Free Republic

Hoffman's supporters stage big rallyDouglas L. Hoffman's first congressional campaign stop in Watertown had more campaign staff — three — than attendees. Three months later, the Conservative Party candidate in the 23rd Congressional District race was a bigger draw here than the vice president of the United States. Mr. Hoffman's raucous rally Monday at the Jefferson County Agricultural Society Exhibition Hall drew more than 300 and featured speeches by former U.S. Sen. Fred Thompson and a soundtrack by country music star John Rich. Mr. Thompson, revered in conservative circles, wasted no time reminding the crowd of what was at stake...

Doug Hoffman, the third-party upstart now backed by the Republican Party, has pulled ahead in Tuesday's special House election in upstate New York, according to two polls conducted over the weekend. A Siena College poll conducted Nov. 1 concluded that Hoffman now leads Democrat Bill Owens 41 percent to 36 percent, after the two were essentially tied in a Siena poll released Saturday morning. That poll's margin of error is 4 percent... --snip-- A survey by Democratic-leaning Public Policy Polling pegs Hoffman's lead at 51 percent to 34 percent, with a margin of error of 2.3 percent. The PPP poll...

All politics are NOT JUST LOCAL,but all levels of government is becoming more interconected to each other. Also a reflection of the growing ANGER out there in the American nation. All politics, are no longer local. With the coming of the information age, broadband internet and online credit card processing, we’ve entered into the blood sport of manipulating United States House and Senate races in far-away states and districts of which we have never been, nor will likely visit in the future. Is this a good thing? Whether going national is a valid technique to win local elections is not...

Under pressure from conservative forces within her own party, Dede Scozzafava, the regular Republican nominee in the interim House race for New York's 23d District, suddenly withdrew from the race today. Though endorsed by the Republican National Committee and big GOP establishment names like ex-House Speaker Newt Gingrich, Scozzafava had fallen to third place in polls of the upstate longtime Republican district next to the Canadian border. Her retreat came in the face of a vigorous campaign by Conservative Party candidate Doug Hoffman, who was backed by Sarah Palin, Dick Armey and Fred Thompson, among others. Her surprise move sets...

SYRACUSE, New York, October 23, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) - A conservative uprising against the GOP's selection of a staunchly pro-abortion, pro-gay "marriage" nominee has transformed the battle for New York's 23rd congressional district into a tight three-way race that has the strong possibility of a dark horse Conservative Party candidate pulling an upset victory - or sending a strong message to the GOP that they alienate social and fiscal conservatives at their peril.New York's 23rd Congressional District covers much of the northern areas of upstate New York just north of Syracuse, bordering Canada, and encompassing most of the Adirondacks. While conservative...

THE WEEKLY STANDARD just received a statement from Sarah Palin endorsing conservative Doug Hoffman for Congress: The people of the 23rd Congressional District of New York are ready to shake things up, and Doug Hoffman is coming on strong as Election Day approaches! He needs our help now. The votes of every member of Congress affect every American, so it's important for all of us to pay attention to this important Congressional campaign in upstate New York. I am very pleased to announce my support for Doug Hoffman in his fight to be the next Representative from New York's 23rd...

The three-way race makes for a number of possible scenarios, including ones that have Scozzafava finishing first, second or even third. She is in real trouble. A lack of campaign resources and a classic political squeeze from the left and the right have severely damaged the prospects of Republican Dede Scozzafava, a six-term state Assemblywoman from Watertown. While initial polling showed Scozzafava leading Democratic attorney Bill Owens and Conservative Party nominee Doug Hoffman, Owens has caught Scozzafava in recent private polling, and Hoffman continues to gain strength, making him a considerable factor in the contest and a growing problem for...

Michael Long, chairman of the Conservative Party of New York, is urging fellow conservatives not to contribute to the National Republican Congressional Committee. His complaint: The NRCC is supporting the Republican candidate in New York’s 23rd Congressional District, who he says is out of step with GOP values. The Republicans have nominated centrist State Assemblywoman Dede Scozzafava as their candidate in the special election to be held on Nov. 3. In response, the Conservative Party nominated its own candidate, local accountant Doug Hoffman. Hoffman has been getting some traction, winning endorsements from several conservative groups and garnering 16% support in...

None of the three candidates for congress has more than 30 percent of the electorate's vote, according to a new poll. The poll of 300 likely voters was conducted by McLaughlin & Associates for Conservative party candidate Doug Hoffman. The poll showed Republican Dede Scozzafava with 30% of the vote, Democrat Bill Owens with 20% and Hoffman with 19%. Thirty-one per cent of those polled were undecided. Pollster John McLaughlin said the poll shows that Hoffman "has an excellent chance of winning this election." "This race is shaping up to be a clear choice among a liberal Republican, a liberal...

Could Sarah's move mean the beginning of a Conservative third party?

Sixty-nine percent (69%) of Republican voters say Alaska Governor Sarah Palin helped John McCain’s bid for the presidency, even as news reports surface that some McCain staffers think she was a liability. Only 20% of GOP voters say Palin hurt the party’s ticket, according to a new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey. Six percent (6%) say she had no impact, and five percent (5%) are undecided. Ninety-one percent (91%) of Republicans have a favorable view of Palin, including 65% who say their view is Very Favorable. Only eight percent (8%) have an unfavorable view of her, including three percent (3%)...

'Compassionate' Conservatism Was a Mistake By DICK ARMEY The liberal pundits who embraced the candidacy of Barack Obama are also eager to issue a death certificate for free market capitalism. They're wrong, and they remind me of what the great Willie Nelson once said: "I'm ragged but I'm right." To be sure, the American people have handed power over to the Democrats. But today there is a categorical difference between what Republicans stand for and the principles of individual freedom. Parties are all about getting people elected to political office; and the practice of politics too often takes the form...

The Conservative candidate for B.C.'s Skeena-Bulkley Valley insists naked photos taken of her in her office are not an issue for the party.Sharon Smith, the mayor of Houston, B.C., grabbed worldwide attention five years ago when pictures of her wearing nothing more than a smile and her mayor's robes were widely circulated on the Internet.

Return of the Atlanticists by: Jeff Waldmann, August 13, 2008 With the British Conservative Party poised for a thunderous victory in the next general election, the future appears bright for increased cooperation between the United States and Great Britain in the War on Terror, according to a July 29 Heritage Foundation panel. “Prime Minister Gordon Brown’s personal ratings are among the worst for a British leader in modern history, with 70% of Britons dissatisfied and just 17% approving,” said Niles Gardner, Director of the Margaret Thatcher Center for Freedom at the Heritage Foundation. So what can the United States expect...

John McCain is expected to have New York's Conservative Party line in the November presidential election, which could provide him with symbolic value nationally but not enough votes to win in a Democratic-leaning state where recent polls show Barack Obama with a comfortable lead. New York Conservative Party Chairman Mike Long said in an interview today that the expected September endorsement of McCain would be "a plus" for the Arizona senator among conservative voters around the country because New York is the only place with a statewide ballot line for the Conservative Party. McCain has clear conservative credentials - leadership...

David Cameron declared yesterday that some people who are poor, fat or addicted to alcohol or drugs have only themselves to blame. He said that society had been too sensitive in failing to judge the behaviour of others as good or bad, right or wrong, and that it was time for him to speak out against "moral neutrality"... "We talk about people being 'at risk of obesity' instead of talking about people who eat too much and take too little exercise," he said. "We talk about people being at risk of poverty, or social exclusion: it's as if these things...

MONTREAL, March 30 (UPI) -- A poll in Quebec is bad news for both the nationalist Bloc Quebecois and the Liberal Party. The Conservative Party, now the governing group in Canada, has gained at the expense of the other two, CTV reported. Support for the Bloc has dropped to 30 percent, the CROP poll found, while the Conservatives are now at 29 percent. Liberals are down to 20 percent, and the New Democratic Party is at 15 percent. Among Francophones, about 85 percent of the population of Quebec, support for the Bloc is at 35 percent, for the Conservatives at...

Alexander J. Madison – January 29, 2008 Fellow citizens, I was holding out hope that we could save the Republican Party from it’s slow, deliberate and painful march towards irrelevance. But with the only Reaganite in the primary election, Duncan Hunter, dropping out this past weekend, and Tom Tancredo long gone after being pilloried by the GOP cheerleaders on ‘conservative’ talk radio, and Fred Thompson, the only other reasonably traditional conservative, unable to get the necessary traction for a competitive race against the moderates, it is time to cut our losses and let the collapse take its natural course. The...

Sorry, Rudy: In an interview to air this Sunday, state Conservative Party Chairman Mike Long tells WNBC's Gabe Pressman the party is likely to give an early nod to Fred Thompson if he manages to "break through" in South Carolina. "As a Conservative, as the chairman of the New York state Conservative Party, my favorite candidate, naturally, is Fred Thompson," Long said. "He did very well this week in the debate. Certainly, I think in South Carolina. If he does well there, if he breaks through in South Carolina, he changes the face of this Republican race again. He becomes...

Saskatchewan’s new government is receiving a warm reception from Conservative governments in both Edmonton and Ottawa. The morning after the Saskatchewan general election – where the Sask. Party took 38 of 58 seats – was a bright one for Lloyd Snelgrove, Alberta MLA and cabinet minister. “With the new premier and the new attitude in government, I think the future for the prairies – for Western Canada – has never been brighter than it is this morning,” said Snelgrove, MLA for Lloydminster-Vermilion and President of the Treasury. With the Sask. Party generally seen as the more right-wing party in the...