Oot Out in 23rd

North Country Democrats are huddled at the Minnowbrook conference center in Blue Mountain Lake today. They’re expected to choose a candidate to take on Republican Dede Scozzafava and Conservative Douglas Hoffman in John McHugh’s soon-to-be-former congressional district.

The Oswego county party chair, who’s blogging from there, is reporting Michael Oot is out. The Madison county lawyer ran against McHugh last year and lost handily. Another former McHugh challenger, Dr. Bob Johnson of Watertown, remains in the pack of almost a dozen candidates seeking the Democratic nod.

Much as they found in Scott Murphy in the 20th, Democrats need to unearth someone with credibility and – perhaps most importantly – money. This campaign will be fought on the national stage, will be fierce, and very expensive.

UPDATE: Here’s an eye-witness account of the process from Politicker NY. He says the balloting won’t take place until after dinner.

We’ll have updates from Blue Mountain Lake as we get them.