The Race Heats Up in the NY 23rd
The the relative quiet of an off year election, there are still some special elections to watch. One of them is taking place up near the Canadian border with New York in the largely rural, mountainous 23rd district. (You may recall that I usually spend part of my summer up there fishing with disappointing results.) This district is about as conservative as they come in the Empire State, and Republicans have held that seat continuously since the late 1800′s. That may be about to change, though, given the debate currently raging around the upcoming Nov. 3 election.
The local GOP nominated one Dede Scozzafava, an odd specimen of the Republican species since she supports a number of traditionally Democratic issues. She’s moderately pro-choice, supports gay rights and is married to a union organizer. As you might imagine, this has some conservatives across the country up in arms, particularly since the NRCC and Newt Gingrich himself have endorsed her. Some are questioning why the national organizations aren’t abandoning their own candidate and supporting New York Conservative Party candidate Doug Hoffman. This is the subject of my column this weekend over at Pajamas Media, which you are invited to read and comment on.
For some more background, we had a fairly lengthy discussion on this race during our radio show yesterday. (A replay is available at the link.) There are some strange parallels between this race and the gubernatorial election currently playing out in New Jersey, where a third party candidate may yet steal victory away from Chris Christie and give the hapless Jon Corzine another term in office. (And nobody could have seen that coming earlier this summer.) Corzine shouldn’t have had a chance, given the current conditions in the Garden State, but again we see a third party candidate playing a major role in race.
Are we coming into a new era of ascendancy for third parties? Time will tell.
4 Responses to “The Race Heats Up in the NY 23rd”
The Republican Establishment deserves a good thumping for screwing this race up. Either they learn from the debacle they have caused or they don't, and we all have to pay a price. On the plus side, the whole mess ought to serve as an antidote to the facile lie that the 'Tea Party' insurgency is controlled and manipulated by the Republican Party. Maybe, just maybe, Hoffman will win and we'll get the best of all worlds. If not, at least we avoid another Specter.
Who cares. No matter who wins, it will have zero affect on policy, governance, or the future. The Republican Party is irrelevant to the governance of the U.S. If the Republican wins or loses cannot be more irrelevant to the U.S.
I guess focusing on an irrelevant election gives people something to think about instead of how the U.S. will function as a one party state where non-whites are dominate.
I think you are close to the mark superdestroyer but it's really the American people that are irrelevant. We live in a Corporatcracy not a Democracy here in the US and although it may sound like the R's and the D's are singing different songs they are both marching to the same drummers and those drummers are in the corporate boardrooms and not on Main Street.
Amen, amen, amen, amen, and amen!!!!
Corporatocracy. Good word. Meanwhile, we Rs and Ds (and a few I's) spend our time and effort fighting each other while the status quo marches on. If we were to actually come together and unscrew the government, they'd probably crack down hard. I guess that's why I love the Tea Party movement. I'm a democrat and have met people from every political line at those protests. The media makes it out to be a “GOP” thing. I thought so too at first, until I got involved. That particular movement seems to be more about restoration of power to the people and a readherance to the Constitution.