Talked about NY23 over the weekend with my father in law who lives in the next district south but whose business takes him up there all the time. His take was that Dede has a LOT of personal friends and allies who saw the whole Hoffman thing as a betrayal and voted for Owens or sat it out. Freepers may not like this sort of friendship-over-ideas motivation, but not liking it does not make it go away. For that reason, I would not get on board for Hoffman in '10 - the bitterness will still be there. Was it not a north-easterner that said 'all politics are local', or words to that affect. I guess times must be 'good' in this district.