffman is. Except for her lifelong fealty to the Republican Party, her endorsement of Owens yesterday shouldn't come as a surprise. And if she winds up switching parties, no doubt Sheldon Silver and Andrew Cuomo are going to be delighted to welcome her onboard.

Since announcing the suspension of my campaign, I have thought long and hard about what is best for the people of this District, and how to answer your questions. This is not a decision that I have made lightly.

You know me, and throughout my career, I have been always been an independent voice for the people I represent. I have stood for our honest principles, and a truthful discussion of the issues, even when it cost me personally and politically. Since beginning my campaign, I have told you that this election is not about me; it's about the people of this District.

It is in this spirit that I am writing to let you know I am supporting Bill Owens for Congress and urge you to do the same.

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. John and I worked together on the expansion of Fort Drum, and I know how important that base is to the economy of this region. I am confident that Bill will be able to provide the leadership and continuity of support to Drum Country just as John did during his tenure in Congress.

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.

Please join me in voting for Bill Owens on Tuesday. To address the tough challenges ahead, we must rise above partisanship and politics and work together. There's too much at stake in this election to do otherwise.

When Lieberman endorsed McCain over Obama last year, viciously smearing his younger Senate protege during the campaign, it was widely rumored that McCain had promised to make him Secretary of State or Defense. Perhaps that's where Issa came up with the idea of a quid pro quo. Maybe, though, Scozzafava endorsed him for the precise reasons she laid out. Hoffman's extreme teabagger approach to politics is antithetic to everything a mainstream politician like Scozzafava has always stood for. The fact that he couldn't answer a single question the Watertown Times editorial board asked him about local issues certainly made her cringe. And it made her-- and plenty of others-- realize he's just the candidate of the hate-filled angry cable TV viewers who get their opinions from Glenn Beck, Ann Coulter and Sean Hannity.

Scozzafava's late nod to Owens could spell trouble for Hoffman, who is statistically deadlocked with his Democratic opponent in recent polls. The New York assemblywoman is considerably more moderate than Hoffman -- and presumably, some of her supporters are too -- so the possibility that many of her prospective voters could gravitate toward Owens on Tuesday is not totally unfathomable.

Nevertheless, Scozzafava's decision on Sunday is bound to infuriate Republicans, many of whom announced within hours of her suspension that they backed Hoffman and hoped soon to welcome him into their caucus. The Republican National Committee, the National Republican Congressional Committee and a host of party leaders urged their members to do the same, in part to defeat the growing meme that Republicans were warring among themselves about the NY-23 race.

Scozzafava, however, stressed on Sunday that her endorsement was about her district's well being, not her party's appearance. She urged supporters to head to the polls on Tuesday to support Owens because he, more than Hoffman, could best represent Watertown's interests.

Fox, of course, has been lying for two days, assuring all the sheeple that Scozzafava had endorsed Hoffman or was withdrawing to make sure he'd win. And the sheeple insist Fox is a legitimate news source rather than a belief system for the emotionally unbalanced. Tomorrow's the day for NY-23. But the Republican Party problem with their obstreperous extreme right will haunt them for the next several years. Fox isn't going away-- nor is all the hatred and bigotry they spew all day and all night. The teabaggers feel empowered, and the Republican "leadership" feels cowed.

The next scalp they're looking for is Florida Governor Charlie Crist-- and they're likely to get it, as his campaign falters and Marco Rubio's surges, at least among teabagger activists and the lunatic fringe of the Republican Party. That same lunatic fringe is likely to push mainstream conservatives out of primaries in Ohio (Steve Stivers), Kentucky (Trey Grayson), Virginia (Bob Hurt), and Alabama (Martha Roby) in favor of right-wing ideologues (David Ryon, Rand Paul, Bradley Rees and Rob John) who will find it far more difficult to appeal to mainstream voters than to the deranaged Republican Party base. Stock up on the popcorn; there'll be a lot more funny tapdancing like this Fox/Newt Gingrich hilarity below:

Official GOP Nominee Backs Out Of Congressional Race In NY-23-- Shockwaves Across America

The Republicans haven't lost a congressional race in the northeastern corner of New York State since around the time of the Civil War. But after polling showed their mainstream candidate, Assemblywoman Dede Scozzafava, coming in third after conservative Democrat Bill Owens and the teabagger candidate, ultra right extremist Doug Hoffman, Scozzafava pulled out 3 days before election day! A Siena poll released this morning shows her campaign sinking rapidly-- with the support of only 20% of the voters.

In "suspending" her campaign, she pointedly did not endorse the right-wing extremist who has thwarted her bid to win a congressional seat. Democrats are reaching out to her to endorse Owens. The NRCC has now officially jumped on the Hoffman bandwagon but Scozzafava's name will still be on the ballot Tuesday and many of her most ardent supporters will vote for her as a protest against Hoffman's extremism and against the party being taken over by deranged, hate-filled radicals. Her complete statement is here. Many observers saw this coming when ostensible mainstream Republican ex-Governor George Pataki endorsed the teabagger candidate last night. His vicious blast must have felt like a ton of bricks falling on the head of the faltering Scozzafava:

“Simply put, we cannot afford to give another vote to Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid, we cannot afford another vote for higher taxes, we cannot afford another vote for government-run health care, and we absolutely cannot afford another vote to take away from hard-working men and women the right to secret ballot.”

It was more significant than, say, the meaningless switch of a parade of extremist congressional clowns like Darrell Issa (R-CA), who have in recent days run to the microphones to kick their own party's candidate to the curb while endorsing the teabagger.

Interestingly, more than a few Republicans fear that the teabagger surge could swamp them as well. Already several extreme right candidates with teabagger support are dooming establishment Republicans. Florida Gov. Charlie Crist, with a once insurmountable lead of a little known extremist pip-squeak, Marco Rubio, is now-- despite all the Establishment support and all the big money-- an underdog in the race for the GOP Senate nomination. Teabaggers in South Carolina are in the process of taking over the party from mainstream conservatives and look likely to defeat regular Republican incumbents. Yesterday The Hill started talking about the Hoffman Effect in terms of primaries in other states:

In Virginia’s 5th district, state Sen. Robert Hurt’s entry into the GOP primary has spurred little-known candidate Bradley Rees to switch to the Virginia Conservative Party. And in Ohio, another GOP primary contender said this week that he’ll run as a Constitution Party candidate.

Both will go at the GOP nominees from their right flanks and try to expose some unhappiness in conservative ranks. They might not be as well-funded as Hoffman or be filling quite as big a vacuum as the one left by Republican Dede Scozzafava’s left-leaning politics, but they could steal valuable votes.

Rees isn’t afraid of playing spoiler to the establishment-favorite Hurt. He even suggested his third-party candidacy could help freshman Rep. Tom Perriello (D-Va.) stay in Congress.

“It may amount to only drawing enough votes from the Republican candidate to ensure Tom Perriello a second term,” Rees told the Lynchburg News and Advance.

“If so, so be it. Maybe then the party will understand that we are trying to save the GOP from its worst enemy-- not the Democrats, but themselves.”

A similar situation occurred in Rep. Mary Jo Kilroy’s (D-Ohio) district last year, when Republican Steve Stivers lost enough of the vote to conservative third-party candidates to allow Kilroy to win.

And now Stivers, who supports abortion rights, could again be ceding support to his right, in the form of Ron Paul supporter David Ryon. Ryon switched from the GOP to the Constitution Party this week.

Bill Owens isn't even a Democrat-- he registered as one a few weeks ago when the DCCC said they would back him despite having been a GOP financial donor for years-- and he's far too conservative for progressives to support. But Perriello and Kilroy are real Democrats who will be heavily supported by the Democratic grassroots. That isn't the case in Alabama, where one of the most reactionary and hated faux-Democrats in Congress, Blue Dog Bobby Bright is going to watch as teabagger Rob John battles it out with official GOP nominee, Montgomery City Councilwoman Martha Roby. Progressives will be rooting for either to defeat the Blue Dog, a Boehner Boy who has voted far more frequently with the Republicans on substantive matters than with the Democrats and routinely opposes the Democrats on the most fundamental issues. Glenn Beck takes it a step further: Palin will run as a third party teabagger candidate in 2012. Rahm Emanuel must have all his fingers-- all 9 of them-- and toes crossed!

This sad, last minute, disjointed plea to Republicans didn't save Dede Scozzafava:




UPDATE: Scozzafava Pressured To Withdraw But She Refuses To Endorse Teabagger

Elizabeth Benjamin at the NY Daily News interviewed Scozzafava, who refuses to endorse Hoffman. It doesn't sound like she's going to dump the party that dumped on her either though. Watch the video.

Another late development: one of Scozzafava's key backers, the New York State Independence Party chairman has switched... to Owens! Frank MacKay says he wishes he had endorsed the quasi-Democrat from day one. Meanwhile, the NRCC changed it's mind and has now endorsed Hoffman, the teabagger. I guess they decided to overlook the small differences like when they said he "lacked the integrity and qualities needed to be elected to anything-- let alone Congress."

SUNDAY UPDATE: Bad News For Teabagger

The Watertown Times has now switched its endorsement from Scozzafava to Owens and Scozzafava is urging her supporters to vote for Owens as well. Last night her husband, Ron McDougall, president of the Jefferson/Lewis/St. Lawrence Central Labor Council issued a statement through the AFL-CIO that he is endorsing Owens against teabagger Hoffman.

"This has been a difficult day for my family. But the needs and concerns of the men and women of the 23rd Congressional District remain paramount," McDougall said. "As such, I wholeheartedly and without reservation endorse the candidacy of Bill Owens."

Snatching Defeat Out Of The Jaws Of Victory-- Republican vs Republican

Will Bloody Kansas be the next battlefield in the GOP civil war?

NY-23, up near Montreal in northeast New York, has more cows than people-- and more Republicans than Democrats. The Inside-the-Beltway and national media have jumped into the race, marveling at how the GOP is managing to screw up their chances there with a vicious intraparty civil war. Watch the video below of Beck calling for a right-wing jihad against the Republican Party establishment in the name of teabaggery, and keep in mind that he still has one full week for a full-on Vicks VapoRub weeping session before the balloting is over. Even more important to remember, though, is that NY-23 isn't the only congressional race shaping up to be a showcase for the struggle between mainstream conservatives and the unhinged, Hate Talk-inspired teabaggers trying to capture the GOP.

The U.S. Senate race in Florida between the Establishment candidate, Gov. Charlie Crist, and a mediocre but charismatic right-wing insurgent, Marco Rubio, has been the most high-profile example. Among the far right fringe of the GOP, Charlie Crist has been transformed into America's worst governor (worse than Mark Sanford and Arnold Schwarzenegger!), and Republican elected officials are at cross-purposes in choosing a horse to back. Rubio, the darling of the teabaggers, has won every single county Republican straw poll-- and each one by a landslide. The farthest-right members of the GOP congressional delegation have jumped on his bandwagon, while the slightly less extremist ones are sticking with Crist. Nationally, the split is apparent when you notice that Senate Minority Leader Miss McConnell and NRSC Chair John Cornyn are backing Crist while radical right fringe operators like Jim DeMint and Mike Huckabee are on the warpath for Rubio.

Another Republican race where the split is rending the GOP into warring camps is in Kansas. With Sam Brownback giving up his Senate seat to ascend to the state's governorship-- presumably a better perch to launch a presidential race from-- two very conservative Kansas congressmen, Jerry Moran and Todd Tiahrt, are at each other's throats for the Senate nomination. Moran is viewed as slightly more mainstream and Tiahrt as slightly more extremist. Tiahrt's lifetime ProgressivePunch score is 2.25, and his score this year is 2.13, while Moran is trying to make up for his 5.07 lifetime score with a big fat zero-point-zero-zero this year. But such minutiae is the stuff that motivates your average dittohead and teabagger. Right-wing loon Rick Santorum is backing Tiahart while John McCain, Lindsey Graham and Mike Johanns, afraid that their party is falling off an ideological cliff, are behind Moran.

If, as most observers expect, the rift in NY-23 results in a victory for Democrat Bill Owens-- who basically has nothing going for himself other than the Scozzafava v. Hoffman feud-- the entrails of defeat will be picked over closely, and each side will determine, probably within minutes, that they will need to fight even harder-- against their fellow Republicans, in Florida, Kansas, South Carolina, Texas and dozens of other races across the country. I bet Rahm Emanuel would love to take credit for this fortuitous development. OK, as promised... it's Glenn Beck time:




UPDATE: Word From The Lunatic Fringe

The Senate's most extremist member, Jim DeMint, just endorsed Hoffman. I wonder how many voters in upstate New York will make up their minds based on the hysterical urgings of a racist and secessionist from South Carolina.

Teabaggers vs Mainstream Conservatives-- Wrecking The GOP

Last month we started looking at the special election campaign in the mammoth congressional district in northeast New York (NY-23) to replace John McHugh, who Obama named Army Secretary. The district hasn't sent a Democrat to Congress since the Republicans became a reform-oriented party in the 1860s. It went Republican-- but anti-slave Republican-- and never changed, even though the GOP changed so much that-- thanks to Richard Nixon's and Kevin Phillips' "Southern strategy"-- it has come full circle as the party that actually advocates policies that are both racist and as close to slavery as one can get under the current social constraints against that sort of thing. In the end, we concluded that although the mainstream Republican, Dede Scozzafava, is pro-choice and favors equality for gays, she isn't necessarily a better option than conservative Democrat Bill Owens.

She's good for a Republican and he's pretty piss-poor for a Democrat but in the end, she'll generally vote against working families and he'll generally vote for working families. Either, of course, is preferable to the extreme right-wing fringe loon, Doug Hoffman-- a registered Republican, of course-- that the Conservative Party is running. He's being backed by the teabaggers, the Club for Growth, religionist loon Gary Bauer, all kinds of fringe right-wing outfits, and extremist politicians from out of state like Indiana radical Mike Pence and Tennessee actor Fred Thompson. Yesterday's Wall Street Journal pointed out that teabagger antics like this are wrecking the GOP strategy for an electoral comeback-- and not just in Upstate New York.

Hoffman has siphoned so much support from Ms. Scozzafava that their Democratic rival has vaulted into the lead, according to a poll released Thursday. The election is Nov. 3.

Teabaggers are refusing to support the Republican candidate, and teabagger-oriented extremists in Congress, like Pence, are following their lead, hoping for national notoriety. Yesterday the GOP Establishment rolled out an endorsement by Newt Gingrich in the hope of over-awing the far right but instead they got nothing but ire and vituperation from the extremists. Right wing fanatic Jeb Hensarling (R-TX), who would like to rise in the House Republican leadership, wrote Scozzafava a check and "his conservative base attacked him viciously, specifically harping intimidate details of his personal life."

Right-wing propaganda operations are at war with each other as well. The Weekly Standard, which is more like a tabloid selling stories of Michael Jackson resurrections on Neptune every day, is making the absurd claim-- pulled right out of their asses-- that Scozzafava will switch parties if she wins. And a column by William Kristol in the same rag claims that she isn't even the Republican in the race.

The Wall Street Journal is scared that what's happening in NY-23 is also what's happening around the country, including in high profile campaigns in Florida, New Hampshire, Connecticut, Illinois, and Delaware, where the national GOP leaders want candidates who can win moderates, mainstream and independent voters but where teabaggers are looking for the kind of ideological purity that works wonders in Republican primaries but are suicide in general elections.

"Personally, I'm just as fed up with the Republican Party as the Democratic Party," says Catherina Wojtowicz, coordinator of the Chicago tea-party group. "The Republican Party looks great on paper. But the people who call themselves Republicans, with a few exceptions, have no idea what the party stands for, or don't care."

...The Club for Growth, a fiscally conservative group, has announced it's spending $250,000-- and may spend more-- in support of Mr. Hoffman, depicting Mr. Owens and Ms. Scozzafava as equally contemptible liberals. Mr. Hoffman has attracted the endorsements of several conservative and antiabortion groups.

"The fact that [the tea-party groups are] out there is going to help my candidacy, because there are people just like me that are feeling the same frustrations and the same disappointment with our leadership and doing something about it," says Mr. Hoffman.

OK, It Might Not Be Time To Start Writing Campaign Checks To Dede Scozzafava

Conservative, newly minted DCCC Democrat Bill Owens (NY-23)

A couple days ago I asked a question about supporting a moderate Republican against a conservative Democrat. Most of my friends from Upstate New York have said, essentially, "a pox on both their houses and a worse one on the DCCC for foisting Owens on us." One blogger pal even suggested progressives would be best served if Doug Hoffman, the extremist teabagger, wins the special election so that a real Democrat-- Owens just registered as a Democrat a couple weeks ago and his only political contributions on record have been for Alfonse D'Amato-- could take him out in 2010.

Bill Owens still won't take questions about his policies but the DCCC researched the public record and came up with a prettier picture than anyone has seen of their candidate. They make a credible case that he opposes extending the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy, supports EFCA, is pro-choice, and will support the President’s efforts to fix healthcare.

Given that no one knows exactly what that means, supporting "the President’s efforts to fix healthcare" is pretty weak tea-- but it's better than what we can expect from the worst of the bribe-besoted anti-family Blue Dogs like Parker Griffith and Bobby Bright of Alabama, Travis Childers and Gene Taylor of Mississippi, Mike Ross of Arkansas and Dan Boren of Oklahoma. Owens told a local newspaper that "my job in going to Washington is to support the president in that process."

As for Employee free choice, both Owens and Scozzafava support the bill. Hoffman, of course, despises working families and fervently opposes it. Similarly, Owens and Scozzafava are both pro-choice. Although in the same article Owens clearly states his opposition to a public option in the health care debate; the position he stakes out is 100% based on quintessentially deceptive Republican Party talking points, extolling popular goals without dealing with the difficulties in reaching them:

"It changes every day, the various iterations. The bill that I would vote for would have a couple of elements to it. It would cover the uninsured, it would eliminate the ability to exclude for a pre-existing condition, and also that focuses on cost-reduction."

One Democratic strategist feels the upside of an Owens win is that it will make other conservative Democrats in Congress think its OK to vote for the public option. I guess he isn't "cynical" enough to see that the Blue Dogs have made a decision to vote against the clear interests-- and stated preferences-- of their constituents and in favor of their campaign donors. And Owens' stated opposition to the public option kind of moots that argument anyway.

What Happens When A Republican Candidate Is More Progressive Than The Democrat?

As you probably know, DWT has been active in fighting against the takeover of the Inside the Beltway part of the Democratic Party by conservative elements-- from corporatists (think DLC) to outright reactionaries (think Blue Dogs). One of the problems in tackling these elements is that invariably their Republican opponents are substantially worse than they are! Republicans running against the most right wing Democrats-- from Chris Carney in Pennsylvania and Dan Boren in Oklahoma to Bobby Bright and Parker Griffith in Alabama-- try attacking them as too liberal! We've often wondered what we would do if we found an actual progressive Republican running against a conservative Democrat. Well, we just did!

A few days ago we looked at the November 3 special election coming up to replace longtime Congressman John McHugh who has been appointed Secretary of the Army. It's a complicated race and we're still trying to sort it out, something that isn't helped by the putative Democrats' reluctance to answer any questions about his positions. So let's start with the most recent news-- polling.

Although the Club for Growth, a dangerous extremist organization that works on the fringes of GOP politics, released a bogus poll last month showing a virtual 3-way tie-- and which was widely reported in the local media as though Club for Growth was a normal good faith player-- a real poll was released today by Siena with a more intuitive result:

Dede Scozzafava (Republican) 35%
Bill Owens (Democrat) 28%
Doug Hoffman (Conservative) 16%

The party labels only tell half the story, Scozzafava is the area's Assemblymember and she has a moderate voting record that clearly makes her the socially liberal candidate. Her voting record is pro-choice and pro-marriage equality. In the past she has been endorsed by the Working Families Party and by local labor unions including the SEIU. Bill Owens is the Democratic Party candidate but-- in a scenario reminiscent of the disastrous Tim Mahoney situation of 2006-- he wasn't even a registered Democrat until after he wound up with the nomination. And his conservative political outlook appears well to the right of Scozzafava's. Owens refuses to tell anyone where he specifically stands on anything, although he was happy enough to come out against marriage equality. Meanwhile, Doug Hoffman is a registered Republican who has staked out the angry teabagger extremist end of the GOP vote for himself and has been endorsed by the Club for Growth and the American Conservative Union (as well as by right-wing Tennessee actor Fred Thompson).

Today's Hill points out that "both Owens and Hoffman are slamming Scozzafava for her votes in Albany, with Hoffman calling her a liberal and Democrats portraying her as another vote against President Barack Obama's agenda, should she head to Washington." My guess is that she's probably more likely to vote for Obama's agenda than Owens is.


UPDATE: Not That Scozzafava Is The Bees' Knees

Her actual voting record shows her to be a mainstream conservative-- not a neo-Con or a teabagger-- but one who votes pro-choice and pro-gay equality. I guess part of what's attractive about her is that my sense of Close-To-The-Vest Owens is that he's going to get into Congress and be another crappy conservative Democrat who votes for a Democratic House organization and then abandons the party when it comes to the more substantive stuff. The DCCC says I'm wrong-- but what else would they say?-- and promises evidence tomorrow. Meanwhile a friend in Upstate NY points out that Scozzafava opposes sane gun control laws, isn't always consumer-friendly when their interests conflict with corporate interests, has a corporate attitude towards the environment and a corporate attitude towards campaign finance reform.

This morning at Daily Kos Robert Harding, best known for his great work at The Albany Project, deconstructs the Scozzafava-as-liberal myth and doubts she'd be even as "good" as Susan Collins. He doesn't say much, though, about how to deal with empowering another conservative Democrat and saddling the Democratic Party with someone who will be pulling the caucus ever more rightward. One more thing about Owens, even though he didn't register as a Democrat until a few weeks ago-- after the DCCC had "sold" him the nomination-- that doesn't mean he wasn't politically active. I found two political contributions from a William Owens in Plattsburgh-- one was to Alfonse D'Amato and the other was to... Alfonse D'Amato.

Is the Republican The Most Liberal Candidate In The Three Way Race In Upstate NY's Special Election?

Doug Hoffman & Fred Thompson, wiping out the NY Republican Party

When Republican Congressman John McHugh was confirmed as Secretary of the Army, one of the last 3 House seats held by a Republican in New York state came into play. There will be a special election on November 3 to fill the seat in the North Country (NY-23), a sprawling rural district that went for Obama over McCain 51.8- 46.6%. The PVI (R +0.99) makes it a quintessential swing district, traditionally Republican but trending Democratic despite being one of the most Caucasian districts in the U.S.

Conventional wisdom gives the seat to Dede Scozzafava, a moderate Republican representing much of the area in the state Assembly. The Democrat is businessman/attorney Bill Owens and the Democrats are hoping to reenact the miracle that elected Democratic businessman Scott Murphy (who, I should mention, has gone on to quickly acquire the most reactionary voting record of any Democrat in the House. less in sync with his own party than two Republicans and more in line with hard core Southern conservatives than with real Democrats). But conventional wisdom is shifting.

The GOP is not united behind Scozzafava who is deemed not sufficiently anti-choice or anti-gay to be a good Republican. And national Republicans detect a pro-working family streak in her voting record. They would rather lose the seat than win it with a moderate. So right-wing GOP front groups like The Susan B. Anthony List and the fascist-oriented Club For Growth have joined rightist politicians in endorsing Conservative Party nominee Doug Hoffman, who is a registered Republican, an anti-choice fanatic, a homophobic maniac and a 100% dedicated hater of working families-- perfect for the neo-Confederates and Big Business shills who run the GOP nationally. Tennessee actor and politician Fred Thompson has endorsed Hoffman as "the true conservative" in the race.

Locally this should be a clear formula for a Democratic win-- if there was a real Democrat in the race. Owens is playing his cards close to his chest and won't even say if he's pro-choice or not. So far many Democrats are wondering if the best choice in the election might be Dede Scozzafava who has, in the past, been endorsed by the Working Families Party. Here's Hoffman's TV ad doing the job to defeat the Republican and electing the conservative Democrat: