PolitickerNY and The Albany Project report that the leaders of the local Democratic Parties of the eleven upstate New York counties making up NY-23 met yesterday in the Adirondack State Park hamlet of Blue Mountain Lake and selected the former Air Force Captain and independent-minded attorney from Plattsburgh Bill Owens to be our nominee in the upcoming Special Election to replace Army Secretary-designate Rep. John McHugh (R-NY-23).
The date for the Special Election has not yet formally been set by Governor Paterson, but it is expected to be held on November 3 along with all the other ordinary off-year elections.
Don't let that desciption "independent-minded" bother you too much. I think it's an inspired choice on the part of the local Democratic leaders.
Let me explain why:
Bill Owens is a lawyer with a firm that has some Republican roots to it, and he has worked on local public television, and says he wants to look out for The People's interests on issues such as deficits, jobs, and health care.
Now, I'll admit that sounds a little BlueDog-ish, but consider that parts of this district have more recently been represented by a WHIG than by a Democrat!
Here's the fascinating part:
The NYS Republican Party has nominated a Liberal/Libertarian: Dede Scozzafava, and the NYS Conservative Party has nominated a Right-Winger: Doug Hoffman, and in the 2008 election for NY-23 against the very popular John McHugh, our Democratic nominee Michael Oot managed to win 35% of the total vote which I now take to be the minimum level of Democratic base support that Owens can count on winning in this special election.
Now, with the GOP splitting in two, and with Owens' local political connections and independent mindset, I think we have a real chance to win a three-way race in this long-time, very rural, very red NYS district -- one of only THREE Republican seats in all of New York State!
Winning here in NY-23 will leave us with Republicans Peter King in NY-03 and Chris Lee in NY-26 to replace with Democrats in 2010 to complete the clean sweep of ALL the House seats in New York and the six New England states!
So this race has some major implications to it and we have a real chance to win it! But Owens will need the Netroots to do one of the things that the Netroots does best:
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