Doug Hoffman "Unconcedes" House Race

(CBS/ AP)

Conservative party candidate Doug Hoffman (left) has "unconceded" the closely-watched N.Y. 23 House race, which he had previously thought he had lost to Democratic candidate Bill Owens, The Hill reports.

Hoffman, a favorite of the tea party movement, conceded on election night amid returns that showed he was down by more than 5,000 votes. But as the Associated Press reported on Friday, a "routine recanvassing of votes shows Owens' lead has narrowed to 3,026 votes, with about 5,800 absentee ballots received so far that have yet to be counted."

Hoffman announced his unconcession on Glenn Beck's radio show this afternoon.

"…if I knew this information at the election night, I would not have conceded," he reportedly told Beck.

(AP)

Owens (left) was sworn into Congress earlier this month, and he voted in favor of the health care reform bill that narrowly passed the House. He would reportedly be removed from office should the final tally show a Hoffman victory. That outcome is unlikely, but not impossible.

Hoffman's apparent loss, which came after Republican Dede Scozzafava withdrew from the race amid anger over her moderate positions on certain issues, was seen by some as a rebuke to the tea party activists and their allies.

Noting that N.Y. 23 has until now been a reliably-Republican district, critics – including some Republicans – suggested Hoffman supporters were more interested in fielding candidates who hewed strictly to their point of view than actually winning elections.

[preff]

I feel this whole election was on the shady side. De DE withdrew and yet her name still appeared on the ballot Her name should have been bloked out before voters got the ballot. How convenient to throw an election. Also why should Hoffman concede with a large portion of the votes not counted . Owens never should have been sworn in until the election was settled and sll votes cvounted. This was only done so he could vote on the health care bill.I'm only a private citizen and I could fiqure out an easy way to make the election on the up and up,therefore I feel that our government becomes more and more corrupt or we've elected a whole bunch of dummies to run our government. Common sense should prevail if anyone has any.

[rhopiarch]

"critics ? including some Republicans ? suggested Hoffman supporters were more interested in fielding candidates who hewed strictly to their point of view than actually winning elections. "

Why exacly is it made out to be a bad thing to vote on principles instead of party lines? If it was not for points, why have elections? Just put in who ever the ruling party wants and run it that way... oh wait that's part of communisim...

[edgeco1]

Hoffman was LIED to by the election officials. They did not correctly count the votes!
He conceded because he was given FALSE information, get it!

By the way, Dede is no Moderate!

[allgoodthgs]

If that is true.......the Democrats, Republicans, and the Conservative officials would have had to been in on it......votes are counted by representatives of all parties involved....that's the law and this scenario ("the election officials lying to him") is not possible. True there may have been a miscount but Doug Hoffman knew the race was not yet officially "certified" and he conceded...at the very least this choice shows very poor judgment on his part.....no one was holding a gun to his head. He has to take responsibility for his choice.

[bill0bob]

Concede means to "acknowledge defeat". If an honest man acknowledges defeat, he doesn't try take it back because doing so would prove that either he doesn't know what he's doing, or that he has very poor judgement.

He is acting like a child. ("I won!", "No, I won!", "No you didn't!", "Yes I did!", "No way!", "Says who?", etc.)

[NNYVoter]

This was a very poorly written piece. I live in this district and this piece is very incomplete. For example, it does not mention anything about the fact that he conceded on election night because he was given the wrong totals reported from some districts. The reporting on election night was skewed, and had the correct information been known at that time he would not have conceded in the first place as everyone here knew the amount of absentees that were in play as Ft. Drum is here and many of our people are deployed. Within a couple of days of the election we all here knew that the reporting was wrong and new totals had been released, prior to absentees beginning to be counted. He is not the only candidate in this situation, some of our local elected positions that were being voted on that night are in the same position. The reporter doing this piece did a chop job.

[allgoodthgs]

In my opinion Hoffman "unconceding"is a huge mistake. Even if he somehow won enough absentee votes to be considered the winner, those results will never be trusted now......what would make a candidate "change his mind" after conceding? Pretty shaky thought process.....not "misinformation".....he knew there were absentee ballots.... Who's advice was he taking then and who's advice is he taking now? Whoever those people are, he just looks like he is an idiot, regardless of his party affiliation, and should just learn from his mistake. Just this action alone shows me he is not very capable of good decision making.....suck it up and try to more forward in a more gracious and mature way!

[wwallace2]

ShermanKY, Scozzafava did not 'withdraw from the race', she 'suspended her campaign'. I live in the district, and I voted - there were no signs or notices posted anywhere indicating that She was not a candidate.
Also, this 'special election' was on the same day as New York's normal election, there were many local races and issues on the ballot. The Congressional race was 1 of about 8 other lines on the ballot.

[ShermanKY]

When a candidate withdraws after the ballots have been printed, a sign is placed at all polling places notifying voters that Candidate X is no longer in the race and his/her votes won't count. At least, that's the case everywhere I've voted.
Almost everyone voting for Scozzafava must have known she had dropped out. And keep in mind: this was a SPECIAL election. There was nothing else on the ballot. No other elections. Nothing else to vote for.
Anyone showing up just to vote for a candidate who'd dropped out of the race must have been doing so, on purpose, as a protest.
And if a majority didn't want Owens, it's also true a majority didn't want Hoffman.
As for the absentee ballot thing, I don't see how Hoffman makes up a 3,000 vote gap when there are just 5,800 votes to be counted.

[nh4ronpaul]

Problem is, when a candidate withdraws, that should clearly be noted where all can see it before they enter the voting booth.

From the fact that DS got 6,000+ votes, it is clear that the MAJORITY did not want this OWENS person to win.

[stn_sage]

LMAO! If this doesn't 'take the f*#@ing cake'!

How bizarre! A candidate who 'UNCONCEDES'?! Who would have thought?

Not surprisingly, he's a Republican. HEY! You should NEVER concede until you're absolutely sure you've lost! This guy shouldn't be allowed to have the seat even if the mail-ins give it to him...for being such a dumb arse!

[6591Hou]

Well to be honest there was a presidential race where a candidate made a phonecall to his opponent to concede only to pull it back and then the race was finally decided by the USSC.....but I do agree, let the votes get counted before throwing in the towel.