Dairy farmers for Dede?
If Doug Hoffman wins the Congressional race in New York’s 23rd District on Tuesday, will he turn down the federal earmarks that support Fort Drum, or take the teabagger plunge and move to cut off all federal subsidies to dairy farmers? And if he doesn’t, will Col. Von Erickson and the rest of the storm troopers from the “defund government” crowd drag him out of Congress by his ankles and drown him in a bathtub? There’s a lot of speculation about where Dede Scozzafava’s voters and supporters will go now that she’s out of the race. From Politico’s “Scoreboard” blog:
The Republicans who stuck with Scozzafava in the Siena survey fit into three rough categories: 1) Watertown-area voters who she’s represented in the state Assembly and were with her the whole way; 2) party-line voters who stuck with her out of devotion to the GOP; 3) true Rockefeller Republicans who blanche at Hoffman’s conservatism.
Of those three categories, Owens is unlikely to make inroads with the first two groups. His only hope is to peel off the moderates who view Hoffman as too conservative – and it seems like they’re not thrilled with Democrat Bill Owens, either. The Siena poll showed Owens viewed as unfavorably among Scozzafava supporters (50 percent unfavorable) as Hoffman was (57 percent unfavorable).
But there’s also the Dede factor. She has yet to endorse anyone in the race — meaning she is at least for now, refusing to endorse Hoffman. And when the paper of record for that part of New York, the Watertown Daily Times, switched its endorsement from Scozzafava to the Democrat, Mr. Owens, these intriguing paragraphs were tucked into the opener:
In her statement Saturday morning, the assemblywoman explained the reasons behind her decision: “It is increasingly clear that pressure is mounting on many of my supporters to shift their support. Consequently, I hereby release those individuals who have endorsed and supported my campaign to transfer their support as they see fit to do so.”
During the day Saturday, she began to quietly and thoughtfully encourage her supporters to vote for Democrat William L. Owens.
Well, I guess we know where Dede wants her supporters to go. And why would the Republican rather see a Democrat win? Could be anger over the way she was treated. Or, it could be that a 20-year lawmaker doesn’t want to see her district defunded and its economy stripped of vital federal funding, just to satisfy Sarah Palin and Erick Erickson.
A reminder of what the local paper, the Watertown Press, had to say about Hoffman:
Mr. Hoffman is running as an ideologue. If he carries out his pledges on earmarks, taxation, labor law reform and other inflexible positions, Northern New York will suffer. This rural district depends on the federal government for an investment in Fort Drum and its soldiers, environmental protection of our international waterway and the Adirondack Park, and the livelihood of all our dairy farmers across the district, among other support. Our representative cannot be locked into rigid promises and policies that would jeopardize these critical sectors of our economy.
Hoffman’s campaign website lists lots of endorsements from national political figures (and the Rupert Murdoch owned New York Post) … but the homepage highlights only four “issues” — none of which are related to Adirondack Park, dairy farming, or Fort Drum:
- Gay Marriage – Hoffman: No; Scozzafava: Yes
- Bank Bailout – Hoffman: No; Scozzafava: Yes
- No Pork Pledge.
- ACORN
I don’t live in upstate New York, so maybe ACORN and gay marriage are what’s foremost on the minds of District 23 voters. But somehow, I doubt it. On the “Issues” page of Hoffman’s site, you’ll find a lot of platitudes about “winning the war on terror” and stopping illegal immigration, but no specifics on what Hoffman would actually do about issues that are of importance to the voters in the District … which he doesn’t actually live in … (ahem) … There is, however, one specific that does stand out:
What spending would you cut?
I would cut the pork and wasteful earmarks. When the Democrats took control of congress, they did so with the promise to end earmarks. Unfortunately, they not only did not end earmarks, they took them to a whole new level. I didn’t have to think twice. I signed the pledge to oppose pork barrel spending.”
That’s interesting. So Hoffman would pledge to cut the kind of spending that keeps northern New York afloat? Really? Of course, there are two other possibilities:
1) Hoffman wins, but once he gets to Washington, local politics dictate that he has to take the earmarks, thereby enraging the national teabag movement, which will then scream hysterically that if only Republicans had put forward a REAL conservative, the party wouldn’t be in peril … or:
2) Owens wins, and the teabaggers scream hysterically that if only the Republicans had put forward a REAL conservative, the party wouldn’t be in peril.
Either way, Republicans lose. As an outsider looking in, and in the spirit of caring for my fellow man, here’s hoping District 23 doesn’t go down the tubes in the process.
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