The democrats are so afraid of the government cheese running out they see democrats as the only hope for a few more months or years to suck on the government teet. Once it runs dry they will flock to Mass or Jersey and suck what is left there. Just don’t come to Texas.

I’m guess that’s what they’ll say when people mention that he and Corwin got more voted when you combine their votes.

At this point I’m mostly curious what the exit polling will tell us.

This is their gameplan for next year. They will run faux Tea Party, confuse issues, use dirty tricks, hide behind the media, and smear, baby smear us. They’ll use appearance and perception as their smog of war.

If Hochul had gotten above 50% then it would have been a clear message of disapproval of the Ryan Medicare plan. If she had won in the low 40′s you could argue it wasn’t about Medicare. If the numbers hold out at about 48%, the message is muddled. It will still make some of the squishy GOP pols nervous. Hochul invested a lot of money attacking Corwin on the Medicare issue. I don’t think we can completely ignore it. We need to be prepared to deal with this in 2012.

This and the Dede disaster was just what the doctor ordered to force the party to look inward and get ready for bigger and better battles. Democrats can game special elections, but they can’t bankroll 870 candidates (one Democrat and one Tea Party imposter) in all 435 Congressional races,

Losing stinks, but there are never any expectations in the northeast for Republicans, and Republicans have to live and learn about letting Democrats run to the right of them. Scott Brown is teeing up just this sort of doom, methinks.

And you can’t let Newt off the hook for the timing of his little fart in the car. He’s a campaign commercial for any Democrat taker now.

At the finish line, Jack Davis had no impact on this race. Realize that as Davis’ support melted away over the past few weeks it went as much or more to Hochul than it did to Corwin.

And Erick, I’m not sure how closely you paid attention to this campaign, but ignoring the importance of the Medicare message here is a huge mistake! The messaging from the Hochul campaign was exclusively about Medicare over the past month. Sure, there were NY specific issues – but if people didn’t attend campaign rallies then they weren’t hearing about them. And unfortunately, its hard to take away anything from these results than the effectiveness of that strategy.

The “save Medicare” message was electorally potent last election to a degree many don’t appreciate, stemming from the Obamacare debate. Medicare reform is good, but that is not what the public is hearing right now about the Ryan plan. This is a big problem, and ignoring it won’t make it disappear!

First, this was not NY-23, otherwise elite GOPers, like former Speaker Newt Gingrich, etc. would have endorsed the faux Tea Party candidate the way they had Dede Scofazza in 2009.

Second, what’s the arch-lesson here? Welcome to the big-leagues Tea Party? Considering the oddity of NY candidates being able to run on multiple party lines, why did not the ‘R’ in this race, thus challenging both liberals?

Do not let another fox in the hen house, just sayin’…

If the person running isn’t firm in their support for the party message then the voters who would normally come out for a strong candidate, won’t come out for a weak candidate who won’t stick up for what voters believe in principally. To blame a 3rd candidate for siphoning off votes only shows the weakness of the primary candidate’s support.

Party insiders and “elitists” who think they know better will eventually fail, just like central planners fail at running an economy of people. Having a long primary contest like the one for President, is actually a good thing in that it shows who can go the distance. Yes politics is brutal and full of backstabbing folks in all parties to a degree, but being able to withstand such strengthens the final candidate. Hence, hand picked candidates usually fail.

The turning point in polls was a horrific attempt by Corwin’s chief of staff to corner Davis in a parking lot, which got a LOT of air time. Corwin skirted this and it was obvious. Repub leaders plastered the video online within MINUTES … and it backfired.
Another reason this was predicted to be a loss in FEBRUARY… Repub leaders hand-picked Corwin immediately after the Lee scandal, not listening to the shouts for rank and file input. They were almost begging for Davis to get in on the race.
Also – many were turned off by the Corwin’s negative ads. Lots of them, many from outside the area.
Medicare was the Dem’s trumpet, but it did not matter as much as national pundit would have you think. NY Republican party leadership sucks!

The one place where the conservative party split and formed its own party. The one place that bought into the constant chorus of Republicans sucking so bad. Why would anyone vote for a Republican, they would just sell everyone out and probably vote for that awful John Boehner. To the hell with Republicans, “real” conservatives should start their own party and be just like NY. It works so well.

If she really was, that shows the astoundingly low political I.Q. that Republicans still posess. Who would expect the Democrats to do anything but demagogue the Medicare issue? What has been the Democrat default position for 40 years but lies and smears and personal attacks? Yet every time this happens, it seems the Republicans have no clue this is going to happen, and no strategy and even less desire to push back against it. Republican cluelessness is appalling and mind-boggling, and is a tremendous threat to our republic.

Her campaign was a mess. She got distracted by Davis, whom she should have just let the Tea Party deal with, and could not strongly articulate a message of reform. To me, she just looked confused and defensive.

And about NY: Republicans here, the real ones do not suck, and have tried to get in, but the RINO statists have a monopoly that is not easy to crack. State law is no help either, as it does not allow primaries for special elections. The only way to have a choice is to run a different candidate on a 3rd party line.

And about that, I would not be surprised if Jack Davis had been bankrolled by Democrats in order to split the reform-mided voters.

doesn’t matter which party; remember Martha what’s her name in mass. who ran against Scott Brown. Also special elections don’t mean much, two really great reps won in special elections in HI and LA, only to get trounced in the normal election cycle.

That was before the GOP went on to win the Virginia and New Jersey gubernatorial races and pick up Ted Kennedy’s (!!!!) seat in Massachusetts.

Sorry, but Brown turned out to be a RINO also. Maybe not the liberal that Ted was, but still a RINO.

I have to part with you on this one. I am a life long Conservative and I have never ever voted for a Democrat nor will I ever but if the GOP insist that they have to do something with Medicare this time around i am afraid the 2012 vote is going to go for the Democrats. I myself just won’t vote as many other seniors I know will do. There are many things that need to be fixed but worrying about medicare in this election cycle is stupid. The Debt is non-issue when you talk about cutting more of my money. i paid into Social Security and medicare alll of my working life. This is not something that is a give away it is mine i own it, i paid for it. I am on Social Security disability and medicare and i am just barely making it if you want to call it that. As long as we are sending Billions of dollars of Foreign Aid out of the country don’t come talking to me about cutting Medicare. or Soc Sec. If paul Ryan continues to harp about medicare he had better be talking about stopping Foreign Aid first.

The Debt and Deficit arre big numbers. the Debt especially is not and issue because it can never be fixed. If we stopped all spending and I mean cutting the spending we are doing right now and devoted every penny to the Debt it would take 300 years to pay it off. that means that no matter what we do it can’t be fixed. That makes it a non-issue. The deficit is an issue in that it directly affects the ability of our companies to create jobs and get the economy going. We have to get our economy moving before we can worry about any other in the World. Each day the government borrows $16 billion plus some. I am sick and tired of Social Security and medicare being portrayed as Cost. it is not cost it is money that I have paid into the system. It’s not my fault the politicians can’t mange it. if they woul dkeep thiere hands off of it and allow it to draw interest as originally planned we wouldn’t be in this fix. Now do you still think that medicare isn’t going to be an issue in the 2012 elections? believe me it wilt be. alleged great thinkers are passing the NY election off to Quirky new yorkers. I would believe tht if it hadn’t been for the fact this district has been Red since Lincoln was president. this is not a fluke and the GOP had better listen up. they have Pi$$ed off the conservatives anow they are about to do the same to the seniors. if the seniors vote for the Democrats or don’t vote at all then the 2012 wil be a shoe in for the Democrats.

Sure, every patient knows when they are overweight, but would rather diet on “some other meal” and get some drugs to alleviate the symptoms. It is just too hard to face the real issue and go through the pain and effort to actually get healthy.

Same with Medicare – many will refuse to face the issue that Medicare is bankrupt and dragging down the economy. They will try to get someone else to pay for it. Refuse to reform or reduce their own benefits – always take it from someone else.

Sure, every patient knows when they are overweight, but would rather diet on “some other meal” and get some drugs to alleviate the symptoms. It is just too hard to face the real issue and go through the pain and effort to actually get healthy.

Same with Medicare – many will refuse to face the issue that Medicare is bankrupt and dragging down the economy. They will try to get someone else to pay for it. Refuse to reform or reduce their own benefits – always take it from someone else.

Medicare and SS are 3rd rails of politics. Touch them and you die. Ryan’s Medicare reform is telling future Congresses how to vote. This is stupid. The Republicans ran on cutting more that $100 dollars. This is where they should focus.

for medicare. what I didn’t say there is i know that the plan won’t affect mcuh of the already retired people. But that is my point exavtly. Most retired people i know and I know quite a few think they will be directly affected. They thnk the the cuts will take money form them. They don[t kow becasue they ahven’ tread Ryan’s plan. The GOP isn’t dong a good job of letting seniors know what the Ryan plan is all about. the Democrats aren’t going to do it. They want the seniors to believe they are going to lose benefits. If the seniors don’t have this fact pounded into their heads the truth isn’t going to matter when they pull that lever in 2012. GOP we can’t keep overlooking the obvious. You keep Harping about the fact that reform has to occur but you leave out how that reformis gong to happen. The Democrts love it. and the GOP even when they hear the lie bign told don’t raise up in arms and make the correction. Not all seniors are tied into the internet or even the news they only know what they ahve jeard from others and it the rumors aren’t stopped in time 2012 is going to be Custer’s last stnd all over again.

That the supposed Tea Party Candidate was in fact a democrat, running as a Republican under the Tea Party banner just to make sure that the votes were split to allow the democrat to win, this is the ploy that will be showing up in all the coming elections. Be sure that you study the history of the candidates,and vote based on the truth not just because they are in a certain party, the wolves are in sheep’s clothing to scatter the flock.

through his own actions. The assist goes to his supporters in previous elections who, for some reason, stayed home yesterday.