News stories tagged with "dede"

(11/05/09) New York's Independence Party is courting Republican Dede Scozzafava as she completes her term in the Assembly. Independence Chairman Frank MacKay told the Associated Press Scozzafava appears to be a true independent. She won re-election last year with the Republican, Conservative, Independence and Working Families lines.

She ended her campaign for the 23rd CD last weekend as it was overtaken by Conservative Doug Hoffman.
He lost in Tuesday's voting, to Democrat Bill Owens... so the election is over. But between pulling out of the race and the voting Tuesday, Scozzafava endorsed the Democrat, and it's hard to predict how deep and long lasting the rift between the Assemblywoman and the leaders of her party will be.

It was a bruising race for Scozzafava. GOP leaders from each of the District's 11 counties chose her as their candidate.
But their support evaporated as they watched Conservative Doug Hoffman collect national attention -- and money.

By then end, many of her fellow Republicans scorned her for what they called "liberal" views. GOP leaders, from former Gov. George Pataki to many of the district's county chairmen, embraced the Conservative Hoffman.
And there were suggestions from within the GOP that there would be a local challenge her if she sought re-election to her Assembly seat.

Speaking with North Country Public Radio's Jonathan Brown yesterday, Scozzafava said the well-funded TV ads from Hoffman and his supporters misled voters about her political record.
And worse...she said: "if the type of hatred and vitriol and lies and deceit that I heard coming from factions of our Republican Party... if that's where the soul of our party is... all is not well with thy soul. It is really not well."
Here's their conversation:

(10/31/09) Republican Dede Scozzafava is suspending her campaign in New York's 23rd Congressional race. She thanked her supporters and released them to "transfer their support as they see fit."
An Associated Press report Saturday morning indicated Scozzafava had thrown her support to Conservative Doug Hoffman, but campaign spokesman Matt Burns denied that. He told North Country Public Radio, "I don't know who they've been talking to. I point to our statement."

The announcement comes after a Siena College poll found Scozzafava was in third place with 20% of the vote, while Hoffman and Democratic nominee Bill Owens were too close to call with 35 and 36% respectively.

The race has pitted conservative and moderate wings of the Republican Party against each other. Spokesman Burns said, "Dede was concerned about the pressure from both sides being placed on her supporters. It would have just escalated."

In her announcement, Scozzafava wrote: "In recent days, polls have indicated that my chances of winning this election are not as strong as we would like them to be. The reality that I've come to accept is that 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. But as I've said from the start of this campaign, this election is not about me, it's about the people of this District. And, as always, today I will do what I believe serves their interests best." (find full text in More...below)

The election is Tuesday. more