ALBANY (AP)
Nov 2 2009, 10:44 AM |
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Fighting plunging support, Republican Dierdre Scozzafava abruptly
suspended her campaign Saturday in a special election for a U.S. House
seat that has exposed a rift among national factions of the party.
Former
campaign spokesman Matt Burns said Scozzafava is essentially
withdrawing from the race, although her name will remain on Tuesday’s
ballot. She thinks stepping aside is best for the party, he said.
“It is increasingly clear that pressure is mounting on many of my
supporters to shift their support,” Scozzafava said in a written
statement. “Consequently, I hereby release those individuals who have
endorsed and supported my campaign to transfer their support as they
see fit.”
The announcement comes after a Siena College poll
found she was in third place with 20 percent of the vote in the heavily
Republican upstate New York district that has been safe ground for the
party for more than 100 years. Conservative Party nominee Doug Hoffman
and Democratic nominee Bill Owens were too close to call with 35
percent and 36 percent, respectively.
“Assemblywoman Dede Scozzafava has been an honorable public
servant for years now and I have a tremendous amount of respect for her
and her commitment to her principles,” Owens said Saturday. “While we
disagree on certain issues, we share a dedication to serving the best
interests of upstate New York and the Obama administration’s efforts to
get our the economy back on track. Those interests will always be my
highest priority.”
The day after she bowed out of the race, Scozzafava extended her endorsement to her once Democratic opponent, Owens.
“I
am honored to have Assemblywoman Scozzafava’s endorsement. Over the
course of her career, Dede has always committed to serving the people
of upstate New York before serving a partisan agenda,” Owens said
Sunday. “I have a tremendous amount of respect for what she’s
accomplished. We share a commitment to finding common sense solutions
to address the challenges we’re facing here in upstate New York … Now
more than ever we need bipartisan solutions to help bring jobs to
upstate New York to get our economy back on track and move our country
forward.”
The race has pitted conservative and moderate wings of
the Republican Party in a battle of ideology, both nationally and
statewide. Hoffman and his backers say Scozzafava is too liberal to
represent the GOP, specifically noting her support of abortion rights
and same-sex marriage.
National Organization For Women New York
State President Marcia Pappas, expressed her disappointment Sunday in
Scozzafava’s decision to bow out of the race. She called the move “a
set back for the women, especially Republican women and moderates in
general.” Pappas said that the Republican Party is “clearly going so
ultra-conservative that many highly qualified women are completely
excluded.”
In the short run, the development
consolidates Republican voters behind the conservative candidate and
improves the party’s chances of retaining the seat in the 23rd
Congressional District, which encompasses all or parts of 11 counties
in rural northern and central New York.
Longer term, Democrats
will cast this as a troubling sign for the GOP because it exemplifies
that divide in the party between moderates and conservatives, with
those further to the right, including the “Tea Party” movement, now
getting the upper hand.
Scozzafava came into the race with what
should have been a big advantage. She was popular in her Assembly
district. The 23rd has been rock-solid Republican for decades, one of
only three held by the GOP in New York’s 29-seat Congressional
delegation.
But she got caught in the push and pull of a larger challenge as the GOP tries to define itself.
She
failed to catch voters like James Keech, a 71-year-old registered
Republican from Oswego. He said Scozzafava is too far to the left.
Meanwhile, Hoffman has been able to seize on feelings of
disenfranchisement among upstate voters who have grown in number during
President Barack Obama’s short time in office, partly because of
proposals for federally funded health care.
“I want someone who
stands for something, someone who will take a position, not: ‘Me too,
I’m just like the other guy,’ “ he said, in an interview before
Scozzafava announced her decision.
Big-name Republicans
including Sarah Palin and former Tennessee Sen. Fred Thompson weighed
in to throw their support behind Hoffman. And Friday, former Republican
New York Gov. George Pataki endorsed Hoffman. The former governor, who
served from 1995-2006, said he does not remember previously endorsing
any candidate who was not either the Republican nominee or seeking the
GOP nomination.
“This, I hope, has an impact not just on
Conservatives and Republicans and Independents, but there are (a) lot
of Democrats out there, who I believe, are dissatisfied with taking
trillions from our children’s and grandchildren’s future and borrowing
it now so we can have pet spending programs in place,” Pataki said to
The Associated Press, Friday.
He noted that Hoffman will be able
to stand up to Democratic Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, work to
curb federal spending, decrease the growing national debt, lower taxes,
oppose nationalized health care proposals and reject President Obama’s
“phony” stimulus program.
Since such big-name endorsements, money has poured into Hoffman’s campaign from all over the country.
“In
today’s political arena, you must be able to back up your message with
money — and as I’ve been outspent on both sides, I’ve been unable to
effectively address many of the charges that have been made about my
record,” Scozzafava said.
Similar big-name endorsements and
fundraising efforts have been made for Owens as well. Earlier this
month, President Obama attended a fundraiser for him in New York City.
And today, Vice President Joe Biden is in Watertown campaigning for
the Democratic candidate and will also attend a rally for Owens.
Republican
National Committee Chairman Michael Steele said Scozzafava’s decision
is a “selfless act” and that the committee is immediately endorsing
Hoffman. That support will include financial backing and efforts to get
voters to the polls.
Scozzafava also got a gentle nudge to step
aside last week from congressional Republicans who had supported her
candidacy. Texas Rep. Pete Sessions, chairman of the National
Republican Congressional Committee, tacitly acknowledged Thursday that
Hoffman might be the stronger candidate for the party, saying the
Conservative Party candidate would be “welcome in our conference.”
The
NRCC and RNC moved quickly Saturday to endorse Hoffman, but strategists
said television ads run by NRCC in the district would continue
criticizing Owens, not backing Hoffman.
Some have called the
race a test of the GOP’s future: whether traditional conservative
ideology would lead the way forward or if a more inclusive approach
would draw more people back to the party.
Hoffman already is
thinking about how to bring the party back together, and said this race
could be the start of “the resurgence of the Republican Party.”
“I
think her statement clearly implies that the important thing from this
point on is that all of us Republicans combine forces to make sure that
we get a congressman that will represent the values and the ideals of
the 23rd District, and I believe I am that person,” he told The
Associated Press, Saturday.
“Everything in the last couple weeks
has been overwhelming, but I think this has been the most overwhelming
moment because I never expected it,” he added.
Owens described
Scozzafava as an honorable public servant, but blamed factions within
the Republican Party for her early departure from the race.
“Obviously
I think what has happened here, is the right wing extremists in the
Republican Party have spent over a million dollars to drive her out of
the race,” Owens said, Saturday night.
He noted that he would continue to focus on his campaign.
“Voters
have a clear choice on Tuesday: they can elect to go back to the George
Bush economic agenda, or they can vote to move forward. Doug Hoffman
and the Club for Growth’s extremist agenda won’t do a thing to get our
economy moving again,” Owens said. “While Doug Hoffman is solely
committed to continuing tax cuts for the wealthy, which will add $500
billion to the deficit, protecting tax breaks for companies who ship
jobs overseas and privatizing Social Security, I will fight to turn the
page on that agenda. I will work to create jobs upstate, to get our
economy back on track, because that is the type of leadership we need
right now in Congress.”
A Republican loss in the 23rd would leave the party with just two seats in the 29-member state congressional delegation.
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