Doug Hoffman, the Conservative Party's candidate, was first out of the box with a press release that seeks to capitalize on the ACORN scandal by calling on his Republican opponent, Assemblywoman Dede Scozzafava, to "explain her relationship with the radical left."
"Dede Scozzafava claims to be a Republican, yet, time and again, she has run as a candidate of the radical left Working Families Party," Hoffman said.
"The WFP is an organization that detests almost every principle the GOP stands for and with its sister organization, ACORN, has worked to radicalize the New York political scene."
"I am calling Dede Scozzafava to disavow her relationship with the WFP, condemn ACORN for its actions and come clean on her and her husband's dealings with the two entities."
The release goes on to note that Scozzafava's husband, Ron McDougall, is an organizer for "Big Labor" (he's a union official).
Hoffman's campaign spokesman, Rob Ryan, helpfully forwarded over a list of contributions McDougall has made to the WFP - 64 of them since 2002, all but one of which are for $10. The one is for $50, bringing his grand total to: $690.
Here's the deal: This should be a clear example of how conservatives are different from Republicans. Do they go hand-in-hand most of the time? Yes. But this is a clear instance where the Republicans put up a fairly moderate candidate (Scozzafava is liberal on social issues, but other than that, I can't say she's progressive) and she gets attacked by the conservative (and Conservative Party) candidate in the race for being a member of the "radical left." Conservatives are using the same hate tactics Democrats have seen over and over again on Scozzafava.
