N.Y. Democrat Owens Wins House Seat

Conservative Party Candidate Hoffman Loses Seat Strongly Republican for Decades

(CBS/AP)  A Democrat won a special congressional election in a heavily Republican district in northern New York by exploiting a battle between moderates and conservatives for control of the GOP.

With 88 percent of the precincts reporting early Wednesday, lawyer and retired Air Force Capt. Bill Owens defeated businessman Doug Hoffman, the Conservative Party candidate, 49 percent to 46 percent.

Dierdre Scozzafava, a moderate Republican, withdrew from the race Saturday under pressure from the party's right wing because of her support of abortion rights and same-sex marriage. She still picked up 5 percent of the vote.

Hoffman conceded the race Wednesday.

Hoffman started at a distant third and was viewed as a spoiler at best, cutting away at Scozzafava and opening the door for Owens. But prominent Republicans such as former vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin and Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty endorsed Hoffman instead of the party-picked Scozzafava.

"Hoffman became the talisman for anger at the GOP establishment in Washington, anger at the big spending ways of Democrats in Congress, anger at the media -- a way to clear through a bundle of different resentments that tend to be shouldered by a party that has lost his way," says CBS News chief political consultant Marc Ambinder.

But Hoffman lost, explains Ambinder, largely because voters in the 23rd District did not embrace his philosophy. "They saw Hoffman as a carpetbagger -- he didn't even live in the district -- who was trying to hijack their district for his own ideological ends."

Owens' victory may signal renewed strength among Democrats, or at least reassure them of Republicans' perceived weakness. The seat has been strongly Republican for decades. The outcome leaves Republicans holding only two seats in the state's 29-seat congressional delegation. Republican John McHugh vacated the seat in September to become Army secretary.

"They're in a civil war over the definition of their party," said Paul Blank, a Democratic consultant. "And the extremists have won."

Republicans will be sorting out their identity as the party tries to strike a balance between growing its ranks and preserving the values that set it apart from the Democratic Party.

"I think that the Republican Party is broad enough to handle many different candidates, but the fact is that I'm a commonsense conservative Republican - I am not a radical," Hoffman said Monday. "The point is that Assemblywoman Scozzafava was not a moderate Republican. She was an ultraliberal Republican."

CBSNews.com Election Night Coverage:

Results
All Election Night 2009 Results
Republicans Sweep N.J., Va. Gov. Races
N.Y. Democrat Owens Wins House Seat
Maine Voters Reject Gay Marriage
Breckenridge, Colo., Votes to Legalize Pot

Analysis
What McDonnell's Win Means for the GOP, Obama
Corzine's Fall Has Been Festering for a While
What Doug Hoffman's Loss Means to Conservatives
Lessons for the White House from '09 Election Results
Why Christie Won in New Jersey
McDonnell Won Due to Turnout, Independents
Exit Polls in Va. and N.J.: The Obama (Non) Factor?

[hungry1968-17]

by ttaoin2010 November 4, 2009 12:18 PM EST

It wasn't the Democrats or Republicans that won last night. It was the conservatives. And yes, the socialist, communist, facist, progressives lost. Big time.






The republicans that won, were center-right or moderate republicans. They WERE NOT conservatives / extremists.

The democrats and republicans split the victories last night, and the CONSERVATIVES GOT KILLED!

That whole bizarre, failed ideology is being rejected.

[hungry1968-17]

by ttaoin2010 November 4, 2009 12:31 PM EST
Hungry- golly Bush did do the Tarp bailout.....but Obama did the second Tarp bailout, right? .....and Golly, wasn't Obama the one that bailed out GM & Chrysler? Not Bush?






Perhaps you can explain how Obama did the automaker bailouts, since the GM and Chrysler bailouts happened in DECEMBER - a MONTH before Obama took office.

[hungry1968-17]

by ttaoin2010 November 4, 2009 11:25 AM EST
Good analysis.....yeah the Democrat won. He was endorsed by the liberal Scozzafava (who will now probably switch parties). The big surprise was Hoffman. A virtual unknown that almost won. It's too bad. After the beatdown the Democrats suffered in VA and NJ, I figured the GOP would sweep the field.
The dems will point to the House seats they picked up, but that's pretty much irrelevent. Many of the conservative and moderate Congressional Dems will now be spooked, Healthcare reform and the "Progressive" agenda will quietly disappear.







The house seats that they picked up is pretty much irrelevant?!?!

Do you realize that the HOUSE votes on issues regarding the FEDERAL GOVERNMENT which includes all of us?

I live in NY, and those house seats mean much more to me than the meaningless governor seats in VA and NJ. (Meaningless to me, since I don't live in those states.)



And conservatives in BOTH parties should be spooked. If they have any brains that is.

[pubsrtoast]

Hey tea party crowd, maybe you lost because Hoffman wasn't conservative enough. I wholeheartedly suggest you drop that "liberal" Hoffman and move even farther right. Yeah, that's the ticket.

[ttaoin2010]

Good idea.....it worked in NJ and VA!!

[LtSmily]

Hello Skyk, seems we are at odds on two things
A) Nazi = Extreme Right.... so you are saying the Republican Party are socialists ?
B)Just because Clinton changed HOW the Government reports accounting methods does NOT mean he balanced the budget. Look up accrual accounting and then tell me how it could possibly work when the Government is NOT a business that MAKES sales, it only TAKES a fluctuating base of possible tax receipts. BUT yes, we were in a better position in '99 than we are now (for multiple reasons both parties can take credit for) although taxes were higher in '99 than '01 or '03 when Bush squandered the extra income from lowering taxes.
On a separate note, who cares about this election in New York. The bottom line is there were two Democrats vs. a non Republican Republican and the Dem that won only won by 3% which is within the margin of error. When will we get away from this abortion and gay marriage crap at the national level and focus on real issues. It occurs to me that DeDe wasn't a republican primarily because of these two issues (and supporting card check, and higher taxes, etc . etc) and these two issues are completely irrelevant at the national level.
Who cares what gays do in their bedroom, just don't bring "it" out and everything will be fine. So they have to work a little harder to get the benefits they want, big deal, who said life was going to be easy, and they compound it by either choosing their lifestyle or by having a genetic defect (if science can prove this is the case then it's not their fault).
Abortions are totally irrelevant on the national level also, so why have any legislation for or against. It?s seems to be just a ?vote getter? for Democrats who really could care less what happens to these poor girls later in life. By the same token, I could care less who a girl/woman sleeps with in an irresponsible manner and then pays for it later, I just don't want my tax dollars paying for a night of drunken excess, or an inner city baby factory to collect welfare. If that makes me a racist, well then I am just joining the party the Dems and Margaret Sanger started at the turn of the 20th century to get rid of, ?the mongrel races? in Margaret?s own words.
These two issues are non sequiturs at the national level and any candidate who uses them as platform material during a national race should be laughed out of the building. Supporting thug unions, raising taxes, supporting TARP, should have been enough to get DeDe kicked out of the Republican party, but again, she showed that ALL politicians are opportunists, interested in what they can gain, instead of principled stands on what is right for the people they represent.

[pdchapin]

Maybe it's time for RINOs, or as I like to call them NLEs (Not Looney Enough) republicans to reconsider which party they're in. We democrats need more conservatives in out party. The best health care debate so far has been between liberal democrats and blue dog democrats. They are talking out their differences and are coming up with a compromise solution that neither will love but moves in the right direction and actually gets something done. It's the way the legislative process is suppose to work. Republicans are increasing becoming irrelevant speed bumps on the road to getting anything done.

It's going to be a bad couple of years for incumbent governors and mayors since they have to do the nasty work of budget balancing which the President can avoid. Whether you lay people off, cut programs, or raise taxes, you're going to annoy a lot of people. That, more than party, explains VA and NJ.

[ianlou]

Obama appoints a Republican House Rep to his Cabinet and the voters fill the empty seat with a Democrat - Too Funny!

Obama should appoint some Republican Senators to Cabinet Positions also.

[th9876]

I don't understand why anyone would put any credibility to Sara Palin's opinion. She is an ignorant nobody now. Making a lot of money on all of the other idiots in the country. Thank goodness NY23 ignored her.

[erich_1-2009]

"The point is that Assemblywoman Scozzafava was not a moderate Republican. She was an ultraliberal Republican."

Scozzafava withdrew and threw her support for Owens. Owens is much more Conservative than this radical Leftist. The Moderates and Leftists vote out weighed the Conservative Independent.

The person who did the mistake was Newt - this woman was too far to the Left to be a Republican, and she withdrew because she knows it.

[ttaoin2010]

Good analysis.....yeah the Democrat won. He was endorsed by the liberal Scozzafava (who will now probably switch parties). The big surprise was Hoffman. A virtual unknown that almost won. It's too bad. After the beatdown the Democrats suffered in VA and NJ, I figured the GOP would sweep the field.
The dems will point to the House seats they picked up, but that's pretty much irrelevent. Many of the conservative and moderate Congressional Dems will now be spooked, Healthcare reform and the "Progressive" agenda will quietly disappear.

[briannorwood]

"The point is that Assemblywoman Scozzafava was not a moderate Republican. She was an ultraliberal Republican." --by erich_1-2009

----

See, that is EXACTLY the problem. Anybody in the GOP that is by most of the rest of us considered to be a moderate is tagged by the nut-wing of the party as being "ultra liberal". I'm suprised you didn't add "socialist" and "facist" too.

And that, my friend is why the GOP is doomed in 2010. No moderate Republican will make it past your primaries.

[jroach31]

I guess the GOP "lost its voice" again by losing this House seat they had held for generations. They'll finish swirling down the drain next year.