Owens wins Week Four in 23rd Special Election

I know, I know: snarks out there will think I’m just spreading the love, polishing my nonpartisan cred.

Nope. I think this week goes cleanly to Plattsburgh Independent-Democrat Bill Owens.

Here’s why:

Republican Dede Scozzafava and Conservative Doug Hoffman are beating the daylights out of each other. The rhetoric from both sides is already ugly.

Meanwhile, Scozzafava saw one more conservative group in Washington DC lining up with Hoffman.

And her 30% showing in this week’s partisan poll (commissioned by Hoffman) wasn’t strong enough to grant Scozzafaa the role of heir-apparent.

If Hoffman keeps it up, and there’s every indication that he plans to, his jabs could matter.

Hoffman, meanwhile, stumbled on the question of whether or not he supports civil unions, as an alternative to same-sex marriage.

Here’s an entertaining treatment of his campaign’s exchange with Jude Seymour at the Watertown Daily Times.

I had asked [Hoffman] if he was in support of or against civil unions for same-sex couples.

His exact quote: “Any two people should be able to enter into any legal contract. No one should be persecuted or prosecuted for their beliefs.”

Rob Ryan, his spokesman, and I just had a very animated discussion about this. I think we agreed on the following:

– I should not have assumed just because Mr. Hoffman said anyone should be able to enter into any legal contract that he was in support of civil unions. Even though, as I think about it now, how the heck do you get into a civil union? Isn’t there some legal contract involved? It’s legally recognized.

– I should have asked a follow up question to clarify Mr. Hoffman’s position. I asked a direct question and he didn’t give me a direct answer. But I should have asked a follow-up question.

– Mr. Hoffman’s campaign should have corrected the record regarding his position. After all, they issued a statement clarifying his position on “Don’t Ask Don’t Tell,” which is from that very same article. (Interestingly enough, that got screwed up because I did ask the clarifying question.)

– Mr. Hoffman would have saved us all a lot of trouble if he had just started his answer with the word, “No.”

Meanwhile, Bill Owens had a much more muscular week on his own behalf.

-He held a high-profile fundraiser with Vice President Joe Biden in Syracuse, not a bad stature builder.

-We learned that Owens has enlisted the same campaign team that shepherded Glens Falls Democrat Scott Murphy’s upset win in the 20th district special election.

-According to the Hoffman poll, Owens is in second place, just ten points behind Scozzafava. Not bad for a fresh face, especially with a third of voters still undecided.