It is, of course, true that it is hard for a conservative to win in a left-leaning district.
Still, two things are also true: We don’t know who will turn up and vote if there had been a real conservative in the race. The notion that a district is too liberal to be won is a self-fulfilling expectation.
Second, a conservative who ends up losing still helps the conservative cause by educating the electorate (and not only in his district) and by pulling the entire GOP to the right. Remember that a RINO who wins in, say, NYC, doesn’t just provide a vote that might be useful from time to time. She also has input on the national party platform and the media props her up as a good republican. All that fosters a left-leaning mentality in the GOP, infects others, and does nothing but harm. If NYC is so damn liberal, let them elect their liberal democrats and stop the kabuki dance that damages the entire conservative movement for the sake of one house vote that cannot be counted on anyway.
That the likes of Olympia Snowe pollute the GOP is the fault of the GOP apparatchiks, with their big tent foolishness.
Democrats haven't held the NY23 seat since 1871.
What brilliant Republican decided to run a liberal, liberal Democrat under the Republican banner, and why in the world is the RNC supporting and financing Dede?