Minnesota’s Michelle Bachmann endorsing Hoffman?
Yesterday on the Laura Ingraham show, Minnesota Rep. Michelle Bachmann made a good case for a Hoffman vote. Though she stopped short of a full endorsement, Bachmann has observed that a Hoffman vote is simply common sense, if you want a Republican to win the seat:
Hoffman is on the ascendancy … and we have to win this seat, and people need to get behind the winning candidate, and it looks like that’s Hoffman.
She makes a valid point. By now it should be clear that Scozzafava is not going to win. Neither Hoffman nor his supporters will back down — indeed many Hoffman supporters have already said they’d prefer Democrat Owens to have the seat over Assemblywoman Scozzafava. This means two things. First, that it is Dede, not Hoffman, who is the spoiler in this race. And second, that if Republicans actually want a Republican to win, their only hope is to vote Hoffman. Failure to do so lands an Owens victory squarely on the shoulders of Scozzafava and her supporters.
The GOP has made the mistake of believing that being “Democrat Lite” will win them power. It will not. Conservatives — regular Americans, in fact — aren’t concerned with the Parties’ ability to get or stay in power. They are concerned with what those people will do with it. Newt Gingrich doesn’t get it; Michelle Bachmann does.
A full endoresement for Hoffman, meanwhile, has come from former Majority Leader Dick Armey. And he, too, offers common-sense reasoning for his decision.
Finally, in a move surprising nobody, the National Organization for Marriage has endoresed Hoffman, while strongly condemning the Left-wing stance of Dede Scozzafava.
It would appear the writing is on the wall for the Scozzafava campaign. Nobody expects her to notice, but I have to wonder if the GOP does — and whether they plan to do anything about it, or go back to their 2008 strategy of blaming Conservatives for their failures.
NY23 update: More boots on the ground for Hoffman; updates from the liberals in the race
Last night, I received a call on behalf of the Susan B. Anthony List. The group — whose stated goal is getting “pro-life women” elected to Congress — is mobilizing to NY-23 in support of Doug Hoffman.
The caller informed me that the group is sending out volunteers and community organizers to hand out SBA literature and Hoffman signs, and to rally social Conservatives to the Hoffman cause. Hoffman’s campaign, he noted, is primarily concerned with TV ads (given the amount of time and limited finances), while grass-roots activism is being largely left up to individuals and groups like SBA.
Given the budget and time constraints of the Hoffman camp, this secondary support could well prove important to the campaign. In an email to supporters, Hoffman campaign staffer Daniel Odescalchi noted other grass roots groups coming out:
The regional Huck PAC folks have also offered to canvass the district on our behalf.
And a group of Patriots are coming up from Westchester, NY to help too.
GOP candidate Dede Scozzafava, meanwhile, held a meet-and-greet dinner in Lowville, where she was approached by a reporter asking questions about her stated policies, versus her various actions (such as her declining to sign the No-tax pledge until just before receiving Newt Gingrich’s endoresement). After supplying vague answers to the reporter, Scozzafava finally refused to answer any more questions, and staffers blocked the reporter from approaching her. Police were later called in (after the reporter had retired to his vehicle to write his article on the night’s events) to explain things to him and ask him to leave her alone.
Across the proverbial aisle, Bill Owens has also recently run into a spot of trouble — with the California Milk Processor Board. In a new ad, Owens ends up with a variation of the group’s now-infamous “Got Milk?” slogan — which then morphs into “Got Milk Money?” A clever idea, but one which was not, apparently, run by the CMPB first. They’ve issued a cease-and-desist order, which is being largely ignored by the Owens campaign, except to say that their usage consititues “fair use.”
Voters may well wonder if THIS is the fight the Owens camp really needs to be waging right now — and what that might portend as far as which battles Owens would pick as an elected representative.
You can contribute to the Hoffman campaig through his website, http://www.doughoffmanforcongress.com.
UPDATE: According to WaPo, intraparty polls are suggesting Hoffman is now in second place, behind Owens.
(Cross-posted at The Minority Report)
This registered Republican won’t be punching the (R) tab on Nov. 3
Over the past several months, citizens have risen up to protest the gross mishandling of our economy at the hands of liberal career politicians in Washington. Ordinary citizens, many of whom had never dreamed they would take the time out of their busy lives to make such a statement. Had never dreamed they’d find it necessary.
Folks across the country stood to raise their voices against the negligence of a government run amok – including citizens throughout New York’s 23rd Congressional District, in “tea party” protest from Canton, all the way to Albany.
And the eleven county GOP heads of NY23 heard those voices. And when the time came to act, they responded – by selecting for the Republican nomination another liberal career politician.
Dede Scozzafava is not the “change” we need in Washington, no matter what her admirably positive TV ads say. We are where we are because of big spenders. Because of people who aren’t shy about raising our taxes, or spending money we don’t have on a bogus “stimulus” package that puts money in the hands of those who need it least. Dede Scozzafava is more of the same: she voted over 190 times to raise taxes in New York – already among the most taxed states in the union (second only to New Jersey in total tax burden). She voiced support of the failed – yes, failed – stimulus plan, while refusing to sign a no-tax pledge (see above link). Granted, she recently did decide to sign that pledge, though after her honestly decent reasons for refusing, her change of heart is confusing at best, and makes me wonder what she won’t do to get elected.
Though she wisely chose not to pursue the (ACORN-affiliated) Working Families Party nod this time out, it’s important to remember that as a New York Assemblywoman, the (WFP) sits right next to the (R) and (I) behind her name. I think it’s safe to say that, were the WFP not poison to her self-styling as Republican in this race, they’d be proudly supporting her now, too. Especially given the comparatively Conservative leanings of the Named Democrat in the race, Bill Owens.
By contrast, Doug Hoffman is a no-nonsense, fiscally responsible Conservative. He signed a no-pork pledge, is vehemently opposed to more taxes and would never have voted for a bailout measure like the bank bailouts we saw at the end of 2008.
A vote for Hoffman carries import beyond the simple question of who will represent NY-23, however. The nation is watching this race, because it is, indeed, a referendum, not only on the Obama Administration’s handling of our country’s financial affairs, but of the Republicans’ aquiescence to bad policy like the Stimulus (in the Senate), the Cap&Trade, and others. This is a fight for the heart and soul of the Republican Party. Will it once again be the Constitutionally Conservative, Common-sense voice of stalwarts from Washington to Reagan; or will it continue to be the weak-willed, if occasionally contrary, twin brother to the Democrats?
When somebody as liberal as DailyKos endorses the Republican, it’s time to take notice
So it’s official, I’m rooting for the Republican to win. As a congresswoman, she could either move even more to the left to properly represent her progressive-trending district and be a pain in the side of the GOP caucus (they have nothing like our Blue Dogs), or Democrats can field a real Democrat to challenge her in 2010.
Markos fears Hoffman, and rightly so. His brand of liberalism demands purity of socialist standards, and he has given his approval to Dede. Read his whole piece. It’s most enlightening.
(cross-posted at RedState)