President Obama's appointment of Republican New York Congressman John McHugh as Army Secretary set up the nation's only congressional race this November. There, a battle between the moderate and conservative wings of the GOP is shaking up to be a party battleground.
(Charles Dharapak/AP/File)Photos (1 of 1)
Republicans going rogue in upstate New York
A New York congressional election, featuring a third-party conservative challenging the Republican nominee, tests the future of the GOP. Will the Tea Party insurgency prevail?
By Patrik Jonsson | Staff writer/ October 24, 2009 edition
Atlanta
Pitting conservative purists against party pragmatists, a growing number of national Republican figures are bucking the party standard and backing a third-party candidate in November’s special election in upstate New York’s 23rd congressional district. [Editor’s note: The original version mischaracterized this contest as the only congressional election this fall. There is another in California’s 10th congressional district.]
Former vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin, former Senator Rick Santorum, former House Majority Leader Dick Armey, current Minnesota Rep. Michelle Bachmann, former Tennessee Senator and presidential candidate Fred Thompson, and former presidential candidate Steve Forbes have all backed Conservative Party candidate Doug Hoffman over Republican Dede Scozzafava.
Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty – a potential presidential candidate in 2012 – suggested Friday on ABC News that he’s strongly considering backing Hoffman, as well.
“Our nation is at a crossroads, and this is once again a time for choosing,” Ms. Palin, author of the upcoming book, “Going Rogue,” wrote Thursday on her Facebook page. “This is the game-changer,” added Dick Armey, whose Freedom Works organization has supported the Tea Party movement.
Palin, et al. represent what can only be called the Tea Party insurgency, whose adherents point to mainstream Republicans – including party philosopher Newt Gingrich – and their support of Ms. Scozzafava as another sign that the GOP has strayed from its core principles.
Taken together, it means that NY-23 is one of the first real test of voter attitudes 10 months into the Obama presidency. [Editor’s note: The original version overstated the sole importance of the contest in New York.]
National Republican figures taking a stand against the Washington wing of the party means two things: Conservatives are now willing to take bold political chances in order to move the party toward purer party principles like small government and lower taxes. But it could also backfire: A Ross Perot-like split of NY-23 could mean the district going to a Democrat, Bill Owens, for the first time in over 100 years.
The White House could hardly have anticipated that fortuitous scenario when picking former NY-23 Congressman John McHugh for a Pentagon post, the move that set up November’s congressional election. [Editor’s note: This sentence was amended to take note of another congressional race this fall.]
“This week’s surge of leading conservatives to Hoffman’s camp is a troubling sign for [Scozzafava’s] campaign and the national GOP establishment since several of the recent Hoffman endorsers have significant followings and represent the most energetic part of the Republican base,” writes Andy Barr at the Fredericksburg, Va., Free Lance-Star.
Ms. Scozzafava is a moderate-to-liberal Republican, a long-time state legislator who supports gay marriage and abortion rights. Her Democratic opponent, Mr. Owens, leads in the polls as Hoffman, a wealthy upstate businessman, has pulled about 23 percent of the vote, and is gaining fast.
Critics say the battle for Oswego is typical of the fringe politics that are driving the GOP right now. Chris Kelly at the Huffington Post writes that Hoffman “hasn’t just been anointed by a political machine. He’s been kidnapped by drifters.”
And the image of two GOP stalwarts – Armey and Gingrich – lining up on opposite sides of this election underscores the import of the fight.
“The specter of two generals of the 1994 Republican revolution, Gingrich and Armey, taking opposing positions highlights the philosophical divide within the GOP between purists and pragmatists,” writes the Wall Street Journal’s Naftali Bendavid on Friday.
But while big-name GOP stars line up their support, the real story of NY-23 is as a test for whether the much-discussed Tea Party movement from this summer and fall can translate into actual political power – i.e., getting someone elected.
The blogosphere has lit up with “anti-Dede” sites, only exacerbating Ms. Scozzafava’s political problems. Her financial fortunes are also lagging as she’s being outspent on the campaign trail while her own family business is in trouble.
Meanwhile, Tea Party volunteers are reportedly pouring into Hoffman’s campaign office to help canvas the Oswego area.
“They’re making New York 23 a last stand,” blogger Erick Erickson tells Politico. “New York should be a hill to die on for conservative activists.”
—–
Follow us on Twitter.
Comments
2. Gaston Younger | 10.25.09
As a former GOP a la Gerald Ford & Christinne Todd Whittman, I bid adieu to the extremist,immigrant bashing, nativist xenophobics, Taliban Southern bigot influenced GOP of the 21st century, may the winds carry you away & disperse in four directions.
3. tommyzax | 10.26.09
If anyone complains about this, we have to ask, Is the Communist Party running in various districts? Socialist Party? OK, then get off the hypocrisy wagon and let Tea party do its business.
Then… ask, what is their platform. Gee, it looks like small governmentau and freedom. Sounds a little Libertarian, just more Conservative. OOOOhhhh… “dangerous.”
4. DB | 10.26.09
Mr. Benninghoff is right — the hard-rightists need to implode before anything good will happen for the Republican party and for the larger group of moderately conservative rightists.
The laughable Tea Party movement is stunning in its ineffectiveness. All those shoutdowns at Congressional townhalls, and yet health care reform is closer than ever. 80,000 for a nationwide DC rally? More people go to a Michigan football game than that, and they pay good money for the privilege. More people watch a 5th rate, soon-to-be-canceled sitcom than have been part of the artificially-inflated, corporatist “Tea Party” “movement”.
But the hard right swing has highlighted the dangerous intentions of some of its members. Nothing good is to be gained from the discussion of armed insurrection. Another season of political assassination will settle nothing.
The Constitution the rightists hold so dear contains the method of their victory, if they choose it. They only need to convince — convince, not intimidate or threaten — a majority of voters that they are right. But they never will. Shouting feels better, looks better on the teevee. Beats thinking.
The defining trend of history is the trend towards greater liberalism. Backslides occur, but are never permanent.
5. KPotter | 10.26.09
“NY-23 is as a test for whether the much-discussed Tea Party movement from this summer and fall can translate into actual political power – i.e., getting someone elected.”
I’ll simply point to a recent Tennessee special election where the Tea Party/9.12 movement was instrumental in the upset of Ty Cobb (yes, that is his real name) by Pat Marsh. This state election was significant in that Ty’s brother held the seat before him and their father held it before them. This seat has been held by a Democrat since the 1860’s.
The people are fed up.
6. Ray Comfort | 10.27.09
I see things a little differently…….George Bush eventually alienated a large (and majority) of conservative folks……these folks didn’t forget the “values” aspect of their votes and that’s what the polls show GOP conservatives to be. Ardent and conservative Republicans (not RINO,s) are calling for heads in South Carolina, with the future impeachment of the their woman chasing govenor and liberal licking Lindsay Graham. So be it! Now watch your down home values voters (good country folk in Oswego) do away with Scozzofava and Newty. I don’t see Reagan Republicanism waning at all. Track the blogs…..the good ones, not Ariana!
Trackbacks/Pingbacks
Leave a Comment
We do not publish all comments, and we do not publish comments immediately. The comments feature is a forum to discuss the ideas in our stories. Constructive debate - even pointed disagreement - is welcome, but personal attacks on other commenters are not, and will not be published.
Tip: Do not write a novel. Keep it short. We will not publish lengthy comments. Come up with your own statements. This is not a place to cut and paste an email you received. If we recognize it as such, we won't post it.
Please do not post any comments that are commercial in nature or that violate copyrights.
Finally, we will not publish any comments that we regard as obscene, defamatory, or intended to incite violence.
1. Charles Benninghoff | 10.25.09
The death of the Republican party may take time but its pyre will certainly be self-lit. With a “Republican” sponsoring gay marriage and the execution of our guiltless children, there is nothing left of the Gingrichian Party in any case. During the throes, we can expect huge super-majorities of socialists with ways even more spendthrift and anti-family than found in Obama’s form of fascism or Gingrich’s pan-Republicanism. As Gerald Celente, the trend analyst, predicts we may be in revolution by 2014 anyway simply due to American unemployment and resulting poverty, the result of the Republican-Conservative battle will be neutral overall from a power point of view.
Thus, one has to take the long range viewpoint of what is better for the good of the country. That clearly is the abandonment of the Gingrichian Republican Party by conservative voters and the establishment of a new Conservative National Party dedicated to Americanism, free enterprise, small government and protection of the family.