One more day
For conservative activists across the country, Doug Hoffman's rise is a cause, a crusade. The push to turn out a massive vote on Tuesday will be epic.
Actor, activist and former US Senator Fred Thompson will join Hoffman in Watertown today.
For Democrats, the NY-23 race offers a rare chance to pick off a district that has voted Republican since the Civil War.
Labor groups and Democratic activists are all-in as well, with Vice President Joe Biden is also arriving in Watertown later this morning.
Residents of the district have been barraged, buried, battered by mailings, robo-calls and radio and TV spots.
Whoever wins tomorrow, it's been a remarkable political journey, sparked by former Rep. John McHugh's appointment as Army Secretary, driven by the summer's tea party zeal, and culminating in this weekend's topsy-turvey weirdness.
Once the votes are counted, I'm guessing a lot of unanswered questions will remain. What's the future for moderate Democrats like Bill Owens in these "purple" districts?
And what will the post-Obama GOP look like? Ultra-conservative? Or is there room for moderates like Dede Scozzafava?
One thing is certain. After Tuesday, those ideological debates will shift far away from our rural towns and our local meeting halls.
We'll get back to more familiar politics, where it's all about neighbors and people we know and the future of our own North Country.
I for one am looking forward to it.
Labels: election09
posted by Brian Mann @ 11/02/2009 07:01:00 AM
8 Comments
8 Comments:
It is really too bad this campaign was hijacked by outside money and outside people who really don't understand that this is a moderate and non-ideological region when it comes to our politics. We, the residents, have not been well served by this campaign. We were perfectly capable of figuring things out by ourselves. Don't tread on me.
The 7:53AM poster is absolutely correct. In the end, Dede was not able to compete with the outside money of either the Hoffman or Owens campaigns.
Again, it's the OUTSIDE money of BOTH the Hoffman and Owens campaigns. Dede was a local candidate and had supporters from a wide range of the populous. But we all must face the fact that this race, like many others going on around the country, is being run from a national level.
Didn't someone say that all politics are local?
Macomb
I'm not sure it's fair to put the Hoffman and Owens campaigns in the same boat when it comes to outside/inside funding. According to a 11.01.2009 post at http://www.fivethirtyeight.com/, Owens raised considerable cash inside NY23, whereas Hoffman's campaign is based virtually entirely on outside money. So, while both benefited from outside contributions, Hoffman clearly received much more from inside the district.
Is it a suprise that when no one is sure what conservatives standing for and so little is defined in terms that the average person can understand that Fred Thompson would come out to stump. What does this guy stand for? What do they want the nation and the world to look like? The last 8 years that got us into war and debt is that their plan for the future? EWO
How much will the voters in Manhattan swing the vote in favor of Owens?
Gromit- So all the Democrat bigwigs coming here to campaign for Owens meant nothing? Please, I'm no fan of outside influence but I seem to recall plenty of outside the 23rd influence coming in for Owens....and Dede.
Bret,
Gromit didn't say Owens' outside money had NO effect. He said Owens raised a lot more money inside the district, and provided a link to back it up. Nearly all of Hoffman's cash came from outside.
Also, one reason the local Dems selected Owens was his ability to self-fund; he's got a lot of cash in his own right.
Well that's nice. Another rich Democrat funding his own campaign. Funny, when it a Repub doing that it's EVIL!!!
Lets also remember that there were 2 people trying for the right wing funds. I suppose that would be part of the reason the outside money came in. It still makes little sense to me that where the money comes from should mean anything. After all, Hillarys money came from China and that was no big deal.....
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