He may have been a bit nerdy; he may have been a hint unpolished; he may have been a little out of his league on the national scene; he may not have even technically been a Republican; and unfortunately he is also not going to be the next Congressman from the State of New York. I predicted this one wrong earlier as I clearly thought his substantial leads in late polling would hold up, but it appears that a large portion of the Scozzafava supporters decided to follow her to the Left.
In fairness, I should also point out that this is a huge win for the White House. They began the work of creating the vacancy that was up for special election Tuesday evening months ago. Just after taking office the President appointed Rep. John McHugh to serve as Secretary of the Army opening the seat in a district the President had won in ’08. I have previously stated that I thought the move was politically brilliant and I echo that sentiment now. I did not however think it was going to work. That being said, the phenomenon that was Doug Hoffman may not be a total loss. I mean it is for him – Hoffman that is. His moment in the sun is over without question, but his candidacy may have been a wake up call for the Republican Party as a whole.
In a campaign that saw Hoffman emerge from nowhere as an Conservative Party candidate challenging a Republican nominee and the party leadership that chose her, Doug Hoffman captured the attention of conservatives across this nation who knew little to nothing about the man except the fact that he was the “conservative” yet wasn’t the Republican candidate. This caused some to question whether there was a civil war budding within the Republican Party and many others to ponder how a “moderate” was able to receive the GOP nomination in the first place.
Hoffman may have failed to win tonight and he may have been completely out of his league, but Red state Democrats beware. If Hoffman can come out of nowhere with 30 days left in this election, I would venture to guess that conservatives across this nation might have something to say when midterms roll around this time next year. Moderate Republicans wishy washy on the big issues, you might want to start packing your bags too.
Side Note of No Importance: I will be VERY happy not to have to see that picture any longer!
You spent a lot of time covering this race. Angry much?