Shocker: Scozzafava endorses Democrat in NY-23 race

A bitter liberal Republican throws her support behind the Democrat. Who’da thought? The Watertown Daily Times reports:

Sen. Charles E. Schumer, D-N.Y., was among those who urged Dierdre K. Scozzafava to endorse Democratic congressional candidate William L. Owens, the senator’s spokesman said Saturday.

The spokesman, Maxwell Young, said the senator called a number of north country political leaders after Ms. Scozzafava suspended her campaign and had more than one conversation with the Republican candidate ahead of her announcement. He said the senator also called other Democratic leaders about the situation, including White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel.

Mr. Owens said he was “honored” by the endorsement.

“Over the course of her career, Dede has always committed to serving the people of Upstate New York before serving a partisan agenda,” he said in a statement. “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. Those are the kinds of priorities I will fight for in Congress because that’s the kind of leadership Upstate New York needs right now.”

Those in the camp of the Conservative candidate Douglas L. Hoffman called Ms. Scozzafava a turncoat.

“This afternoon Dede Scozzafava betrayed the GOP,“ Senior Communications Advisor Rob Ryan said in a statement. “She endorsed a Pelosi Democrat who will spend more, tax more, and push the liberal agenda that is dragging down this nation.”

More to the point, she betrayed the establishment GOP. The conservative GOP she betrayed long ago.

The Politico has the story on how “high-ranking national Democrats” began to work on obtaining her endorsement moments after she dropped out of the race. IMO, it was pretty much a no-brainer she would endorse the Democrat, if nothing more than out of spite against the conservatives who criticized her stances on the issues as being ultra-liberal. ST reader GWR, commenting on this story in the wee hours of the morning, hit the nail on the head:

This is textbook RINO behavior. When they win a primary, they expect conservatives to back them in the name of “party unity”. When they lose the primary, they sulk and either secretly or openly support the Democrat. I’ve seen it more times here in NJ (including this year’s campaign for governor) than I care to count.

IMHO, they should make a clean break of it. Admit they’re leftists and go join the leftist party. Who needs them.

Amen to that.

As for final polling numbers going into tomorrow’s election, according to Public Policy Polling, Hoffman is leading the race “big” (via Memeorandum):

Doug Hoffman has a commanding lead in the special election for New York’s 23rd Congressional District.

In a three way contest with Democrat Bill Owens and Republican Dede Scozzafava Hoffman leads with 51% to 34% for Owens and 13% for Scozzafava. In a head to head contest with Owens Hoffman holds a 54-38 advantage.

Polling the race was a little haphazard in a weekend with many twists and turns but Hoffman showed a similar lead at all junctures. In interviews conducted before Scozzafava announced the suspension of her campaign Hoffman led Owens 49-31 with 17% going to Scozzafava. Poll respondents Saturday afternoon/evening and early Sunday afternoon were informed that Scozzafava had dropped out but that her name would still be on the ballot. During that period of time Hoffman led Owens 51-34 with Scozzafava’s share going down to 12%. After Scozzafava announced she was endorsing Owens the remaining Sunday respondents were informed of that and the race showed a little tightening with Hoffman up 52-38 on Owens and Scozzafava’s share dropping to 7%.

The bottom line though is that Hoffman led by double digits during every segment of the poll, an indication that he may have been headed for a definitive victory regardless of Scozzafava’s actions over the course of the weekend.

We shall see …