Bold, unapologetic Constitution-abiding Conservative sends GOP warning shot in NY-23
Base sends GOP warning shot in NY-23 By: Jonathan Martin and Alex Isenstadt October 31, 2009 07:43 PM EST
Republican Dede Scozzafava’s decision Saturday to drop out of the New York special congressional election gave conservatives a big win, but may present a challenge for Republicans heading into next year’s mid-term elections.
The long-term implications from Scozzafava’s Halloween surprise will depend on what lessons Republicans take from the race, where Conservative Party nominee Doug Hoffman now seems poised to consolidate center-right support and win the seat previously held by Republican John McHugh, who resigned to become President Obama’s Secretary of the Army.
The message from national and New York conservatives is unambiguous, though: This was an angry, energized base telling the national party that an anything-for-a-majority approach by GOP leaders is unacceptable. They are serious and deeply concerned about what’s going on in Washington.
While the Empire State’s unique ballot rules and a Republican candidate to the left of the GOP mainstream helped open the door for Hoffman’s unlikely run, the national effect of this race may be to embolden more conservatives to take on party establishment-approved candidates who don’t toe the idelogical line.
At issue is whether the GOP next year will be able to channel the electricity now coursing through the conservative grassroots to fuel Republican candidates or if the fervor that’s propelled Hoffman to the precipice of victory in a district he doesn’t even live in will continue to divide the party’s pragmatic and right wings.
“Over the long term, if we keep dividing up it may cost us,” said former Rep. Tom Davis, a Virginia moderate who helped build the GOP House majority as NRCC chairman. “You’ve got to stay under one tent and that’s got to mean accommodations on both sides.”
(Excerpt) Read more at politico.com …
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