Candidates play down some alliances (NY-23, the R candidate, gay rights and labor $upport)

WASHINGTON — For the major party candidates in the 23rd Congressional District race, success in November may mean keeping some old and new friends at arm's length.

Republican Dierdre K. Scozzafava's campaign has been flooding reporters' e-mails lately with news of endorsements from Newt Gingrich, Rep. Peter King and the National Rifle Association, to name just a few reliable conservatives.

But one of her biggest campaign contributors during her decade in the state Assembly — the organization of gay and lesbian Republicans called the Log Cabin Republicans — is notably absent from her press releases, despite the group's enthusiastic support for her to fill the congressional seat vacated by former Rep. John M. McHugh, R-Pierrepont Manor.

That Ms. Scozzafava would not highlight her alliance with gay rights advocates is no surprise, given the conservative backlash she has faced in the three-way race and the campaign cash she needs from national Republican sources. Her spokesman, Matthew A. Burns, replied with just five words when asked to elaborate on her views about gay marriage: "Her position is well documented."

Translation: she voted twice in the Assembly to allow gay marriage, in 2007 and this year.

The Log Cabin group rewarded her in 2008 with a $3,800 campaign contribution, rivaled only by the checks she has received from organized labor — another group frowned upon by her party's conservative leadership in Washington.

An attack on Scozzafava, the big “R” libeRal democRat candidate funded by RNC and RCCC money.

This article tries to portray Scozzafava as the liberal that she is, and presents Owens (the blue dog Democrat in the race) as a moderate alternative.

Only one sentence at the end even mentions the Conservative alternative, Doug Hoffman.

Please, send Hoffman a donation. I wish we would get behind him as strongly as we got behind Joe Wilson last month.

Markos Moulitsas, founder of The Daily Kos has endorsed Scozzafava. Dede Scozzafava has also been endorsed by NYSUT, the largest labor union in New York, and an affiliate of the National Education Association.

Scozzafava also holds these positions:

Pro choice
In favor of gay marriage
In favor of Cap and Trade (I need to check my sources on this. Newt said she opposed this)
In favor of Employee Free Choice Act (Card Check)
In favor of the Stimulus
In favor of Bank Bailouts

Scozzafava has also run in past elections on the Working Families Party (a progressive party associated with ACORN) line on the ballot.

This lady isn’t a RINO, she is a big “R” democRat.

There are also 17 RINOs in the house who have donated funds to this Liberal democRat's campaign. They include Boehner and Cantor. I don’t have a full list, but I will be looking for it. These RINOs should be targeted for elimination in the primaries next year.

Other threads related to this race:

More threads ...

From the desk of
cc2k:

Please support Doug Hoffman for Congress.

Please, spread the word about this important race in New York”s 23rd congressional district.

More proof (as if more was needed) that the GOP cannot be trusted with your money. Give to worthy candidates, not to the RNC or either the congressional or senatorial campaign committees. The party seems to insist on continuing to give us a string of useless t**ds: Lowell Weicker, Lincoln Chafee, Snowe & Collins, Arlen Spectre, Jumpin’ Jim Jeffords, and whoever that Nebraska jackass is whose name mercifully escapes my mind at the moment. We don’t need more of them, and the GOP has to learn that it can no longer put them forward.

The Blue Dog label is BS. Owens will be a balls-to-the-wall, Pelosi liberal.

Well, then you better call the RNC and tell them to stop backing Scuzzy and get behind Hoffman. Because the fact of the matter is that we’re not going to let Scuzzy go to Washington come hell or high water. It’s really more constructive to attack the source of the problem (a tone deaf RNC) rather than the result (a 3rd party challenge splitting the vote).

Your response is odd, telling me what to do and then lecturing me on being constructive.

I'll repeat what I said.

The Blue Dog label is BS. Owens will be a balls-to-the-wall, Pelosi liberal.

Deal with that reality.

BTW, here's another fact for you if you can handle it. The RNC didn't pick Scuzzi. The RNC was handed Scuzzi by a bunch of local county party chairs. What the RNC has done with this mess is to tell Scuzzi that they will back her if she agrees to take more conservative positions, including the tax pledge.

Like it or not, those are the facts and it's most "constuctive" to at least get the facts straight before coming up with a solution.

I never said that the RNC picked her. However, they did decide to bail her out and they are running ads against Hoffman. They have made themselves part of the problem.

What I took from your comment was that the RINO was better, because the blue dog label is BS and Owens will be a Pelosi lap dog.

Lap dog he may be, but the Republican party at various levels has created this problem entirely on its own. And it is entirely THEIR fault if a Dem wins this seat.

As far as I’m concerned, if we can’t have Hoffman, then an Owens win is preferable to Scuzzybama. A Pelosi lap dog with a D next to his name is preferable to one with an R.

Lap dog he may be, but the Republican party at various levels has created this problem entirely on its own. And it is entirely THEIR fault if a Dem wins this seat.

As far as I’m concerned, if we can’t have Hoffman, then an Owens win is preferable to Scuzzybama. A Pelosi lap dog with a D next to his name is preferable to one with an R.

I would agree.

It would be better for the blame of bad votes, which you will get with both Owens and Scozzafava, just a little less with Scozzafava.

It would be better for the GOP and especially conservatives, that the democrats get the blame for her bad votes, not the GOP.

The RNC screwed up this time backing someone as liberal as Scozzafava. They should have just stayed out of it.

They poured oil on the fire.

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