A profile in courage, it isn't
Alex Isenstadt – Sat Oct 31, 3:24 pm ET
As conservative activists scored a political scalp, mainstream Republicans wasted no time in grasping at the coat tails of Conservative Doug Hoffman.
The much-watched off-year special election in upstate New York's 23rd Congressional District that had Republicans scrambling to pick the right side turned into a stampede rightward Saturday, as stragglers rushed to endorse Hoffman after Republican Dede Scozzafava suspended a campaign that she appeared to have little chance of winning.
Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, who’d previously warned that backing Hoffman in the NY-23 House race amounted to a “purge” of the GOP, told POLITICO Saturday morning that he was now endorsing the conservative, "and believe[s] everyone who wants to create jobs with lower taxes and to control spending and deficits should vote for Hoffman Tuesday."
The National Republican Congressional Committee, which had slammed the Conservative contender in a seemingly endless series of press releases, declared that they too now “look forward to welcoming Doug Hoffman into the House Republican Conference as we work together for the good of our nation.”
Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele, who said in recent weeks that he was standing by Scozzafava, announced that “effective immediately, the RNC will endorse and support the conservative candidate in the race, Doug Hoffman,” and that he was re-gearing the party apparatus to boost Hoffman in the final days of the contest.
All three statements came within an hour of Scozzafava’s announcement.
Former Arkansas gov. and 2012 GOP hopeful Mike Huckabee — who alienated many conservative backers of his 2008 White House bid by conspicuously declining to throw his support behind Hoffman — followed with a muted statement, written in the third person and signed Huck PAC: "We commend Dede Scozzafava for stepping aside and in light of her very unselfish announcement, we join the RNC and other Republicans in urging support for Doug Hoffman."
Saturday’s rush caps a week of late-in-the-race Hoffman endorsements from establishment Republicans seizing the chance to score points with conservative purists, and back a winner at the same time.
While Hoffman’s early supporters cast their endorsements as a decision to place principle above party, for many – especially those seeking higher office – the conservative vs. moderate proxy battle provided a low-risk opportunity to back a candidate surging in the polls while at the same time banking capital with the party's grassroots.
Texas Gov. Rick Perry, facing a heated challenge from Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, declared in an e-mail to his supporters this week, “Electing Doug Hoffman will send a clear message that cannot be denied: conservatives must stand on principle.”
Oklahoma Rep. Mary Fallin, competing for the GOP nod in her run for governor, wrote Hoffman this week that his campaign, “has reminded Americans everywhere that principles come before party affiliation.”
In his Hoffman endorsement, Kansas Rep. Todd Tiahrt, engaged in a heated Senate GOP primary against fellow Rep. Jerry Moran, announced, “The Republican Party is either going to return to the party of fiscal responsibility and consistent conservative principles as it was under Ronald Reagan or it will continue down the path of ‘sporadic moderation.’”
Not to be outdone, Moran gave Hoffman his seal of approval a day later.
“It’s all about self-interest in most cases,” explained University of Virginia political scientist Larry Sabato. “NY-23 has become a powerful symbol for the right, and any candidate who is trying to stay out is finding neutrality to be as difficult as nation-states did in World War II.”
Sabato compared the party’s backlash to its own nominee to the early 1990s response to David Duke’s runs, when Republicans in Louisiana and nationally turned their back on the white supremacist.
“This is the most remarkable aspect of the entire contest,” Sabato said. “There is a national footrace by elected Republican officials and candidates to abandon the official GOP congressional nominee.”
“Everyone is trying to use their endorsements for political purposes,” added Carl Forti, a veteran GOP operative who has upstate New York ties. “It’s like, who’s going to be the last guy to the party?”
As polls showed Hoffman pulling ahead and Scozzafava at best a spoiler, latecomers raced to latch on to the new frontrunner's coattails. Former New York Governor George Pataki, a moderate Republican rumored to be considering a senate run next year, announced his support in a tepid statement on Friday, less than 24 hours before Hoffman cleared the right side of the field.
Former congressman and GOP gubernatorial hopeful Rick Lazio, who’s best known for his spectacularly botched 2001 senate run against Hillary Clinton, joined the Hoffman camp after the question was resolved – about an hour after Scozzafava announced she was suspending her campaign.
Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty, who irked conservatives earlier this month, when he admitted he hadn’t been following the New York race, changed course earlier this week, saying Hoffman “understands the federal government needs to quit spending so much, will vote against tax increases, and protect key values like the right to vote in private in union elections.”
Also belatedly picking a side this past week were two House Republicans facing primaries from the right and looking to cover that flank: Missouri Rep. Todd Akin and Indiana Rep. Mark Souder.
“I realize that, to capture the majority in Congress, not all Republicans can be as conservative as I am,” said Souder, who is facing a challenge from a conservative, tea party-inspired opponent.
But, Souder said, “Not all Republicans in Congress feel power is more important than basic principles.”
“They’re trying to brand themselves nationally and ingratiate themselves with that wing of the party,” said Tom Davis, a former chair of the National Republican Congressional Committee.
“It’s not brave politics,” one former New York GOP leader said this week. “It makes for an easy call for politicians to jump on the conservative nominee.”
New Hampshire Attorney General Kelly Ayotte, a moderate Republican who is running for Senate and who is facing the prospect of a challenge from the right, also eventually endorsed Hoffman, saying Friday that, “we must have pro-growth economic policies that will create jobs."
Even as their campaign encountered strong resistance from conservatives, Scozzafava allies say they were taken aback by the hemorrhaging of GOP establishment support to Hoffman.
“It’s almost like we have two parties now. Is the NRCC going to be relevant in the future?” one person close to the Scozzafava campaign remarked late this week. “This is the strangest thing I have ever seen.”
“I don’t know what to make of this thing, to be honest. There are so many angles to this thing. It’s wild.”
But as Republicans broke ranks to back Hoffman, there is significant concern within the party leadership over the precedent it sets for potential disunity within GOP in the future.
“If there is anything to be lost, it would be within the party structure,” said Forti. “This is setting a precedent for the party for the future which will allow the party to be torn apart.”
“It is every man for themselves,” lamented another Republican operative. “There is clearly no cohesion.”
http://news.yahoo.com/s/politico/200...politico/28972
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