Morning Read: All about Doug Hoffman
Not surprisingly, Doug Hoffman dominates the morning news cycle and not just here in the North Country. Here’s his treatment in Congressional Quarterly.
This may sound familiar. Doug Hoffman, made infamous as the spoiler in last fall’s special election in New York’s 23rd district, conceded defeat today in last week’s closely fought GOP primary against businessman Matt Doheny.
But in the next breath, he announced that he would pursue a bid as the Conservative Party candidate and had secured a place on the ballot.
Of course, that’s what he did last fall, when a divided Republican Party gave Democrat Bill Owens a congressional seat representing a district that had been in GOP hands for more than a century.
Just the fact that Hoffman stole what should have been a great news cycle from Matt Doheny (who caravaned across the North Country yesterday trumpeting his GOP primary win) shows how much he’s changing this race.
Read all about it in the Plattsburgh Press Republican, the Watertown Daily Times, and the Adirondack Daily Enterprise.
Tags: election10
Heard your interview with Hoffman this morning… once an empty suit, always an empty suit.
Hoffman’s martyr complex thing, the 1st Commandment of the Tea Party, is amusing. For all his empty rhetoric, the indisputable fact remains that Matt Doheny is the candidate on the ballot because he was chosen by voters and Doug Hoffman is the candidate on the ballot because he was anointed by party bosses.
Brian (previous comment): not sure who the “party bosses” are that you are referring to. Certainly not the GOP bosses, and there are no tea party “bosses”.
Someone commented awhile ago that 90% of tea partiers were registered Republicans.
I think they were trying to make the point that 90% of tea partiers are going to fall in line and vote Republican.
Not necessary so.
It’s the GOP party that needs to be spoiled. It is out-of-touch with a lot of its base, and they didn’t listen to the voters who rejected their choice of candidate (Dede), and they insisted on running Doheny this time, even after Hoffman had the conservative line locked up.
Dear GOP leadership: don’t count on the fact that 90% of tea partiers are registered Republicans. You don’t control them, and don’t make the mistake that they are the fall-in-line type. You need to start to listen to them instead of vice-versa.
Agree with JDM, I’m a registered Republican so I can vote in the primaries. But I have no loyalty to the Republican party.
On Hoffman, part of me likes having 3rd party candidates, part of me knows it just means an Owens victory. Such is life, maybe next time we can get some better choices.
JDM: Conservative Party boss Mike Long and the CP county bosses in the 23rd. Hoffman got that line because he was anointed by them.
I guess I’m confused. Doheny is not the choice of the “bosses” he was the choice of a large and fair subset of the VOTERS. This whole “I’m running against the party bosses” theme was true in 2009 and Hoffman is trying to convince suckers it’s true again. It amazes me that some people would continue to back a guy who is 0-2 in these elections to the detriment of things that they ostensibly should care about.
jcsnotes:
Doheny was the “choice of the bosses”. If you attended any of the local Republican meetings, which I have, you would know more of how the process works and is flawed.
Each county Republican meeting meets. People show up. We give the local chair our input. The local chair reports to the regional committee.
They disregard the input of the local chair and pick the candidate they want.
Well, guess what. That ain’t going to cut it anymore.
The fact that a few anointed party leaders meet and decide who they think is “most electable” and assign the “R”-brand to that person isn’t the way it is going to work anymore.
They didn’t get it with the Dede fiasco. They may not get it this election cycle, but those who want it to change aren’t caving.
Hoffman was available if the party bosses wanted him. They did not.
If Hoffman had the backing of the county “R”-leaders, we would be in a lot better shape right now.
So twice in a row the “party bosses” didnt pick Hoffman because they believed he couldnt win. He ran anyway. He didnt win.