The candidacy of Dede Scozzafava has divided the GOP between its Reagan conservatives and the party establishment. Scozzafava is in a three-way race with Democrat candidate Bill Owens and Conservative candidate Doug Hoffman to fill the seat of departing Republican John McHugh in New York's 23rd Congressional District.
Scozzafava, who has been lauded by
Newt Gingrich, supports abortion, homosexual marriage, Brother O's stimulus spending, cap-and-trade, and
Card Check; and is endorsed by Markos Moulitsas, founder of The Daily Kos; NYSUT (New York State United Teachers), the largest labor union in New York and affiliate of the National Education Association, and ACORN's (Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now's) Working Families Party.
Hoffman, the
Reagan conservative in the race, is supported by former Alaska governor and 2008 GOP vice presidential candidate,
Sarah Palin, former vice chairman of the 2008 Republican National Committee Platform Committee,
Ken Blackwell, former Majority leader Dick Armey, Minnesota congresswomen
Michele Bachmann, former Republican Senator and Republican presidential candidate,
Fred Thompson, founder of the
Campaign for Working Families, Gary Bauer; the
Wall Street Journal and the conservative
Club for Growth in Washington, D.C.
Right now Democrat Bill Owens is leading Hoffman Scozzafava, but Hoffman's poll numbers have been steadily rising and have surpassed Scozzafava, which means that Scozzafava is now just
a spoiler and could keep Republicans from holding the seat that McHugh routinely won by 2-to-1 margins.
Hoffman is running as the Conservative Party's candidate because New York's local GOP establishment entered their "smoke-filled room" and chose Scozzafava behind closed doors, bypassing a primary and the party's grass-roots voters.
Scozzafava's leftist politics aren't the only embarrassment for the Republican Party. She
called the police on John McCormack, a Weekly Standard blogger, who questioned her about support for
Card Check and then used the propagandist media to smear the journalist.
The call has gone out for Scozzafava to
withdraw or be
dumped from the race. More than a dozen conservative bloggers and organizations have called for her resignation and for the National Republican Campaign Committee (NRCC) and the Republican National Committee (RNC) to withdraw their support put their resources behind the real Republican in the race.
If Hoffman wins
the big one, his campaign will become
the template for grassroots conservative campaigns nationwide next year. The special election for New York's 23rd Congressional District just might be the spark that ignites an internal revolution to regain the soul of the GOP and bring common sense and sanity back to the party of Ronald Reagan and Barry Goldwater.
