NY 23rd- the tea baggers come home to roost. The "sleeping giant" is indeed awoken. LOL

[underpants]

One of the most watched races this November is the New York 23rd district. This is a district that is truly "upstate" bordering on Canada, Maine, and Vermont. It was represented by John McHugh until he accepted President Obama's offer to be Secretary of the Army.

So according to NY state law there is no primary in such a situation. The party leaders get to hand pick the nominee. In this case it was state legislator Dede Scozzafava but there is a problem. Seems the "core" Republicans in that district have become so empowered by the fanning of flames under the teabag fire that they are supporting an Independent Doug Hoffman against the Democratic nominee Bill Owens.

The people that created this monster, who "awoke this sleeping giant" failed to realize that any creature will always return to its home. You can't just create something and unleash it on your neighbors it WILL come home. And it is coming home to roost on them.

Now we have Palin and Pawlenty and Santorum all rallying to support Hoffman. While the original genesis of the teabag operation, Newt Gingrich, now is saying that supporting Hoffman is a "mistake". Oh my

Newt moved quickly into the power vacuum after the empire crumbled but he let in too much oxygen and now he has a fire on his hands.

The oddest part about this is that Newt and Dick Armey (leader of the second phase of teabagging) are making appearances in New York state. The New York Republicans have never wanted anything to do with their Southern brothers (Newt, Dick, Frist, Haley Barbour) and didn't need to mainly because they had their own sources of money. The southern Republicans ran roughshod over everyone while they controlled the pursestrings (and still do) and that left all of the New England Republicans out of the loop (save for the two moderate women from Maine) and now that beast is extinct and the homebase is now completely isolated.

We appear to have yet another power vacuum. The teabaggers were thought to have done what they were created to do which was an illusion of size to cover for the money pouring into DC from the health industry to kill reform. We all know that that is the way now but people don't like being slapped in the face with it....so the teabaggers were used like wet fish to slap the populace in the face and while they reeled from the stink (and some joined the crowd-because even a crowd of wet fish attracts a crowd) the money came in, as we knew it would. But who will fill it?

This appears not to be a fight or a referendum on Obama as it is an isolated, specific fight in the GOP.

If you think they have looked like floundering fools for the last year just wait until you watch them try to put out a fire but slapping at it with wet fish...and some of the fish refusing to serve the cause anymore.

[Autumn Colors]

1. No part of NY borders Maine - try Massachusetts (nt)

[underpants]

2. Excuse me, I misread the map

that seems to be happening a lot these days

It is Quebec. My bad.

[SPedigrees]

4. Quebec IS (part of) Canada. nt

[hedgehog]

3. This district hasn't sent a Democrat to Congress for over 100 years

according to the robo-call I got today from Bill Owens. Going back that far, this district probably had different borders.

[601Liberal]

5. Since the Civil War, as a matter of fact

nm

[TheWraith]

6. It varies based on county.

Most recent any part of the district was represented by a Dem was over 100 years, longest was since 1848.

[hedgehog]

7. Thanks - I knew the info was ot there somehwere, but I

didn't have time to look for it.

:hi:

[Miss Authoritiva]

8. Just a clarification...

Doug Hoffman is the Conservative Party candidate; he is not an Independent. Scozzafava is the (regular) Republican Party candidate. NY state has a few different party lines on their ballots, including Democratic Party, Republican Party, Conservative Party, and Liberal Party.

[agentS]

9. So it's not about who's best represents the district, eh?

It's about who BEST represents the GOP base!

I can see Bill Owens just kicking back and saying "How can I not win this? How can I fan the flames?"

I'm not a Bill Owens fan but I don't live there. I'll just sit back and laugh at the 3 Stooges, since this is what the district's people have chosen as their nominees.

[burning rain]

10. Scozzafava's ills aren't mainly due to right-wingers from out of state.

Hoffman is not an Independent, but the nominee of the Conservative Party, which is well-established in New York, having been founded in 1962 to oppose the moderate-to-liberal Rockefeller Republicans. Some of the biggest exploits of the Conservative Party include electing Jim Buckley (William F.'s brother) to the US Senate on their own line in 1970, defeating the incumbent Republican Senator Charles Goodell and the Democratic candidate; and splitting the anti-Cuomo vote between their own gubernatorial nominee Herbert London and the Republican Pierre Rinfret, to hand Cuomo his re-election in 1990. Pataki united the Republican and Conservative Parties to oust Cuomo in 1994, and Al D'Amato always ran on three party tickets: Republican, Conservative, and Right-to-Life--the latter two were critical to his narrow victories in 1980 and 1992. So the winning formula for Republicans in most parts of NY has been to secure the endorsement of, or at least not cross the Conservative Party, but Scozzafava has with her positions on the issues. (An exception is NYC, where Republicans John Lindsey and Rudolph Giuliani got the Liberal Party's cross-endorsement, as did Manhattan Republican state legislators like Roy Goodman and John Ravitch--but the Liberal Party lost its ballot line in 2002 for lack of votes). If Bill Owens prevails in NY-23, look for the 2010 GOP nominee to be someone who can unite the Republican and Conservative Parties.

[Crabitha]

11. The irony is that Newt had a hand in the right wing craze

and now it's come back to bite him in the arse. Now he's trying to be the 'voice of reason'.

Watching the GOP eat each other alive is amusing and I for one, am ready to eat my popcorn as I watch the show.

[driver8]

12. I grew up in this district and my Mom and sister still live there. I never knew we bordered Maine!

This is a very conservative area -- hard to imagine a Dem ever winning, here.

I will call my Mom and discuss her "voting plans".