I’ll admit that I have become heavily emotionally invested in the Doug Hoffman race. These last two days I have gone with very little sleep and put a lot of effort in. I saw a lot of things, met people I never thought I’d meet. I was treated as any other member of the press here, and this is something I would never have imagined I’d be a part of.
Conservatives won in NY-23. The goal was to stop a liberal Republican. We did that. The goal was to send a message to the NRCC. We did that. The goal was to show that a conservative could be competitive in a district not considered conservative. We did that.
45% of the vote for a 3rd party candidate who was opposed by the Democrat-Union-Acorn machine and until the last minute opposed by the national Republican apparatus is incredible. Many pundits will dismiss this or try to cast blame at the feet of conservatives, but the number crunchers at the NRCC and RNC and NRSC will be forced to take notice.
With all the emotional investment, as I heard that Doug was about to concede I expected to be crushed by the weight of it. Instead, I found myself smiling through the whole speech. When Doug said that this was just one fight and a fight that was worth fighting, I could barely contain a he** yeah. I sit here, disappointed, but oddly cheerful.
In VA and NJ we dealt resounding blows to the Obama-Pelosi agenda. In NY-23 we lost a fight and improved our strategic position.
Doug Hoffman or another conservative wil run here in a year, and we can win. In a few months, we can put Rubio on the Senate ballot in New York Florida (Thanks to cwilson for catching my typo). We can put Devore on the ballot in California. We can bring this country back from the brink and make it better than ever before. We must not slow, we must not tarry, we must not quit.
Hooah_Mac, thanks for all you did!
ColdWarrior Wednesday, November 4th at 2:15AM EST (link)Your analysis is right on the money, too.
Think of it — Doug Hoffman garnered a greater percentage of the vote, despite all the obstacles, than an incumbent governor of a very blue state who spent millions of dollars and had three visits from the president.
Let’s keep building momentum and recruiting troops for the coming 2010 contests.
Thank you.
ColdWarrior
http://www.theprecinctproject.wordpress.com
American first, conservative second and Republican precinct committeeman by necessity.
http://www.theprecinctproject.wordpress.com, so you can say, “I became a precinct committeeman before it was cool.”
“Elections have consequences, my friends.” — John McCain
I think that calls for an update to the sig line as well. (nt)
The_Gadfly Wednesday, November 4th at 11:03PM EST (link)We’ve been called racists enough now that it shouldn’t bother us any more.
-AChance, http://www.redstate.com/moe_lane/2009/11/03/what-men-may-do-we-have-done/#comment-24463
If NY23 was a beat down for Conservatives, what do you call what happened to Progressives in NJ and VA?
inspired by ColdWarrior, http://www.redstate.com/hooah_mac/2009/11/04/ny-23-the-agony-of-defeat-not-so-much/#comment-156
Just Curious...
JX12 Wednesday, November 4th at 3:01AM EST (link)If a candidate concedes, and then enough of the remaining uncounted votes go his way to put him over the top, can he un-concede and claim the seat?
Concession isn't legally binding
Hooah_Mac Wednesday, November 4th at 3:07AM EST (link)Remember, Al Gore took his back. On the other hand, the campaign crunched and recrunched the numbers and conceded when the possibility of victory became too small to hope.
“You can call yourself a Republican, but if you’ve lost the support of Fred Thompson, you are an unholy thing that will be destroyed by a rain of fire.” -IMAO
What controls is the
johnminehan Friday, November 6th at 1:08PM EST (link)election being “certified” under the Election Law. However, if there are issues, having conceded probably means you don’t have a pair of eyes on the absentee ballots . . . .
"Rubio on the Senate ballot in New York"?
cwilson Wednesday, November 4th at 4:55AM EST (link)Now, I know we have a lot of, er, bi-state [1] voters — but surely it hasn’t become official policy that we in FL submit our candidates for approval on NY ballots?
[1] “I live six months of each year in each state, so why shouldn’t I vote in both places?” /facepalm. dadburned snowbirds…
Good catch
Hooah_Mac Wednesday, November 4th at 5:52AM EST (link)I’ll fix it when I get back to civilization. I just had NY on the brain tonight.
“You can call yourself a Republican, but if you’ve lost the support of Fred Thompson, you are an unholy thing that will be destroyed by a rain of fire.” -IMAO
Will the Republicans be smart enough?
BlueStateSaint Wednesday, November 4th at 5:37AM EST (link)Will the NRCC, the NRC, and the NRSC be smart enough to actually get the meaning of the message?
Reagan Republicans almost elected our first "citizen" candidate
newsentinel Wednesday, November 4th at 8:21AM EST (link)and that means we should take heart. Doug Hoffman struggled against three gigantic political entities. Initially, he was pounded into the ground by the Republican Party powers-that-be. He took a beating from the Democratic Party’s professional campaign machine. He was up against the ruthless and corrupt George Soros’s Working Familiies Party (whose candidate of choice, lest we forget, was the one also endorsed by the Republican Party, Dede Scozzafava).
All things considered, it is astounding that Reagan Republicans from around the country nearly elected our first “citizen” candidate. We can learn from this. In 2010, we will elect citizen candidates (read not professional politicians) with an R besides their names in all the States.
This really says it all--
Flagstaff Wednesday, November 4th at 9:09PM EST (link)“In NY-23 we lost a fight and improved our strategic position.”
Pluto, the Ninth Planet - Forever!
Lost the fight in NY 23?
fbks Thursday, November 5th at 4:30PM EST (link)It is remarkable that Hoffman made it as far as he did. Every move (such as the appointment of the former representative of NY23 to an administrative post in his regime by the Great Leader) is calculated to further absolute control of the country.
If Scozoffava had been elected as a Republican, she would have voted with the Dems and helped with the “bipartisan” support myth of his socialist/fascist agenda.
Hoffman’s loss did not change the balance of power in the Congress, but it does keep aye votes with the Dems for change you can never believe in or support.
The bigger issue is, can the GOP be changed from a progressive lite party, to a conservative based party and defend the nation from being transformed into a third world socialist mess?
Read closer
Hooah_Mac Thursday, November 5th at 5:31PM EST (link)My point was one of the fights - to get Hoffman elected was not a win, but it counts as a strategic loss. I have said many times that we WON in NY-23 by defeating Dede.
“You can call yourself a Republican, but if you’ve lost the support of Fred Thompson, you are an unholy thing that will be destroyed by a rain of fire.” -IMAO
Thank you
fbks Thursday, November 5th at 6:53PM EST (link)for the personal effort (and the many others) you made in this struggle.
Great Diary
mom2oneson Friday, November 6th at 10:55AM EST (link)Mac since I’ve read about politics I’ve always wondered why more veterans aren’t in Congress and in government. I live in an area with a lot of retired military and so many of the men are really good men that I would love to help get elected but they don’t run. Now I see why with what you wrote with difficulting of getting into DC. That was really brilliant that part about DHS.
The key thing to me is that
johnminehan Friday, November 6th at 1:06PM EST (link)the Democrats won with a candidate who was more Conservative than the (initial) Republican candidate.
If nothing else, this probably reminded the State Republican leadership that the State is Conservative in most Districts, particularly on economic issues.