Focus on NY 23rd!

I'm vaguely aware of a governor's race in New Jersey and Virginia where a Republican may or may not have won. It's hard to tell since the media has only reported on New York's 23rd District.

As the story goes, a Conservative Party candidate ran the Republican out of the race because she wasn't "far-right" enough and the Democrat won the Congressional seat. The fact that the Democrat won proves that conservatism is dead and liberalism is alive and well. Pelosi went so far as to assert that she had won on election day because a Democrat has not held that seat since the Civil War.

I'll abide by the media blackout and disregard the NJ and VA races. So let's look more closely at the 23rd. The original Republican in the race, called moderate by the mainstream media, has a laundry list of liberal positions. She voted 190 times to raise taxes, she favors card checks to abolish the secret ballot for unionization, she has received the Magaret Sanger award for pro-abortion activism and she was endorsed by the Working Families Party which is an arm of ACORN. Indeed, it is hard to distinguish her from the Democrats excepting only the "R" next to her name. Why would or should Republicans vote for someone who is a Republican in name only? And even then, the original candidate withdrew from the race and was not pushed. Needless to say, when her position on the issues were determined, her polling fell to single digits while the Conservative Party candidate went from single digits to double digits. Even when she withdrew from the race, she endorsed the Democrat!

As for the charge that Republicans are purging anyone who does not agree with their concept of ideological purity, Lieberman was actively abandoned by the Democrat party due solely to his position on the Iraq war. He is still a reliable liberal vote on almost all other issues.

But what does all this mean since the Democrat did win the race? For starters, maybe he didn't. News reports now indicate polling irregularities that have now been uncovered convinced Hoffman, the Conservative, to concede defeat to Owens, the Democrat. Even with Owens sworn into office, the ballots are still being counted and even if Owens wins in the end his lead is significantly less than has been reported.

While the absentee ballots will determine the winner, even if Owens retains his seat, this is a conservative victory. As Michelle Malkin has said, "He overcame impossible odds (single digits just a month ago) to come within two points of defeating Democrat Bill Owens. Hoffman had zero name recognition. National Republican Party officials dumped nearly $1 million into the race on behalf of radical leftist GOP candidate Dede Scozzafava, who then turned around, endorsed Owens and siphoned off 5 percent of the vote with her name still on the ballot after she dropped out." The contrast is even greater now that the two points is gradually being whittled down. Certainly if Scozzafava's name had not been on the ballot, Hoffman would have won.

Honestly, I hope Democrats don't read this. I want them to continue on and miss the warning signs. My prayers are being answered with the House passing the health care reform bill. It will die an ignoble death in the Senate by most accounts and just drive the Democrat poll numbers down even further. I hope they continue to ignore conservative victories in NJ and VA and tell themselves Hoffman never had a chance because he was "out of the mainstream." Underestimating the Republicans the '09 will lead to their own undoing in '10.