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.