| The poll numbers and a possible "civil war" among House Republicans apparently was enough to get the Republican Party's interest in the 23rd congressional district race and in the Republican nominee, Assemblywoman Dede Scozzafava.
The NRCC, instead of posting stories calling their nominee "liberal" or posting stories linking their candidate to ACORN (falsely, but tying their candidate to the group nonetheless), decided to publicize former House Speaker Newt Gingrich's endorsement of Scozzafava.
"The special election for the 23rd Congressional District is an important test leading up to the mid-term 2010 elections," Gingrich said in a statement to supporters. "Our best chance to put responsible and principled leaders in Washington starts here, with Dede Scozzafava."
Then comes the news that the Republican National Committee will give $85,000 to the campaign and an additional six-figure sum to the state GOP to help Scozzafava. Prior to these contributions, the RNC had not given anything.
There are conservatives who don't want anything to do with Scozzafava. But Republican Party leaders don't want to come off as abandoning their candidate. The problem, of course, is that the conservatives in the party are questioning why the party is backing someone who is pro-choice, pro-equality and closer to the middle than most of the party's current leadership.
It has been said that this race is a referendum on President Barack Obama. I actually think it is the opposite. It is a referendum on the Republican Party.
In NY-20, Republicans put up a fairly well known candidate (Assemblyman Jim Tedisco) who was, at the time, minority leader of the Assembly. His opponent was Scott Murphy, someone who had never served in elected office and had to build up a profile to be considered a serious candidate. With hard work, Murphy won.
There is a similar situation brewing in NY-23, although we aren't going to count our chickens before they hatch. An elected official, Assemblywoman Dede Scozzafava, is running on the Republican and the Democrats put up another non-elected official in businessman Bill Owens. Scozzafava's support has been questionable and Owens has taken advantage of the conservative revolt and built up a lead in this race.
This isn't about Obama. This is about the Republicans. They have work to do and they are throwing their candidate under the bus. |
