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Dear Friends, Today, Tuesday, November 24, 2009, it is with a heavy heart that we declare this election over. We will formally end this election and not ask for a recount. This was a difficult choice to make because so many people have put their faith, hope and aspirations into our campaign. Yes, there seem to have been many vote counting problems, missed vote counts and, as was recently reported by the Gouvernour Times, software problems in the computerized voting machines. Despite these incidents, I do not believe the voters of NY-23, or New Yorkers in general, would be well-served...

It is time to issue a federal subpoena to find out exactly how officials “corrected� the vote.Why, you may ask?Because, as we learned yesterday, at least some of the certified electronic voting machines in the NY-23 congressional special election were discovered to be running malicious code (a virus) in the week prior to voting. We now hear word that election officials, According to the report, election officials, after cleaning only the identified machines, took no further action to re-certify other voting machines in the district. Although the technical nature of such a virus is interesting; it is difficult to adequately...

There are new suspicions about the veracity of the election results in NY's 23rd Congressional District. After the election, a re-canvassing of the 11-county district had Owens’ lead narrowing to 3,026 votes over Hoffman, 66,698 to 63,672, with about 10,000 absentee ballots to be counted according to the latest unofficial results from the state Board of Elections. In Hoffman's stronghold, Oswego County, where the conservative was reported to lead by only 500 votes with 93 percent of the vote counted election night, inspectors found Hoffman actually won by 1,748 votes -- 12,748 to 11,000. There is new bad news for...

After the earlier post about Conservative congressional candidate Doug Hoffman's accusations of "mischief" in the special-election vote count, a source in New York called my attention to a breaking story in the Gouverneur (N.Y.) Times:

GOUVERNEUR, NY - The computerized voting machines used by many voters in the 23rd district had a computer virus - tainting the results, not just from those machines known to have been infected, but casting doubt on the accuracy of counts retrieved from any of the machines

Even as he faces near-impossible odds of pulling ahead in the count, Doug Hoffman announced Wednesday night that he is officially revoking his concession from Election Night, and is accusing labor unions and ACORN of stealing the election for Rep. Bill Owens (D-N.Y.). Hoffman posted a message on his campaign site Wednesday alleging dirty tricks by Democrats, and is asking for additional campaign contributions to fund a legal challenge to the election results. “As evidence surfaces, we find out that reported results from election night were far from accurate. ACORN and the unions did their best to try and sway...

Conservative Party nominee Doug Hoffman on Wednesday accused ACORN and union interests of stealing the upstate New York special election that he conceded on Nov. 3. Hoffman on Monday "unconceded" after recanvassing of votes across the district showed Democratic Rep. Bill Owens' margin of victory narrowing. Hoffman originally conceded after trailing Owens by 5,335 votes, but further counts showed him trailing by 3,176 votes. A recent count of absentee ballots in three counties showed Hoffman still trailing by 2,951. Until this point Hoffman has said a victory would be a "long shot." Now, Hoffman is accusing liberal groups of unjustly...

Dear Fellow Conservative, As evidence surfaces, we find out that reported results from election night were far from accurate. ACORN and the unions did their best to try and sway the results to Obamacare supporter Bill Owens. I was forced to concede after receiving two pieces of grim news - - down 5,335 votes with 93 percent of the vote counted on election night - and barely won my stronghold in Oswego County. Get every vote counted in NY-23On Election Night, the information we received was far different from what we received this week! Rest assured, they will not succeed,...

Today was the final day for absentee ballots to be received in New York's 23rd District Special Congressional Election. Already three counties have completed the final vote counts, and Hamilton County has already certified those counts to the State Board of Elections. Updated Counts Here: County Hoffman Owens Scozzafava Clinton 7530 10536 686 Essex 3175 3718 432 Franklin 4589 5125 247 Fulton 2489 1969 676 Hamilton* 1265 938 369 Jefferson 10884 10460 1179 Lewis 2676 2169 282 Madison* 9155 8290 724 Oneida* 3225 2243 459 Oswego 12748 11000 950 St. Lawrence 8748 12987 1194 Totals: 66,484 69,435 7,198 * -...

Hoffman 'unconcedes' in N.Y.-23 House race By Jordan Fabian - 11/16/09 06:34 PM ET Conservative Party candidate Doug Hoffman has "unconceded" in New York's special House election after reports that the vote margin between him and Rep. Bill Owens (D) has narrowed. Hoffman conceded the race on Election Night after learning he trailed Owens by 5,335 votes. But the Syracuse Post-Standard reported last week that the margin had shrunk to 3,026 votes after recanvassing. Hoffman appeared on conservative commenatator Glenn Beck's radio show this afternoon. Beck asked the him if he would "unconcede." "Yes, if I knew this information at...

Should Doug Hoffman had waited and let all the votes be counted? I’m certainly not a fan of taking election counts to the courts, but maybe Doug Hoffman should have let all of the votes be counted before conceding. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi quickly got Bill Owens (D- N.Y.) down to Washington D.C. and swore him in within a few days so he could break his first campaign promise and vote to include a public option for health care. To be fair, Owens was against the public option early in the campaign, only to quietly reverse his opinion in the...

Doug Hoffman just told Glenn Beck they are 2000 votes behind in NY 23with 10,000 absentee votes left to count. This is NOT over.

Our Campaign Is Not Over Yet! So many people have written hoping we continue the fight, count every ballot and make sure no one steals this election. Acorn and the unions did their best to try and say that the conservative movement was a sham. Rest assured they will not succeed. On Election Night the information we received was far different from what we received this week. They will not silence our voice that easily! There is also the fact that NY is using the Sequoia Voting Systems machines. Princeton University (http://citp.princeton.edu/voting/advantage/) cited them as having been susceptible to voter...

Sarah Palin's Going Rogue: An American Life (HarperCollins) is being pitched by her publisher as "one ordinary citizen's extraordinary journey." That's about right. Palin is ordinary -- remarkably, overwhelmingly, mind-numbingly ordinary. Back in the day, it seemed as if she might be extraordinary. When I started writing about her in 2006, the year that Palin took on the good old boys of Alaskan Republican politics, she seemed intriguing -- even a little, dare we say it, rogue. The story of a small-town mayor mounting a primary challenge to a sitting governor of her own party -- who also happened to...

The pathetic irony in this story is that the racketeering party, the Democrats, claimed "victory" on election day despite the fact that they were routed nationwide. They hung their sad little lies on this tiny race. Hoffman never had a shot. He was a strange little conservative candidate but the RINO on the Republican ticket was so repulsive to those of us on the right, it split the Republican vote. So much so, the RINO Dede Scozzafava withdrew and threw her weight behind the ....Democrat! The Republican party has been hijacked and driven underground by the RINOs (Republican in name...

As it stands now, Bill Owens may be in Washington and voting the Pelosi Party line but when the vote is certified he may be ousted. The state Board of Elections indicated that "...all ballots will be counted, and if the result changes, Owens will have to be removed." Concession speech or not, if the voters in the 23rd District elected Doug Hoffman and not Bill Owens, then Hoffman will be the Representative.

Less than a day after Tuesday's election for the 23rd Congressional District, the fallout is smoldering hot. Angry with the way Republicans handled their candidate selection, a Franklin County legislator says he will strongly consider running for Congress or State Assembly next year. "The supporters of Dede should be ashamed of themselves," Paul Maroun, a Franklin County legislator from Tupper Lake, said in reference to Republican candidate Dierdre "Dede" Scozzafava. THE CHOICE Maroun was one of nine people Republicans were considering as a candidate when the race was set last summer. The seat opened up after President Barack Obama named...

GOUVERNEUR, NY - Despite the fact that Bill Owens has already been sworn-in and has voted on crucial legislation in the House of Representatives, he may not have actually won the NY-23 Congressional Special Election. Several errors were made during the initial vote counts. Over 2,000 votes for contender Doug Hoffman were not counted in the preliminary results, narrowing the current vote gap to less than 3,000 votes between Democrat Bill Owens and Conservative Doug Hoffman. The errors were discovered during the standard vote recanvas that has been underway since November 4th. The largest error occurred in Oswego County where...

A recanvassing of votes cast in the highly contested NY-23 race shows that the 5,335-vote lead once enjoyed by Rep.-for-now Bill Owens, the Democrat, has narrowed to about 3,000 with another 10,000 absentee ballot uncounted. Owens, who was sworn in last week, was one of 220 Dems to vote give the majority a narrow victory on health care reform. UPDATE: Josh Kraushaar, who has been following this closely, says Conservative Party boss Mike Long thinks Owens is going to win at the end of the day -- because only about 5,400 absentees have been returned. The Syracuse Post-Standard: But Hoffman’s...

Democrat Bill Owens delivers his victory speech at his headquarters in Plattsburgh last week. Owens declared victory after Conservative nominee Doug Hoffman conceded the 23rd Congressional District race election night. Now recanvassing shows the special election has narrowed to a 3,000-vote difference, and will be decided by a count of absentee ballots. The Associated PressDemocrat Bill Owens delivers his victory speech at his headquarters in Plattsburgh last week. Owens declared victory after Conservative nominee Doug Hoffman conceded the 23rd Congressional District race election night. Now recanvassing shows the special election has narrowed to a 3,000-vote difference, and will be decided...

There's something strange going on up in New York's 23rd congressional district, as noted by the TCOT guys. Unless Conservative candidate Doug Hoffman got exactly zero votes in the town of Fenner (Owens got 157, Scozzafava got 248), and at one polling place in the town of Hamilton (Owens got 75, Scozzafava got 79), and at one polling place in the town of Sullivan (Owens got 173, Scozzafava got 251), the initial vote totals look rather hinky.

That headline may be premature, but it was even MORE premature to swear in Owens last Friday before all the votes were counted!Democrats didn't waste any time swearing in Bill Owens to take a seat in Congress representing the 23rd Congressional District of New York. While the Conservative candidate Doug Hoffman had conceded the race on election night when it looked like he was down by over 5,000 votes, all the ballots had yet to be counted and a string of reporting errors underreported Hoffman's totals by thousands of votes. The official vote count is now so close that the...

Election Night Last Tuesday, with 93% of the vote counted Doug Hoffman was down 5,335 votes with and he had barely won his stronghold in conservative Oswego County. Hoffman did the right thing and conceded the special election in the NY 23rd Congressional district. Democrat Bill Owens was seated in Congress (based on the Hoffman concession) even though NY State had yet to certify the election. Among his first acts was to vote for the Obamacare bill with the government option even though he promised that he would vote against any bill with a government option. The Central New York...

On election night, Conservative Party candidate Doug Hoffman conceded defeat to Democratic candidate Bill Owens after dramatically under-performing in key counties and deciding that he couldn’t overcome the gap. Today, the campaign is “looking very closely” at a recanvass of the district that has revealed, as recanvasses often do, screw-ups in the initial count. What was a 5,335-vote margin for Owens on election night is now a 3,026-vote margin, due largely to initial under-reporting of Hoffman votes in Oswego County and Jefferson County. According to Mark Weiner’s report, the Hoffman campaign is leaving open the option of legal challenges if...

Word in from NY 23 that Conservative Doug Hoffman now trails by just 3000 votes as the official  tabulation process continues. "The new vote totals mean the race will be decided by absentee ballots, of which about 10,200 were distributed."  Among the absentee ballots that remain uncounted are "military and overseas ballots received by this coming Monday (and postmarked by Nov. 2)..." But Bill Owens "was quickly sworn into office on Friday, a day before the rare weekend vote in the House of Representatives.  His support sealed his party's narrow victory on the health care legislation." By what right does...

Washington -- Conservative Doug Hoffman conceded the race in the 23rd Congressional District last week after receiving two pieces of grim news for his campaign: He was down 5,335 votes with 93 percent of the vote counted on election night, and he had barely won his stronghold in Oswego County. As it turns out, neither was true.

Conservative Doug Hoffman now trails by 3,000 votes. Hoffman campaign says they may not have conceded so quickly had they known about counting errors.

Just when you thought you wouldn't have to spell "Dede Scozzafava" anymore, the Republican nominee in that upstate New York special election is back -- lashing out at Sarah Palin and others who worked against her bid. In a revealing interview with The Washington Post, Scozzafava, a member of the New York State Assembly who lost her leadership post in the wake of her election loss, talks about what it's like to see her name turned into a verb (Gov. Charlie Crist, R-Fla., is the next candidate in danger of getting "Scozzafaved.")

Looking for a scapegoat for her poor showing in New York’s 23rd Congressional race, Dede Scozzafava has chosen every liberals favorite, Sarah Palin. Scozzafava in an interview slammed Sarah Palin for “attacking” her, when in reality Palin only endorsed her opponent Doug Hoffman. But then again to liberals if you don’t support them you’re attacking them. I love the way the media is describing Dede Scozzafava even now; they say she’s a “moderate” Republican. CNN describes her as the “face of moderate republicanism”; refusing to call Scozzafava what she is, a liberal. Sarah Palin simply chose principle over party; Dede...

"If the Republican Party follows the course of Palin and Beck and Company it's doomed."So said Sam Donaldson on ABC's "This Week" Sunday. His evidence? Democrat Bill Owens victory Tuesday in the 23rd Congressional district of New York. Readers are strongly advised to stow all fluids, combustibles, and sharp objects for the ignorance on display here might produce uncontrollable fits of anger (video embedded below the fold with partial transcript): (VIDEO AT LINK) Let me tell you that the wake-up call for the Republicans was the New York's 23rd. Now just as Rush Limbaugh couldn't prevent the Party from nominating...

North country Assemblywoman Dede Scozzafava has resigned from her leadership position in the state Assembly. In a prepared statement, Republican Assembly Minority Leader Brian Kolb said he accepted her resignation as Minority Leader Pro Tempore. Just before last week's election, Scozzafava dropped out of the Congressional race and backed the Democrat, Bill Owens, who went on to win. Scozzafava met Monday to discuss her actions. Many have argued that Scozzafava's last-minute endorsement of Owens gave him the Congressional win. “Today, I had a thorough and frank discussion with Assemblywoman Scozzafava. As a result, Dede has tendered, and I accepted, her...

Obama said the main message he took from last week’s election results – with Republicans winning gubernatorial races in New Jersey and Virginia – was that Americans are “nervous, and they’re worried and they’re anxious.” “I don't think there's any denying the fact that people are worried out there,” he said in an interview with ABC’s Jake Tapper today. Obama said Democrat Bill Owens victory in the special election in New York’s 23rd congressional district, the one bright spot for the president’s party last Tuesday, “sent an important signal.”

Reacting to media reports that Nancy Pelosi “secretly” dispatched a top lieutenant to meet with Dede Scozzafava before the Assemblywoman’s shocking endorsement of Bill Owens, Conservative Party Chairman Mike Long called for a Federal Election Commission investigation of any “illicit inducements” that may have been offered in exchange for Scozzafava’s support. “It a matter of public record that the Scozzafava family company is in financial difficulty. All her public statements about her withdraw mentioned money problems. Nancy Pelosi is desperate to win this seat,” Long said, adding: “Can it be a mere coincidence that Dede demand a face-to-face meeting, then...

Yesterday, we showed you this report by The Washington Independent that a whopping 95 percent of Conservative candidate Doug Hoffman's cash came from outside the district. Today, the Independent crunched some more numbers and found that Democrat Bill Owens also got most of his cash from outside the district -- 86 percent of it. Only $121,596 of Owens' total (as of Oct. 15) $843,441 came from the district. The biggest donor, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, contributed about 11 percent. By contrast, $12,360 of the $265,341 Hoffman raised by that same date came from inside the district. His biggest donor...

Despite the shine of the national media spotlight, fewer north country residents voted in the 23rd Congressional District race this year than voted in either of the district's two previous contested campaigns.About 48,074, or 34 percent of the 141,019 registered voters in Jefferson, Lewis and St. Lawrence counties cast their ballots for the congressional seat on Election Day. The turnout is lower than the 63 percent of voters that cast ballots in 2008 and 43 percent in 2006. Turnout was higher last year, in part, because of the presidential election. In 2006, there was a gubernatorial race.“Those percentages are certainly...

Dede Scozzafava, the Republican nominee who issued an election eve endorsement of Democrat Bill Owens in the Nov. 3 New York special election, will meet with Assembly Minority Leader Brian Kolb Monday to discuss whether she will be stripped of her Assembly leadership position. POLITICO has learned that Kolb will announce after the face-to-face meeting whether Scozzafava, the Minority Leader Pro Tempore, will remain as the GOP floor leader. “Fundamentally my members are very disappointed with her endorsement of Bill Owens and aiding him in helping achieve the Nancy Pelosi health care plan in Washington,” Kolb said. Scozzafava’s last-minute endorsement,...

Any judgment of Barack Obama’s presidency based on a handful of off-year races is overstating the case. Trying to decipher the real meaning is something like reading tea leaves, and just as reliable. Still, they are clues and warnings, at least, for the national parties. My reading of the leaves: independents flexed their muscle and gave Obama a warning, passing health care reform is going to be a little harder but still in the cards, and New York voters deepened the Republican identity crisis. You could say this was in a part the opening blow of Obama vs. Sarah Palin...

GOUVERNEUR, NY - Congressman-elect Bill Owens was sworn in at noon today. Owens indicated in a press release released shortly afterwards that he was now in favor of the the "Affordable Healthcare for America Act" bill in direct contrast to his earlier position during the election campaign. According to Politico.com, Mr. Owens assured voters that he felt the public option had no place in the health care reform bill. Contrary to that position, Mr. Owens now indicates that he intends to vote in favor of the bill even though it now contains a public option. UPDATED: A spokesman for Congressman...

http://www.gouverneurtimes.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=7623:owens-to-break-campaign-promises&catid=60:st-lawrence-news&Itemid=175 GOuVERNEUR, NY - Congressman-elect Bill Owens was sworn in at noon today. Owens indicated in a press release that he was now in favor of the bill in direct contrast to his earlier position during his campaign. According to Politico.com, Mr. Owens assured voters that he felt the public option had no place in the health care reform bill. Contrary to that position, Mr. Owens now indicates that he intends to vote in favor of the bill even though it now contains a public option. Mr. Owens also indicated during his campaign that he was firmly opposed to cutting...

How is Dede Scozzafava holding up after a conservative insurgent drove her from the New York House race? Michael Smerconish asks the former Republican candidate about the future of her party. Republican New York State Assemblywoman Dede Scozzafava was considered a shoo-in to win the special election for the United States House seat in upstate New York this week—until conservative activists from outside the district attacked her for being too moderate and drove her from the race. After Scozzafava dropped out, the Democratic candidate ended up beating the third-party conservative challenger, and the district went blue for the first time...

Congressman-elect Bill Owens was sworn in at noon today. Owens indicated in a press release that he was now in favor of the bill in direct contrast to his earlier position during his campaign. According to Politico.com, Mr. Owens assured voters that he felt the public option had no place in the health care reform bill. Contrary to that position, Mr. Owens now indicates that he intends to vote in favor of the bill even though it now contains a public option. Mr. Owens also indicated during his campaign that he was firmly opposed to cutting Medicare benefits, taxing health...

Leadership: As Palin jousts with Biden on energy independence, the government reports that we lead the world in energy reserves. From oil to gas to coal, we are sitting on prosperity. So why are we importing anything? One of the interesting sidelights of the NY-23 race was an exchange on energy independence between Vice President Joe Biden and the former governor of energy-rich Alaska, Sarah Palin. Biden, who came in to campaign for Democrat Bill Owens, was reminded of the issue of energy. "The fact of the matter is that Sarah Palin thinks the answer to energy was 'Drill, baby,...

CNN contributor Roland Martin made light of Glenn Beck’s emergency appendectomy in a post on his Twitter account late Wednesday night/early Thursday Morning: “Glenn Beck had an appendectomy today. He must have blown a gasket after Hoffman lost the NY-23. Keep crying, Glenn!” Martin’s lack of sympathy for the conservative talk show host is more than apparent in this first post, but it was further compounded after another Twitter user called him out on it. Jtlol wrote, “Must be part of your ‘fresh perspective for the 21st Century.’ I hope you never need emergency surgery.” The CNN contributor replied, “I...

....And he said that both the GOP nominee, Dede Scozzafava and the conservative party candidate Doug Hoffman were both out of the mainstream of the upstate New York district – which lead to the victory of Democrat Bill Owens Tuesday night.

WASHINGTON – It was a big election night for Republicans overall. But their lone disappointment – the loss of a New York congressional seat in a crossfire between moderates and conservatives – could portend struggles next year for GOP leaders. Channeling the Tea Party-inspired energy is a particular headache for Dallas Rep. Pete Sessions, whose costly effort to keep the New York seat was a casualty of the civil war. "There's a huge revolt going on in the country against the political establishment," said former Virginia congressman Tom Davis, who once held the challenging political job that Sessions now has...

WASHINGTON — Republicans emerged from Tuesday’s elections energized by victories in Virginia and New Jersey, but their leaders immediately began maneuvering to avoid a prolonged battle with conservative activists over what the party stands for and how to regain power. The victories, in races for governor, were cast by the party’s national chairman, Michael Steele, as a sign of a “Republican renaissance.” In New Jersey, Gov. Jon S. Corzine, a Democrat, was toppled by the Republican nominee, Christopher J. Christie. In Virginia, Robert F. McDonnell, the Republican, defeated his Democratic opponent, R. Creigh Deeds. Republicans said the victories showed that...

After pumping more than $1 million into an upstate New York House race to elect the Conservative Party’s Doug Hoffman, the Club for Growth is on the hunt again. Chris Chocola, president of the conservative political action committee, made it clear the PAC is looking for more GOP targets who don’t embrace the Club’s limited-government approach. Priority No. 1 is likely to be the Senate contest in Florida, where Republican Gov. Charlie Crist, who embraced President Barack Obama’s stimulus package, is being challenged by former State House Speaker Marco Rubio. . . . . . Beyond Florida, other establishment Republicans...

Here is video of Newt Gingrich on Sean Hannity's show "explaining" why he endorsed Scozzafava and saying that he "deeply regrets" she was chosen by the 11 local county chairs. When asked what he would say to Conservatives that are angry at him Newt answered "they have every right to be angry, I don't blame them," he went on to say "I think she was the wrong nominee and I think it was a terrible position." (Video)

Here is video of Michael Steele on MSNBC's "Hardball" telling Chris Matthews to stop "calling my people wingnuts" after Matthews kept blaming "wingnuts" for the NY-23 loss....(Video)

The morning after Republicans lost an upstate New York House seat, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) warned that conservative activists will bring destruction to the Republican Party if they drive out moderate candidates across the country. “To those people who are pursuing purity, you’ll become a club not a party,” Graham told POLITICO in the Capitol Wednesday. “Those people who are trying to embrace conservatism in a thoughtful way that fits the region and the state and the district are going to do well. Conservativism is an asset. Blind ideology is not.” Graham, who has sparred with his party’s right wing...