Army Secretary-designate Rep. John McHugh (R-NY-23) has been confirmed by the Senate Armed Services Committee, and with Senator Schumer's glowing endorsement, it seems clear that he will be confirmed by the full Senate:
"John and I have been friends and partners in government for almost two decades, so I can personally attest to what a fine and decent human being he is," Schumer said.
He added, "With John's confirmation, New York will be losing a tremendous public servant, but our loss will be America's gain. And I am confident that he will serve his country as well as he served the residents of the North Country and Central New York."
And then one final, "He's just a fine person."
After Schumer's glowing introduction, Republican Sen. Susan Collins, of Maine, couldn't resist teasing New York's senior senator.
"I don't think I've ever heard Senator Schumer speak so well of a Republican before in my life," Collins told the committee. "It really was just an amazing tribute."
Schumer shot back: "Well, we all grow and evolve."
And with that, the battle to replace one of New York's three remaining GOP Representatives is joined!
The question of WHEN to hold the election lies with Governor Paterson:
The race has attracted early attention even though Gov. David Paterson has yet to call for a special election in the district. Paterson has said he will wait for McHugh to be confirmed and vacate his seat before making his decision.
Once the governor issues his proclamation, the election would have to be scheduled at least 30 days from that date, but no more than 40 days, according to the state Board of Elections.
Paterson could also choose not to call for a special election. In that case, as long as McHugh leaves his seat by Sept. 20, the seat would automatically come up for a vote with the general election Nov. 3.
The NYS Republican Party got the jump on the pack by nominating one Dede Scozzafava on July 22 at a meeting of local party officials in a Potsdam, NY restaurant.
Republican Party leaders in the 23rd Congressional District have chosen Assemblywoman Dierdre Scozzafava of Gouverneur as their candidate for the seat long held by Rep. John McHugh.
Scozzafava, who was first elected to the state Assembly in 1998, was chosen out of a field of nine finalists, who met with party committee members and elected officials to make their case and answer questions four times in different parts of the 11-county district.
Here's the catch: Republican Nominee Scozzafava has a rather liberal background:
Scozzafava has not been endorsed by the Conservative Party recently. She has been, however, endorsed by the Working Families Party, which generally endorses Democratic candidates, in her Assembly bids.
If she were running only against a Democratic opponent, she would probably win in this mostly rural upstate New York district. In fact, parts of this district have more recently been represented by WHIGS than by Democrats!
So naturally, the NYS Conservative Party has decided to attack this liberal Republican from the right by nominating one Doug Hoffman:
"It's a done deal," Jim Kelly, of Wilmington, who had also expressed interest in the Conservative nomination for New York's 23rd District seat, said Wednesday afternoon. "Doug Hoffman will be the candidate on the Conservative Party line."
Conservative Party leaders will meet Friday in Syracuse and make their announcement then. Kelly, a longtime Conservative Party activist, said he will give his "full support to Doug Hoffman."
(snip)
Conservative Party officials have said Scozzafava is too liberal and they won't endorse her.
"I'm still a Republican," Hoffman said. "I'm not changing my values or ideals."
However, Hoffman said, he thinks voters in the 23rd District want a conservative Republican and that conservative Democrats will be drawn to him as well.
"I am in this race to win," Hoffman said. "I am not in this race to be a sacrificial lamb."
Now, Conservative Party nominee Doug Hoffman has his own problems, such as not living in the district, but they don't seem insurmountable:
Hoffman lives in Lake Placid, which is a few miles from the 23rd District in the neighboring 20th District. Hoffman said he doesn't think his residency will be a problem with voters, noting he grew up and went to high school and college in the 23rd and that his accounting firm, Dragon, Benware, Crowley & Co., has offices in Watertown, Canton, Massena and Malone, all within the 23rd.
"I'm in the district almost daily," Hoffman said.
Hoffman said Lake Placid could very well be returned to the 23rd after the 2010 census but that he would be willing to move back to Saranac Lake in the meantime. Saranac Lake is where he grew up, and the bulk of it is in the 23rd District.
For the record, Saranac Lake is just down the road from Lake Placid.
Republican Scozzafava will have her work cut out for her as she battles for the seat against Conservative Hoffman:
Scozzafava, of course, is widely known to be pro-choice and pro-marriage equality. Those progressive views on two key social issues put her at odds with the Conservative Party philosophy, which has been said to revolve around such social issues.
Hoffman might be able to steal conservative votes away from Scozzafava, which isn't something to take lightly. The 23rd district is very rural and the district has more elected Republicans than Democrats. This district is a conservative one, so Scozzafava isn't going to have an easy time running a campaign on two issues that Republicans are usually strongly against.
So there we have it: We are going up against a liberal Republican and a conservative um... Conservative.
Who will Democrats pick?
Swing State Project analyzes a list of potential nominees that the Albany Times-Union collected from local NYS Democratic Party officials:
Here’s the list, released jointly by the party’s district chairs:
Andy Bisselle, Essex County
Stu Brody, Essex County
Steve Burke, St. Lawrence County
Danny Francis, Jefferson County
Bob Johnson, Jefferson County
Rudolph Johnson, Franklin County
Brian McGrath, Lewis County
David Ryan, Franklin County
John Sullivan, Jr., Oswego County
Michael Oot, Madison County
Bill Owens, Clinton County
The list includes former Democratic opponents of McHugh, other long time Democrats from the area, other recently-ex-Republicans and independents from the area, and two candidates who SSP refers to as "some dude".
In fact, the list includes some solid Democratic candidates:
Stu Brody (Essex County): Attorney, former Essex Co. Democratic Chair, and head of the Democratic Rural Conference from 2002 to 2008.
Brian McGrath (Lewis County): NYC attorney, willing to "drop six figures" on a campaign. He's put $200K into his campaign already and says that he can raise $700K more through his contacts. Sounds like he wants to present himself as the next Scott Murphy.
John Sullivan, Jr. (Oswego County): The former head of the state Attorney General's Watertown office and ex-Oswego mayor.
Michael Oot (Madison County): Attorney, '08 nominee against McHugh.
One Democratic candidate who is NOT in the race is New York State Senator Darrel Aubertine, who opted out of the race to prevent the NYS Senate from falling once again into Republican hands -- a noble decision, if you ask me. But, we are not up against geniuses in the NYS GOP, and in fact, they wasted a good deal of money running attack ads on TV and in mailers produced by the National Republican Campaign Committee AFTER Aubertine dropped out!
The leadership of the local Democratic Parties in the 11 counties that make up the NY-23 district will be meeting next Monday in their own beautiful Adirondack version of the classic smoke-filled room in the heart of Adirondack Park Preserve in Blue Mountain Lake, New York. The plan is to use the rustic setting to interview all the candidates and make a decision about our nominee by the end of the day.
Without a nominee, it will be hard to contribute cash to help win this race, but the NYS Democratic Party is collecting funds specifically for this NY-23 Special Election at their ActBlue site.
The Republican Party in New England currently holds ZERO House Seats and THREE House Seats in New York. This is a major opportunity for us to pick up one of those three seats, leaving only Peter King in NY-03 and Chris Lee in NY-26 to go!
This is the Republican's race to lose, and it looks like they and the NYS Conservative Party are trying their hardest to do exactly that! We can take this GOP seat!
NOTE: I first published this yesterday afternoon, but it scrolled off the Recent Diary list faster than water over Niagara Falls! Thanks for reading!