On October 26, Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty endorsed Doug Hoffman for U.S. House in the special New York election, 23rd district. Hoffman is the Conservative Party nominee, who is opposing the Republican and Democratic nominees. See this story. Thanks to Tim Brace for this news.
has Doug said if he’s going to switch to the Republicans if he gets elected?
It’s my understanding that Hoffman IS an enrolled Republican. He only accepted the Conservative Party endorsement after GOP officials “hand-picked” their nominee.
If he is elected, he will join the Republicans in Congress as a Republican. He’s only using the Conservative Party label on the ballot for ballot access. He will not – as I understand – serve as a Conservative Party member of Congress.
This is the way the more serious “balance of power” 3rd parties in New York State (i.e. Conservative, Working Families, Independence and the one time ballot-positioned Liberal Party) operate. They know they rarely (but may in this particular election) elect someone straight out. Usually, they “endorse” or “co-nominate” a major party nominee who agrees with most of their party doctrine.
Other third parties in other states (where such “fusion” is allowed) ought to give this “balance of power” concept more thought. In New York State, a good number of elections have been “won” by 3rd parties using this procedure. Something – whether Libertarian, Constitutionalist, Green, or other – to think about. If a Democrat candidate happens to agree with most of the Green platform, why not co-nominate him or her. If a Republican candidate happens to agree with most of the Constitutionalist platform, why not co-nominate him or her. It just makes good sense.
James Buckley was the NY Conservative Party’s nominee when he was elected U. S. senator in 1970. He joined the Republican caucus in the Senate, and he had both the Republican and Conservative nominations when he sought re-election in ’76.
Monday night on Greta Van Susteren’s show on Fox News, Newt Gingrich made a good case for his support of the Republican nominee in NY-23. He said the GOP nominee reflects the Republicans of that district– which voted 52% for Obama– whereas Hoffman does not live in the district. He said the Republicans had some four caucuses, and the woman who is now their nominee won all of them, while Hoffman ran last or next to last in all of them.
The Republican nominee in the 23rd CD supports abortion rights and gay marriage -closer to the libertarian position than the Conservative candidate.
It is unclear how much they differ on economic issues, but the so-called “conservative” Republicans in Congress from New York tend to support the welfare state and big government, only being “conservative” on social issues – where the conservative position favors government restriction of freedom.
If Mr Hoffman truly is for the Free Market, that has not been covered in the media.
Gene,
I have to disagree. I’ve lived in upstate New York my entire life. I don’t have any vote records in front of me. But my impression is that Republicans in this state often are more concerned with fiscal issues than social issues, and that they believe the Democrats tax us too much. In my experience, the typical New York Republican personaly takes a conservative stance on social issues but belives it’s a matter of an individual’s conduct. They don’t want laws telling us what to do.
Although the Conservative Party eventually endorsed McCain, the party chair was initially very concerned with McCain’s stance on fiscal issues. He didn’t seem to be interested in social issues.
New York, even rural New York, is not the bible belt. I think New York Conservatives are more concerned about money than religion. There are, of course, instances where this doesn’t seem to hold true. Gay marriage has met some resistance. But these social issues aren’t frequently debated, at least in our local media. This tends to be a relatively socially free state. Now if we could just have more reasonable drug laws…
Dinnerbellbishop –
I am sure the Republican officeholders in New York ARE more fiscally conservative – generally – than the Democrats. They just don’t rate very fiscally conservative compared with the rest of the country.
Look up Peter King’s ratings from National Taxpayers Union here http://www.ntu.org/main/components/ratescongress/details_all_years.php3?house_id=456
Pretty mediocre as a fiscal conservative, and he is probably the most prominent conservative Congressman from New York.
If Doug Hoffman is better than that, good. But everything I read about conservatives disliking the Republican candidate in NY 23 is about abortion rights and gay marriage.
That’s an excellent point about the Green Party.
Thanks for it.
As a 20 year resident of NY-23, it is a very conservative area as far as social issues. However like many places more people outside of the 23rd appear to be paying attention than inside, a large percentage will vote republican no matter what. It is a very rural and traditional place. The military base and public schools are the biggest employeers…people aren’t caught up on the idea of small government. I wouldn’t be surprised to see one canidate win with 38%, although I wouldn’t guess which one.