Posted on 10/05/2010 8:01:22 AM PDT by randita
Earlier this morning Doug Hoffman announced he was dropping out of the race and is supporting my candidacy for Congress to take back the 23rd. I am deeply appreciative of Doug’s support. Now, more than ever, Republicans, Conservatives and independents are united in our efforts to defeat Bill Owens in November. Thank you for all your support. Please read a copy of the article that appeared in this morning’s Adirondack Daily Enterprise.
Hoffman out of Congress race
SARANAC LAKE — Doug Hoffman has dropped out of the race to represent New York’s 23rd Congressional District. Hoffman’s name will still appear on the ballot on the Conservative line; however, Hoffman said Tuesday morning that he wants his supporters to vote for Republican Matt Doheny. “Our nation is at a crossroads, and it is imperative that on Election Day we wrest control of Congress from Nancy Pelosi and the Democrat majority,” Hoffman said in a prepared statement. “It was never my intention to split the Republican vote.” Hoffman, a certified public accountant and businessman who lives in Saranac Lake, ran against Doheny in a Republican primary. When Doheny’s win became official almost two weeks ago after the absentee ballots were tallied, Hoffman said he would stay in the race on the Conservative line to offer an alternative to “a Wall Street lawyer and a Nancy Pelosi puppet,” as Hoffman then described Doheny and incumbent Democrat Bill Owens, respectively. Hoffman accused both of them of being “not truthful with the voters,” citing Owens’ vote for the national health care bill and Doheny's support of abortion rights in the first trimester, despite describing himself as “pro-life.” Owens said during the 2009 campaign he wouldn’t vote for anything that would raise taxes on the middle class and small businesses, which Hoffman argued the national health care bill did. Now, Hoffman has decided to back Doheny. “Matt Doheny and I may have differed on some issues during the course of our primary race,” Hoffman said. “Now, we must put those differences aside and do what is best for our nation.” Hoffman spokesman Rob Ryan wouldn’t elaborate on the statement Tuesday morning. Sources close to the story have said repeatedly over the past month that Hoffman’s campaign didn’t have the financing or staff to be viable this year. His campaign offices in Plattsburgh and Watertown closed after the primary. His main office on Saranac Lake’s River Street has usually been closed since then, although there has been some activity visible over the past week. Hoffman ran on the Conservative line in last year’s special election against Owens and Republican Dede Scozzafava. The race garnered a lot of national money and media attention, and Hoffman won support from large national conservative groups such as the Club for Growth and Republican notables such as former Alaska governor and vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin. Scozzafava dropped out of the race the weekend before the election and endorsed Owens, who won by about 3,600 votes.
Sincerely,
Matt
There's nothing "amiss" about losing in a primary. Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose. Sometimes their close, but that hardly means that the "GOP kingmakers" cheated him out of his "rightful" nomination. That's Murkowski talk, there.
Classy
Good move Doug. Wish it would have been a bit earlier so Doheny could get on the Conservative ticket, but good nonetheless.
This is good. Doheny is not a liberal Republican if he was I’d have supported Hoffman going full on again win or lose but this is a case of consolidation behind the winning conservative candidate in the race and I’m glad Doug did this. He is a good man who helped inspire a lot of people who had written off getting involved in elections and his role in conservative ascendancy should not be minimized. An everyman can compete and as we have seen in other races they can win.
That said I wish conservatives wouldn’t rush back to the safety of the establishment skirts but it will take time before the average conservative voter steps forward with confidence and isn’t afraid to stand on principle even with the possibility of “sure” defeat. When we stop accepting radical left wing candidates who are a little bit fiscally conservative and calling them moderates when they are the furtherest thing from it we will have grown up as a movement because standing on principle is what grown ups do. Children expect things to be awarded and given to them without much hard work or investment. Every candidate that loses and has succeeded in spreading the message of liberty to a new generation wins because when we retreat into silence and machevelian aims we guarantee that even if we “win” our cause is lost.
How do you mention Hoffman's national press, and leave out the Palin endorsement?
The Palin endorsement is what opened the can of worms.
This is indeed great news. While I supported the more conservative Hoffman over Doheny in the GOP primary, Doheny is an acceptable candidate who won the primary fair and square, and all that Hoffman could have accomplished by staying on the ballot as the Conservative Party nominee was splitting the conservative vote and throwing the election to the RAT Owens.
I recall that in order for Lazio to be able to drop out of the governor’s race (after having received the Conservative Party nomination) he had to either move out of state or be nominated for a judgeship. Does NY have the same rule for names on the ballot for congressional races? If so, Hoffman would either have to receive a nomination for a judgeship (despite being an accountant, not a lawyer) or else move several hundred miles away from his home in Lake Placid (or move just a few miles north to Canada, which obviously would not be so easy to do legally).
I read in another article his name will remain on the ballot on the Conservative Party line even though he’s now saying don’t vote for me and support Doheny.
Oh well, it’s better than nothing, I guess. Fortunately, Doheny should be able to win even if Hoffman gets 1%-2% of the vote or so from uninformed voters.
Good for Hoffman, he will be able to sleep better at night.
It's a shame that assholes like murCOWsky are so selfish and self centered that they have no respect for the Country.
I’m glad he did this, but frankly, he screwed the Constutition party, and I hope they remember this and never sponsor him again.
They fight for the line item on the ballot, and they try to pick candidates who will get votes on that line, to keep it.
Now he’s abandoned their line, but too late for them to replace his name. So he will be asking people NOT TO VOTE for the constitution party line, which hurts them.
This also doesn’t appear to be a principled move. He could have acted on principle as soon as he lost the republican primary.
Instead, this looks like he just finally figured out that he had no chance of winning — and that’s the only reason he’s doing this, because he thinks it will make him look better when he doesn’t get votes.
Sorry, but for Hoffman, I think it’s a day late and a dollar short. So thanks, but you are still a selfish politician who put his own glory above doing the right thing.
he screwed the Constutition party,
Wasn’t the Constutition Party but rather the local Conservative Party in NY.
Good News bump!
Not exactly. There was talk before Lazio agreed to drop out that the CP could remove him simply by nominating him as their candidate for a judgeship — since you can’t be on both ballots, they could then remove him without his consent.
Once Lazio dropped out of the race, they could nominate another candidate at their convention (since their “primary winner” was no longer a candidate.
Hoffman could have done the same thing if he had simply dropped out before the convention, but he waited another week and THEN dropped out.
True....but this year, Hoffman IS the Scozzafava in the NY-23 race. Or WAS, I should say. He did the right thing by not continuing the pity party any further.
Hoffman lost last year by around 4,000 votes to the Dem, but about 7,000 still voted for Scuzzyfava because she dropped out late and was still on the ballot as the (R) candidate
Hoffman was totally screwed in the special election...no surprise the software used in that election has a major stakeholder invested in the company who is clear enemy of our country and freedom...that would be Chavez...
Amazing how the MSM never reports things like that.
“Very good news.”
Doug Hoffman has character. More than we can say for Castle, Murkowski and Crist...
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