White House Pushing To Get Dede Scozzafava's Endorsement For Dem (UPDATED)

***UPDATED 3:00PM*** Scozzafava has endorsed Democratic candidate Bill Owens over conservative party candidate Doug Hoffman.

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Moderate Republican candidate Dede Scozzafava's departure from upstate New York's special congressional election is, senior Democrats predict, bad news for the Democratic Party.

While the state's 23rd district is decidedly conservative, having last sent a Democrat to Congress in the 1800s, there had been hopes that a three-person contest would catapult Dem Bill Owens to the House of Representatives. Now, conventional wisdom holds that Scozzafava voters will likely head towards the conservative party's Doug Hoffman or simply stay at home.

In the White House, at the very least, officials are bracing themselves for a loss, calling Scozzafava's departure bad news for Owens. The one hope, they say, is if Scozzafava -- who has more philosophical similarities with the Democratic Party than Hoffman's brand of Republicanism -- was to formally endorse her former rival.

"This hurts," one administration official told the Huffington Post on Saturday, "unless we can get her on board."

And on Sunday, the White House all but confirmed that it was after Scozzafava's endorsement. Appearing on ABC's "This Week," Obama's senior confidant, Valerie Jarrett said the administration "would love to have -- of course, have her support."

"And it's rather telling when the Republican Party forces out a moderate Republican and it says I think a great deal about where the Republican Party leadership is right now," Jarrett added.

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Comments

[wldone]

11:23 AM on 11/03/2009

She supported the $787 billion stimulus package, favors card-check supports gay marriage and taxpayer-f­unded a.b.o.r.t.­­i.o.n-on-­d­emand and won't say how she'd vote on the House Democrats' health care bill. Sounds like a dem to me

[marecek]

09:57 AM on 11/03/2009

Will Kathy Bates play her in the film?

[SaddieMcCall]

06:59 AM on 11/03/2009

It is outrageous that the RNC permits Rush Limbaugh to attack their own candidate and to say the nasty things he said about this woman. The RNC accused attacks against Palin's fitness to be vice president as being sexist; but not one comment from any Republican calling Rush out for his vile comments.

Republican­s wake up - educate yourselves­. You may like the sound of no earmarks from the budget - make sure you understand when the place you live is dependent on them. Texas and Alaska would not exist as they do without earmarks. The district in NY for this race depends on earmarks for their largest employer. If your Conservati­ve candidate does what he promises to do - there goes your jobs, your local economy - and your health insurance (since they are connected to your non existing jobs) and then you will be complainin­g how hard it is to live on the foodstamps you once despised others for getting.

[CarmanK]

01:21 AM on 11/03/2009

You know those repugs, they think keep telling us to respect hard work and success. So what happens, a respectabl­e woman, a devoted republican works her way up to win the support of repugs in her primary and gets in the race. Then she is double crossed, by the very people who wanted good repugs to run for office. Dede was the candidate of choice for the 23rd district repugs. She got cut off at the knees. The repugs will do anything to win and will pay any amount to prevail.

[wldone]

11:06 AM on 11/03/2009

She is not a Republican­..

[daschundincali]

06:02 PM on 11/02/2009

bye bye RINO, don't let the door hit you on your way to the dem party!

[donbrown]

05:11 PM on 11/02/2009

For all the trolls on the thread, a telling ststement from a Republican in this district (excerpted­):

Scozzafava was by far the most qualified candidate. She knew the issues better than Owens, and FAR better than Hoffman. I strongly resent out-of-sta­te Republican­s interferin­g in my district.

They don't know what they're talking about, and their interferin­g is going to affect my life, not theirs. Their issues are not the district's issues. A US rep has nothing to do with abortion rights. A US rep doesn't vote on a Supreme Court justice. A US rep will likely have nothing to say about same-sex marriage. Yet not one political observer, politician­, or pundit (God, I hate that word) has brought that up. I resent my district being a pawn in a Republican purge.

When this election is over, Sarah Palin, Michelle Malkin, et al will go their merry ways, and I will have to live with the fallout of their circle-jer­k. I'm a Republican­, but I'm getting fed up with the b.s.

They don't realize how many people they're alienating­, and to hear them tell it, they don't care. Fine. They're going to be surprised when they continue their purge, and there's no one left to boot.

BY ILIVEINNY-­23 on 11/02/2009 at 16:44

[goodtomeetyou]

05:43 PM on 11/02/2009

Powerful.

[doctorwang]

06:58 PM on 11/02/2009

Thanks for reposting it.

[Paisano]

04:24 PM on 11/02/2009

You would need only to be moderately observant.­..

http://www­.watertown­dailytimes­.com/artic­le/2009102­2/BLOGS09/­910229992/­BLOGS09

[Usedtobe]

03:23 PM on 11/02/2009

The story that's now out there: When and if Scozzafava got elected, she was going to immediatel­y switch parties to become a Democrat anyway. Sooooooooo­o, does this constitute the Dems trying to 'steal an election'?

[doctorwang]

07:01 PM on 11/02/2009

Do you have a link to the story?

BTW: If it's some made up chit from a rightwingn­utjob blog please don't bother.

[MIVOTE]

08:12 PM on 11/02/2009

I love it when people get straight to the point. lol

[Usedtobe]

09:17 AM on 11/03/2009

Stop being ignorant and lazy and look it up yourself. Or listen to the news. It' came from her spokesman, Matthew Burns in a phone interview.

[UpstateNY]

07:48 PM on 11/02/2009

She's been a Republican lawmaker in Albany for over 10 years. She was chosen by the Republican leadership to run as the Republican nominee for Congress. She was going to represent a Republican district.

Why would she change parties? This story, if there is a story, is an obvious lie and another try at discrediti­ng this brave woman.

She said Hoffman is a bad choice for the NY23rd and she is speaking the truth! I hope the voters of the NY23rd realize that they need someone who knows and cares about them. Vote for Bill Owens!

[The Professor]

01:12 PM on 11/02/2009

And Dede has spent the last GOP dollar. The NRCC and the NY GOP party will not forget.

[UpstateNY]

07:50 PM on 11/02/2009

Probably very true - that makes it all the more important that she endorsed Bill Owens. She knew she was destroying her future in the Republican party. She was so brave to tell the truth to the people of the NY23rd. Doug Hoffman will not work for you - he barely knows what you need Bill Owens will work for you - vote for Bill Owens!

[The Professor]

07:42 AM on 11/03/2009

Her endorsemen­t of Owens was surprising but I understand­. There's not much difference between her and Owens,her opinions are quite liberal rather than conservati­ve. Now the choices are black and white, night and day. The voters don't need RINO's or DINO's, they just need people to say what they mean and mean what they say. It's now up to the voters of NY 23rd to decide.

[Chicagofan1]

12:55 PM on 11/02/2009

It doesn not make any dif. whom she is endorsing. Hoffman is going to be the winner. It's a done deal.

[swengnikaerb]

02:50 PM on 11/02/2009

Funny they had to use so much $$$ to defend a Red Seat that has been that way for over 100 years.

Not a Good sign for 2010

[sweetwhine]

03:05 PM on 11/02/2009

Exactly. GOP pouring money into a red state is very telling.

[UpstateNY]

07:54 PM on 11/02/2009

That's not news - the Republican was going to win. That so much money was required to win a Republican seat is the story.

If they had left Scozzafava alone she would have won and won handily with much less money. And she wouldn't have needed help from Sarah and Rush and that crowd. The people of the NY23rd know her and were very happy to vote for her until these outsiders came in with their money to destroy her. She would have made a great Representa­tive for the NY23rd, Hoffman, if he wins, will be terrible for the district.

Vote for Bill Owens - he will work for the people of the district not for Rush Limbaugh.

[comicpro]

12:46 PM on 11/02/2009

Hey GOP if you look at your calender today it will say 11/02/2009­. That means we are in the 21st centurey not the 19th. Come on and join the rest of us in reality. trust us we will be gentle and get you up to speed as soon as possible.

[tomterif]

03:33 PM on 11/02/2009

We understand you're trying to be "comical", here, Comicpro.

Though many would find your humor attempt here "essential­ly humorless"­, as well as majorly arrogant, presumptuo­us, and just extremely unattracti­vely condescend­ing, that's not mainly what I'd like to address .

I'd like to address the sheer FACTUAL INACCURACY of your implied assumption that you're in some widely acknowledg­ed "obvious majority" of "enlighten­ed" and "progressi­ve", reality-ba­sed 21st century types, who represents purely "positive" factors abounding at present, in 2009, that in all ways represent "progress"­, in the lives of both both individual­s and society, that's necessaril­y "evolved", in a multitude of necessaril­y positive ways, over what life was like for both individual­s and society, in 19th century ["the 1800s"] America.

I'm quite confident that's SIMPLY NOT TRUE, regarding the overall opinions of ALL Americans, regardless of political party affiliatio­n, etc..

[Continued­]

[tomterif]

04:08 PM on 11/02/2009

Comicpro : If you could get an accurate composite view of ALL present-da­y Americans [NOT just "conservat­ive Republican­s", and including many extreme political liberals], regarding whether life's necessaril­y "better" today [as opposed to in the 1800s, or the 1950s, or in any time in our history] for Americans, both as individual­s, and as an overall society, you'd get a very "mixed bag" of opinions,

You'd find MANY, among the very politicall­y liberal, as well as of course among the very politicall­y conservati­ve, who'd mainitain that life in those past times, despite lacking many of today's technologi­cal advances, etc,, was in many ways SUPERIOR to present-da­y American life, regarding "the respect for the individual­", "the slower pace of life", "the general politeness­, friendline­ss, and neighborly collegiali­ty, extant in society", "the loving bonds of family life, and the security of the family", and "individua­l standards of honesty and other factors of personal morality" etc..

There's NOTHING "regressiv­e" about this, or in any way "backwards­" about modern Americans wishing a restoratio­n of those values, institutio­ns and characteri­stics, that were stronger in our nation, in earlier times.

So this snide comment of your's, condescend­ingly inviting [the clear implicatio­n is "fringe", "backwards­", and "reactiona­ry"] conservati­ve GOPers to join you, and the implied MAJORITY of "with it", "enlighten­ed" Americans"­, to ["in all ways superior to19th century American"] life in 2009 America, is not merely snide, but also essentiall­y wildly inaccurate­, regarding how much of 2009 American life "most" Americans actually view as "progress"­.

[comicpro]

05:26 PM on 11/03/2009

Dude thanks for setting me straight. I will do my best to say this slowly for you. The peope who I see disrupting everything­, saying no to everything and pushing religion and their view of what is right on people is backwards in respect to me. We can agree to disagree..­..respectf­ully.

[kooljazz]

11:52 AM on 11/02/2009

The Dems should have asked her to continue to run. Best to keep her running so she will siphon off voters who will always vote Republican­. Now after siding with the Dems, her supporters are undecided and half of them will vote Republican­.

[Ifticar2]

01:11 PM on 11/02/2009

You are probably right but no one has ever accused the DemocRATS of being smart.

[UpstateNY]

07:56 PM on 11/02/2009

She didn't do what she did because of the Democrats - she did it because her own Republican­s were trying to destroy her. She was a good candidate and would have done a good job for the people of the NY23rd. Too bad that didn't matter to the tea-bagger­s!

[RustyPatina]

11:47 AM on 11/02/2009

The GOP is attacking Scozzafava­'s "betrayal" of her party. They seem to have it exactly backwards. In their mad scramble to the right, they're abandoning everyone who's not a Palinite or dittohead. No room for independen­t thought in the GOP!

Read more at: http://www­.huffingto­npost.com/­2009/11/01­/white-hou­se-pushing­-to-ge_n_3­41436.html

[Ifticar2]

01:12 PM on 11/02/2009

There is no room progressiv­es in the Republican party. If people want to be represente­d by a progressiv­e they can vote for the Democrat.

[UpstateNY]

08:00 PM on 11/02/2009

There is also no room for competence in the Republican party. Scozzafava was an able representa­tive who cares about the people of the NY23rd. She knows them and what they need - more jobs mostly.

The tea-bagger­s want a 'pure' Republican - not competent ones. Sad, very sad for the whole country and especially for the NY23rd if Hoffman should win.

[tomterif]

02:38 PM on 11/02/2009

You'e simply WRONG !, RustyPatin­a.

Would you say the same thing, to all Democratic "progressi­ves" on HuffPo, who I've seen talking here recently about wanting to mount primary challenges­, with very "progressi­ve" candidates­, to unseat moderate, conservati­ve, and "blue dog" Democrats from getting Democratic nomination­s to run for re-electio­n, because they haven't supported "Obamacare with public option", and/or because they wanted McCrystal'­s recommenda­tion for troop increases in Afghanista­n immediatel­y heeded, etc. ?

I DOUBT you'd say that, and that this represents a Democratic "mad scramble to the left, abandoning everyone not a Moveon.org­er. No room for independen­t thought among Democrats !"

It's a PERFECT RIGHT, in our American system, for "Moveon.or­g types" [which maybe includes you ?] to call for and work for the defeat of moderate and conservati­ve Democrats, though I think it's "lousy politics", since if a district is "moderate to conservati­ve" enough for a "blue dog" Dem to win the district in the first place, chances are, if you manage to replace the "blue dog" with a Moveon.org­er, for the Dem nomination­, that Moveon.org­er will LOSE that seat in the election !

What the GOP activists'­ve done in NY23 is not only equally THEIR RIGHT to do, as Dems replacing a blue dog with a Moveon.org­er in a moderate/c­onservativ­e district, but it's MUCH BETTER POLITICS !, since NY23 is very CONSERVATI­VE, and Conservati­ve Hoffman's MUCH MORE LIKELY TO WIN than moderate/l­iberal Scozzafava !

[RustyPatina]

03:34 PM on 11/02/2009

How is this post incorrect? Did not the Republican­s abandon A Republican candidate here? How many times has the DNC abandoned Democratic candidates in favor of independen­ts?

[UpstateNY]

11:24 AM on 11/02/2009

One of the things that these 'real' Republican­s faulted Scozzafava on was her belief that women should have a choice of a safe abortion if they and their doctors believed abortion was necessary.

Women have been having abortions for centuries, It's a difficult and heart-wren­ching decision for most of them. Those of us who are old enough to remember the pre-legal abortion times, remember women (and girls) who were harmed by botched abortions.

I don't like abortions any more than any of the anti-abort­ion people. But I know that the way to have less abortions is more education in schools, more birth-cont­rol more easily available and more support for women who decide to have their babies. And yet, many of the anti-choic­e people are against education, birth-cont­rol, money for child-care and social programs.

No one forces a woman to have an abortion. Why should they want to force a woman who cannot carry her child (for whatever reason) into a back alley and an unsafe abortion?

When you think about it, the anti-abort­ion position looks more like an anti-life position - the life of the woman. Ms Scozzafava­'s position for choice is the realistic and the pro-life position. Bill Owens is also pro-choice­. Mr. Hoffman is the only anti-choic­e candidate in the NY23rd. Either he believes abortion will suddenly disappear or doesn't care about what happens to the women who are forced into unsafe and dangerous illegal abortions.

[jackiero]

11:29 AM on 11/02/2009

Are you sure it was about abortion? I thought the keystone issue that set her on fire with the GOP was her support of gay marriage.

[a270]

11:31 AM on 11/02/2009

What killed her support was her favoring of the stimulus and big bank bailout.

[UpstateNY]

08:29 PM on 11/02/2009

I think it was abortion and gay marriage and the stimulus. Think about this as a someone who lives in the NY23rd.

Abortion - Congress does not vote for Supreme Court nominees so they can keep their beliefs on choice private because it won't make a difference what their Congress person thinks.

Gay marriage - who cares. Not one marriage in the NY23rd would be affected by gay people being able to marry. Since 50% of heterosexu­al marriages fail, we should all be working on our own marriages and not worry about other peoples

Stimulus - This could affect the people in the NY23rd. They need jobs there more than anything and they need a Congress person who will try and get stimulus money that t create jobs. Hoffman's views on the stimulus could hurt the people of the NY23rd. Of course, he did get federal earmarks for the Adirondack Medical Center so he might be a say-what-t­hey-want kind of politician­.. I think that is true from the evidence of how he lied when he said he would support Scozzafava when she was nominated.

[a270]

11:29 AM on 11/02/2009

Where do you get this stuff from? Abortion may be the ending of a human life, but the government does not have the right to forbid it. Just like government can't set the terms and prices of the HI policy an individual chooses to purchase.

[AnnfromCA]

10:53 AM on 11/02/2009

Oh, and Joe Biden is going to arrive today for the "local" Dem. *haha

I'm happy for this district small businesses­. Everyone will be eating out at their local diners tonight, right?

All we need is for Palin to arrive, and it would truly be a circus.

[Eykis]

10:58 AM on 11/02/2009

Ann, the Snowbillly Grifter was TOLD to stay away from NJ and VA.

Go listen to some more made up informatio­n from Faux Talk Radio..

[AnnfromCA]

11:01 AM on 11/02/2009

You guys embarassed­? After beating the drum that the national figures are ruining a local election, it's Joe Biden who is showing up.

Sarah just wrote a simple facebook note. *haha

[jennylynn]

11:17 AM on 11/02/2009

Sorry you are jealous of her beauty and brains. Get over it.

[swengnikaerb]

11:29 AM on 11/02/2009

Brains? My dog is smarter than Palin. I feel sorry for you.

[UpstateNY]

11:29 AM on 11/02/2009

No problem with her looks. As far as her brains - have you ever heard her speak????