NY23: A Nation Awaits the Historic Result

The media have descended in droves on the Hotel Saranac -- built in 1927 and listed on the National Register of Historic Places -- which will be the scene of tonight's anticipated Doug Hoffman victory party. While the TV hotshots are setting up in the ballroom upstairs, we bloggers have taken over the A.P. Smith Restaurant next to the lobby. Kerry Picket of The Washington Times and Hooah Mac of Red State are here.

Dave Weigel of the Washington Independent just showed up. He says he's guessing Hoffman to win by 11%-12%. Two tables away from the National Desk, Jimmy Vielkind of New York Observer and Liz Benjamin of the New York Daily News are chatting with Jeremy Peters from the New York Times. Just a few pictures to set the scene:

Note the rich wood paneling and chandeliers in the historic banquet room where I'll be poaching free buffet food later tonight. Life is good.

A CNN reporter prepares for her historic broadcast.

A hotel maintenance man removes a historic chandelier to prepare for the historic occasion.

The National Desk, 7 p.m., in the historic A.P. Smith Restaurant.

NY23: Live from Saranac Lake

At the Hotel Saranac, currently on a conference call with Hoffman campaign manager Dan Tripp. Will update . . .

UPDATE 5:40 p.m.: We had about 40 bloggers on the conference call, where we were joined by David Keene of the American Conservative Union, Mike Long of the New York Conservative Party and Erick Erickson of Red State, whose money quote was, "Victory or death!"

One Hoffman volunteer just reported that campaign internal polls show a very close race. Tripp says they're "feeling pretty good right now" but said, "we're going to be pushing like we're 10 points behind until 9 o'clock" -- which is when polls close.

In the category of "not news," Dede Scozzafava continues whining like a RINO loser.

Molly Line of Fox News is here at the Hotel Saranac. She says to tell y'all "hi." BTW, we made record time on Highway 3 on our way here. At 2:31 p.m., we were in Carthage, N.Y. At 3:09 p.m., we were on the other side of Star Lake. By 3:36, we were in Tupper Lake, and by 4:03, we pulled into Doug Hoffman HQ here in Saranac Lake.

It was at 3:45 p.m. that Ali Akbar got up his report of tires being slashed in Plattsburgh, via a Blackberry message. It appears, based on closer examination of the tire, that the Hoffman campaign worker ran over a bottle. But whatever the truth of this incident, I was too busy eluding the New York State Police to worry about it.

NY23: Next stop, Saranac Lake

By the time you read this, Ali Akbar and I will be running east on State Route 3, en route to the hometown headquarters of the Doug Hoffman campaign.

Since Sunday night, the National Desk has been located at the luxurious -- but surprisngly affordable -- Best Western Carriage House Inn on Washington Street near downtown Watertown, N.Y. We've kept our exact location a secret because, frankly, we were too busy to cope with the hordes of adoring blog groupies who would have descended on our room had they discovered our whereabouts.

For your road-time reading, we recommend (via Memeorandum) Dan Riehl's pushback against the latest Politico "GOP divided" spin job. Also:

• Larry Thornberry's takedown on Charlie Crist, whose Florida GOP primary defeat at the hands of Marco Rubio is beginning to look like a certainty.
• Dave Weigel's report on the "New Conservative Superstar" featuring the Quote of the Day: "For Biden to say that Rush Limbaugh picked Doug Hoffman is ridiculous. We all know it was Glenn Beck."
• And leave it to 73Wire's Eric Odom to ask the Exit Question: "Was the whole Scozzafava campaign a lie?"

Speaking of lies, the timing of this post is, necessarily, something of a diversion tactic. Maybe we left two hours ago, or maybe we won't leave until 2 p.m. If the New York State Police knew exactly what time we left Watertown, they'd be able to deploy radar-equipped high-performance pursuit vehicles to intercept us. We've eluded their dragnet this long only because of being secretive about about our plans.

Cell-phone reception between here and Saranac Lake is atrocious, but Ali has Sprint premium 3G service on his Blackberry World Edition, so everyone can follow our progress via Ali's Twitter feed.

Wish us . . . wow, I started to say "luck," but this isn't about luck, it's about skill. And prayer.

HOFFMANIA: CATCH IT!


Click here for our complete NY23 election coverage

NY23: Hooah Mac reports at Red State

Money quote?

While here I met a fellow named Robert Stacy McCain, you may have heard of him . . .

Read the whole thing.

Update (Smitty) from Hooah's update:

It was Jeri Thompson who brought the Doug Hoffman - Dede Scozzafava race to Fred's attention. This is the one to watch. Jeri is every bit the ideological and intellectual match for her husband. She was gracious and gave me a quote to share with the readers of Redstate. "I heard Vice President Biden was here earlier today, I also understand that he revealed he was a lifeguard at one time. That surprised me. I didn't know you could swim with your mouth open."

Yeah, that's one for the quote log.

NY23: Visit to a Watertown precinct

The Watertown, N.Y., hotel that has been home of the National Desk for the past two days is across the street from a polling place. I just strolled over this morning and was greeted on the sidewalk by elderly volunteers handing out Hoffman sample ballots:

No such activity on the part of the Bill Owens campaign was evident at this particular polling place. Look at the sample ballot and you can see why this is so important to the Hoffman campaign: Owens is on lines A and E, Dede Scozzafava is on lines B and C, whereas Doug Hoffman's name appears only on line D.

This is why, in his speeches for the last few days, Hoffman has been repeating the mantra, "Vote 'D' for Doug."

UPDATE: Dave Weigel has a report on a Christian conservative door-to-door canvassing operation. BTW, this district has been overdone in terms of phone operations. People working on Hoffman's live phone banks have told me that many voters, after being bombarded by robocalls, are very irritable about getting called for the fifth, sixth or seventh time.

Click here for our complete NY23 election coverage

NY23: Please, God, let it end tonight

All you can do at this point is to get out the vote and pray:

Michelle Malkin is one of the few people you're likely to see on TV tonight who actually knows what it means. . . .
Last night, Malkin warned readers to be ready to watch Democrats and their media allies downplay an expected "conservative surge" in this off-off-year election.
OK, I can cope with that. . . . What I genuinely dread, however, is the possibility of vote-fraud shenanigans. Last night, I heard Hoffman spokesman Rob Ryan repeat his warnings about the danger of ballot-box mischief. And now ACORN whistleblower Anita Montcrief is worried, too. . . .

Read the whole thing. And pray. Pray hard.

Update (Smitty): NiceDeb has the details.

NY23: What New Media have done

Danny Glover of AIM reflects on the role of bloggers in this campaign:

"We defeated the Daily Kos candidate," said Eric Odom of the American Liberty Alliance, one of four blogger-activists on the ground in New York over the past several days as conservative pressure mounted on Scozzafava to withdraw. The other bloggers were Ali Akbar, Stephen Foley and Robert Stacy McCain . . .
McCain was in the district first and has been filing reports on his personal blog, as well as at AmSpecBlog and Hot Air's Green Room. Akbar, Foley and Odom did their reporting for a new site called 73wire, which bills itself as a "collaborative, people-powered news project." . . .
Odom said it was frustrating that more blogger-activists weren't in the district to cover the race and fight for Hoffman last week. The election is "our chance as conservatives to hit back" against the Republican establishment that backed the left-leaning Scozzafava over Hoffman, Odom said.
But he said the bloggers who were there played a "significant role" in shifting the dynamics of the race. . . .

I'm sure I'll have more to say about this at some future point. The "blogger-activist" label is a little uncomfortable for me. I'm just a writer working via the medium of the Internet after 20-odd years in print.

Opinions? Yeah. But everybody's got an opinion. What we have done up here is to break news by working the phones, developing sources, and being on the scene where the story has happened. As I like to say, Old School in the New Media.

So I'll have more to say, but not now. We have to make the white-knuckle run to Saranac Lake in a few hours. Just read the whole thing.

And hit the tip jar. The New York State Police may not be so lenient if they catch us again. Note the hypothetical.

UPDATE: OK, less than 10 minutes after filing this, I immediately thought of other people who deserve a lot of credit, and couldn't sleep until I'd named a few:

• Erick Erickson of Red State -- Erick is a conservative Republican and, at times, I've felt that the "Republican" part tended to dominate. But in recent months, Erick has become fed up with the backstabbers and sellouts, and he took the lead role in making the Hoffman campaign a national crusade for conservative bloggers. His leadership in this must be acknowledged.
• Michelle Malkin -- A journalist by training, Malkin was one of the first conservative commentators to recognize and capitalize on the power of the blogosphere. Her Oct. 16 column made a difference, and she has followed up consistently, not only with her own posts, but also by throwing traffic at other bloggers who paid attention to NY23. Some bloggers think of Malkin's Fox News enormousness as making her "too big" to be counted among our number, but she often takes notice of even the smallest bloggers who do good work, calls them to the attention of a larger audience and, in so doing, expands the 'sphere. She deserves more credit for this than she gets.
• John Hawkins of Right Wing News -- He has given posting privileges to lots of bloggers over the years, including me. In doing so, he has also expanded the 'sphere. Like Erickson (and Malkin, too), Hawkins has helped to draw the line in the sand against the RINOs who were trying to lead the GOP into political irrelevance.
• Michael Patrick Leahy of TCOT -- His report on how Scozzafava got the District 23 nomination really helped clarify the nature of the problem, providing solid facts and perspective. Leahy has followed up, and deserves credit for his solid work.
• Dan Riehl of Riehl World View -- Dan's not a purist who wants to purge moderates. But he cares deeply about facts, and he made an important contribution with his report on the role of the NRCC and Tom Reynolds in the choice of Scozzafava. Dan is somebody you never want as an enemy. 'Nough said.

OK, I've named five people whose contributions ought to be recognized and apologize to the many others who played a role but haven't been named here. Let's remember a famous quote:

"You can accomplish much, if you don't care who gets credit."
-- Ronald Reagan

NY23: Hoffman is asked to react to Limbaugh's Dede 'bestiality' comment

Jude Seymour of the Watertown (N.Y.) Daily Times is a nice guy, who let me use his office computer two weeks ago when I first came up to cover this campaign. Exactly why he chose this occasion to spring a "gotcha" question on Doug Hoffman, I don't know. Watch the video, and make your own judgment.

After the video ended, Jude found himself called before an impromptu meeting of the Conservative Journalism Criticism Squad. One reporter who shall remain nameless -- but who might be press corps pin-up idol John McCormack -- described Seymour's method as the "Inquisition" approach to journalism.

Me, I started out at a 6,000-circulation weekly in Austell, Ga. You don't do ambush interviews in that kind of situation. Maybe I'm really not ready for the big leagues. I report. You decide.

And hit the tip jar. I'd say you got your money's worth tonight, eh?

UPDATE: The Rush Limbaugh quote to which Hoffman was asked to react:

How about Dede Scozzafava? You know what? Dede Scozzafava has just screwed every RINO in the country by showing everybody who they are. . . . She has just put an exclamation point on the problem with RINOs. They eventually end up exactly where most liberals do. They're just a little slower in getting there. But they end up where liberals are. Scozzafava has screwed every RINO in the country. We could say she's guilty of widespread bestiality. She has screwed every RINO in the country. Everyone can see just how phony and dangerous they are.

Today, Seymour put up a blog post with the title: "Rush, you should be ashamed."

UPDATE II: While I was working on the first update, about 10 p.m., the phone rang here at the National Desk in Watertown. It was Dave Weigel of the Washington Independent, asking about our plans for a bit of post-deadline socializing. And I freaking lost it.

Some of my friends may remember my newsroom blowup in 2007, when I cussed out Ken Hanner and kicked a steel door open on my way out of the Washington Times. Persuaded to reconsider, I eventually quit on good terms in January 2008.

OK, I'm hell on deadline. And my own shortcomings and sins are so glaringly obvious that it's hard for me to blame anyone else for my problems. I goof off and procrastinate when opportunity affords. But when deadline hits, I get kind of crazy. So this was all my fault. Mea culpa.

Still, sometimes, I get that Rodney Dangerfield don't-get-no-respect feeling and, under pressure, I can be even more of a total jerk than usual. Think of General Patton slapping that shell-shock case in Sicily.

So I had a screaming conniption. Impatient by nature, what I wanted to do at that moment in time was to finish the update, so that readers would have context in which to interpret the video. What I did not want to do was to answer the phone and have to think about the questions that Dave Weigel was asking about our post-deadline party plans.

Present at the time in the smoke-filled hotel room that is the National Desk were Ali Akbar, Kerry Picket and Hooah Mac. Surely, one of them would do me the favor of taking the phone and dealing with Weigel's questions. Uh . . . no. Because nobody owes me any favors.

And I freaking lost it. At one point in the two-minute rant that ensued, I was quite literally frothing at the mouth. A lifetime of personal frustration exploded upon friends who were innocent. For this unseemly tantrum, I apologize to all who were forced to witness it. Mea culpa.

However, next time I ask someone to please answer the phone while I'm on deadline -- I pray to God -- just answer the phone. That Jekyll-and-Hyde horror show was more frightening to me than it was to you, my victims. My wife will bake you brownies to compensate, and will never let me live it down.

NY23 VIDEO: Local GOP Official, Ex-Dede Backer, Now 100% for Doug Hoffman

Jim Fitzpatrick is secretary-treasurer of the Jefferson County (N.Y.) Republican Party. He has been a friend of Dede Scozzafava for 25 years, but after Dede committed bestiality -- love it, Rush -- Fitzpatrick is now on board for Conservative Party candidate Doug Hoffman.

This is a natural consequence of Dede's graceless exit. By backing the Democrat, she ensured that Republican Party officials (regardless of ideology) would shift to Hoffman:

Doug Hoffman the Conservative candidate for Congress (NY23) today received the endorsement of the Jefferson County Republican Party.
Chairman Don Coon, "I spoke to Doug Hoffman about the campaign, and our issues down in Jefferson County particularly about Fort Drum and our local economy. I am confident that we will work closely together with Doug and our local elected officials to make sure that our local concerns are addressed in Congress. I am happy to endorse Doug Hoffman on behalf of the Jefferson County Republican Committee. Doug will be a champion for conservative values and will fight the Pelosi agenda in the Congress."

"Purge"? Dede purged herself. Autodefenestration. Look it up.

UPDATE: Creepiest video of the year? Dede's shifty-eyed husband Ron McDougall interviewed exclusively by Kerry Picket of the Washington Times.

NY23: 'Boots on the ground' for Hoffman

He's known as "Hooah Mac" at Red State, but the guys in his Army Reserve unit call him "Sarge." He's just back from an Iraq deployment and expects to redeploy in January. He hopped a flight from Minneapolis at 7 a.m. today, landed in Syracuse at 1 p.m., and by 3 p.m. was in the Watertown office of the Doug Hoffman campaign. He answered the campaign's call for "boots on the ground" against ACORN, Big Labor and the Democrats.

"This is what it's all about," Mac said, explaining why he decided to show up as a Hoffman volunteer.

Volunteers continue to walk into campaign offices all over the 23rd District. While I was at the Hoffman office in Watertown, a guy walked in with a slice of pizza and a chocolate Yoohoo. "Hey, I was just getting lunch down the street and saw your office," the guy said. Within minutes, he had been given a Hoffman yard sign and was signed up as a volunteer.

Both the pizza-and-Yoohoo guy and Hooah Mac may spend some time working the phones at a get-out-the-vote call center set up about a block away from the Hoffman office here. Among the volunteers working the phones there this afternoon was "Sapwolf," whom I'd met earlier today. The guy running the call center is named Ryan and he got kind of nervous when I introduced myself as a reporter. (It's OK. I'm not John McCormack. I understand.)

Hooah Mac talked a bit about the latest poll numbers, and he said, "In a way, Doug's already won" -- i.e., by driving Dede Scozzafava out of the race. Nevertheless, Mac decided to come to town and help push Hoffman over the finish line tomorrow.

The new message from the RNC today? "Vote Conservative." Yeah, thanks. Better late than never.

(Cross-posted at Hot Air Green Room.)

NY23 Press Corps Motto: 'When We Grow Up, We Want to Be Like John McCormack'

He's only 24 years old, but already this cub reporter for the Weekly Standard is followed everywhere in the 23rd District by adoring journalism groupies. McCormack is to would-be reporters what Joe Jonas is to middle-school girls -- the fantasy consummation of their fondest desires. By daring to ask Dede Scozzafava a few questions, young Johnny has accomplished the life's ambition of every j-school undergrad: He has "made a difference."

McCormack files yet another exclusive report from today's Bidenpalooza in Watertown, where Secret Service agents were reportedly under orders to tase him if he tried to ask the VP a question.

Other reporters at the Biden event -- including Dave Weigel of the Washington Independent -- struggle to keep pace with the brilliant blues riffs of "Johnny Lightning" McCormack, who also plays a mean bottleneck-slide guitar.

A Syracuse TV reporter cleverly seats himself between Kerry Picket and Kara Rowland of The Washington Times. Life is good, until his wife sees this photo.

Feisty, colorful Democratic State Party Chairwoman June O'Neill (left, in ill-fitting brown pantsuit) engages in shameless pre-Election Day demagoguery, to the horror of local schoolchildren and their parents (right).

Network TV cameras wait for opportunity to add new footage for your "Joe Biden's Greatest Gaffes" DVD collection. Attacking the Wall Street Journal? Classic!

Home-schooled children get a civics lesson, protesting the Biden/Owens/Pelosi/ACORN agenda while hoping to catch a glimpse of their hero, "Johnny Lightning" McCormack.

Having despaired of getting any big scoops at the Biden rally, I walked outside and posed for a photo with local Palinista "Sapwolf," who crushed my ego by asking, "Hey, can you introduce me to John McCormack?"

Sunday night supper in Watertown hotel where we staged last night's blogger conference call.

The National Desk, Watertown, N.Y., noon today.

NY23: Biden brings Joe-mentum to Watertown; media flock to see him

Just left the Bidenmania rally eight blocks from my hotel. The star of the show, really, was N.Y. Democratic Party State Chairwoman June O’Neill, a diminuitive fireball of liberal demagoguery.

O'Neill warned of "right-wing extremists who have brought their hate-mongering tactics to this district." (Unless I was mistaken, this must have been a reference to John McCormack of the Weekly Standard, who was at the event and being closely watched by local police, lest he start asking Biden questions.)

"We have to stop the madness," O'Neill told a crowd of about 200 Democrats who turned out for an event covered by about 30 reporters, including seven TV crews. "We cannot afford to let the right-wing extremists make a point in this district. . . . The right wing is not right."

O'Neill named Rush Limbaugh ("boo!"), Sean Hannity ("boo!") and Glenn Beck ("boo!") among the out-of-town right-wingers whom she accused of attempting to impose themselves on the defenseless citizenry of the 23rd Distict.

O'Neill was introduced by state Sen. Darrel Aubertine, who was offered the Democratic Party nomination and turned it down, thus forcing the Dems to go with Bill Owens, a Plattsburgh lawyer. Owens seems to be a nice guy, but he has zero name-ID in most of the 23rd District.

Hoffman continues to lead in the latest Siena poll and, at this point, the "undecided" poll respondents should be told to stay home. If you don't know whether you're a Democrat or a "right-wing extremist," you're too dumb to be allowed to vote.

Did Joe Biden make another gaffe in today's speech? I don't know. I didn't stick around for the whole thing. Unlike big-shot media types who have state-of-the-art Internet communication gear provided to them by wealthy publishers, all I had with me was some old-fashioned stuff called "notes" written on the back of a press release. (Somehow lost my pen and had to borrow a ballpoint from another reporter.)

Anyway, I figured I'd better get back here to the hotel lobby and poach their computer to file this, before I got totally scooped. C'est la guerre!

UPDATE: See my report at The American Spectator. Also, we're linked by that right-wing extremist Gateway Pundit, and I have posted exclusive photos from the rally. Hey, I'm no John McCormack, but I try . . .

How Hoffmania beat Dede-ism

From my American Spectator column today:

Hoffman's conservative campaign effectively doomed the Republican nominee by exposing her liberal voting record in the New York legislature. If Scozzafava was "unable to effectively address many of the charges that have been made about [her] record," that was because the charges were true. After 11 years in Albany, during which she had risen to the rank of minority whip, Scozzafava had amassed a voting record more liberal than many Democratic assembly members. That her policy stances put her at odds with most Republican voters in the largely rural 23rd District was a liability that seems to have been overlooked by the GOP insiders who picked her for the nomination. Once the Hoffman campaign began hammering Scozzafava for her assembly record and positions on national issues, the Conservative Party candidate quickly gained ground against both her and the Democrat, Owens. . . .

Please read the whole thing.

NY-23: Blogger Conference Call- Crunch Time!

Guest-posted by Jimmie Bise of The Sundries Shack.

I sat in on a media and blogger conference call hosted by the American Conservative Union PAC tonight on the most recent news in the NY-23 race. The call was moderated by Ali Akbar of 73Wire and featured Stacy, Eric Odom (also of 73Wire), Matt Burns (the former spokesman for Dede Scozzafava) and Rob Ryan (Doug Hoffman's spokesman). It was an informal affair, but there were a few little tidbits that I think you will find interesting. I'm going to presume upon Stacy's hospitality and share my observations

Matt Burns began the discussion and I definitely sensed a big helping of awkwardness. After all, Burns was the point man for some pretty wicked attacks against the conservative grassroots in the past three weeks. However, it's worth remembering that Burns' job was to make his boss look as good as he possibly good and to knock down the opposition. That's what he did, professionally and, so far as I'm concerned, without rancor.

Most of what he had to say involved why he worked with Scozzafava, who he continued to identify as a "moderate" and the person the local GOP officials believed had the best chance to win. He was obviously disappointed and surprised when she turned tail and endorsed Owens. My impression is that he saw it as a bit of a personal betrayal. He did say he thought she was wrong, which is something, and he's working with the Hoffman folks to help him beat Owens.

Burns then took a couple questions, both involving how the national RNC/RNCC acted in the race, which he really couldn't answer authoritatively. I do feel for Burns, but I'm not sure how he could have been all that surprised by what she did. Birds gotta fly, cats gotta sing and all...

I wanted to jump in with a question here, but there wasn't time. I will throw it out for your consideration, though. Burns still very much believes that Scozzafava is a moderate, but I'm at a loss to see what moderate position she holds on any major issue. She is not an avowed tax-cutter, hasn't acted to shrink government, has sided with ACORN's closest ally in the state, is closely tied to Big Labor, supported the Stimulus Bill, and is not only pro-choice but activist enough about it to have received an award named for Margaret Sanger from Planned Parenthood. I have no doubt that Burns wants what's best for the Republican Party, but I honestly don't see what about Scozzafava said "reliable anti-Pelosi vote" considering that so many of her core positions align so perfectly with the leftmost of the left-wing.

I really don't know the answer, but we'll see if some of the Republicans who so valiantly worked for Scozzafava explain what about her gave them reason to believe she would be anti-Pelosi. Burns said that we really can't fault the GOP leadership for getting behind Scozzafava. I'm not so sure about that. From the grassroots grumbling I've been hearing, people certainly can and, more importantly, they are.

Next up was Rob Ryan, who had a couple interesting things to say. First, given the number of times the Working Families Party and ACORN came up, it's clear that the Hoffman campaign is concerned about the possibility of serious shenanigans from one or the other group, or both. Ryan pretty much said outright tht campaign can't do much about it except to bring attention to the possibility and work hard enough so that anything they do won't matter in the end. I think that's a pretty healthy attitude. Ryan also says his most urgent need is bodies to help with the campaign. They're in crunch time right now and Hoffman needs as many people as possible to knock on doors and work the phones.

Ryan also said he's getting some help from the RNCC in the form of robocalling and campaign workers. I tossed in a question later about whether the campaign was concerned that voters might not buy the GOP hype now, considering how hard it worked to tear Hoffman down in the past couple of week. His answer struck me as very pragmatic. He wasn't terribly concerned by it, but there wasn't anything he could do about it except to keep pushing Hoffman's conservative message using every resource he has. The RNC/RNCC are providing resources now and he's going to use them.

Stacy and Eric Odom came on at the end to give some of the background about their reporting on the race (Stacy has been on the story since the original October 14 blogger conference call). The upshot of what they had to say is that, from where I sit, their reporting has been key to putting this race on the national map. If not for Stacy and, later, the guys at 73Wire getting word out about what was happening in the campaign, I don't think the grassroots (who money-bombed Hoffman into front-runner status) would have gotten involved nearly as much as they have. Now, some folks wouldn't call that journalism but that's exactly what it's been. They have been braking stories like Scozzafava's exit from the campaign yesterday and her endorsement of Owens. Indeed, the very fact that Hoffman was a viable candidate was a legitimate story. They've done yeoman's work here and I, for one, am pretty darned proud of what bloggers have wrought in NY-23.

UPDATE: Pat Austin and Ed Morrissey were also on the call. Their impressions are instructive.

NY23: Fred Thompson coming to Watertown for big Monday event

News release from Hoffman HQ:

FRED THOMPSON SOUNDS THE BATTLE CRY FOR HOFFMAN
WILL APPEAR WITH DOUG HOFFMAN AND JOHN RICH IN WATERTOWN
Senator Fred Thompson (R-TN) said: "I'm coming up to Watertown on Monday to show my support for Doug Hoffman, and we need everyone who is concerned with the direction of our country to join me there tomorrow. Now that Doug is Target No. 1 for the Democrats' political machine, they are desperate to win.
"As you'd expect, the usual suspects are coming out of the woodwork, the DCCC, ACORN, the Working Families Party. It's no surprise that the other liberal who quit the race, Dede Scozzafava, is now back in the bunker. I hear even Joe Biden may drop by.
"I say, let them come. We have facts and sound, conservative principles on our side. That's our road map to victory and John Rich is going to give us the soundtrack to win by tomorrow night."

Wonder if Sarah Palin might decide to book a charter flight from Anchorage to Watertown. She's a country music fan, right?

NY23 LIVE from Watertown, N.Y: 'Surprise, surprise! Dede is a Democrat'

That's the response from the Doug Hoffman campaign to the news -- Dede Scozzafava endorsing Democrat Doug Owens -- that broke while Ali Akbar and I were flying westward from Saranac Lake to Watertown this afternoon.

Reacting to the New York Daily News report, Ed Morrisey of Hot Air comments:

Doesn't this prove the point conservatives had been making about Dede Scozzafava all along?

Indeed, in the span of 36 hours, Scozzafava has gone from being a RINO to being an ex-Republican. Having planted this knife deep into the back of the GOP, Dede cannot now expect to win re-election to the state assembly as a Republican next year (or any year, ever, for that matter). Maybe that Working Families Party line will prove a winner for Scozzafava. Or maybe not.

More at Memeorandum, including a report from the Washington Independent by Dave Weigel, who must have filed from the airport. He's due into Watertown this evening. Kerry Picket of The Washington Times is already here, and says that as late as noon today, Owens staffers were denying the Scozzafava endorsement story.

Thanks to Smitty in our London Bureau for updating the previous item. while Ali and I were risking life and limb making the high-speed run on Highway 3 to Watertown.

UPDATE: Hoffman campaign press release:

Surprise Surprise: Dede is a democrat -- sells out the GOP for the liberal agenda of Nancy Pelosi
Statement from Doug Hoffman Campaign:
Senior Communications Advisor Rob Ryan said, "This afternoon Dede Scozzafava betrayed the GOP. She endorsed a Pelosi Democrat who will spend more, tax more, and push the liberal agenda that is dragging down this nation. Doug Hoffman represents the revolution that is taking place against high taxes. Nancy Pelosi and the Democrats are desperate. They are throwing everything they have at us but we're fighting back. The voters now know what Dede Scozzafava and Bill Owens believe in—the liberal agenda of Nancy Pelosi."

UPDATE II: Fred Thompson coming to town Monday!

UPDATE III: Michelle Malkin notes how Dede Scozzafava has repaid the national GOP establishment for their support of her -- which, as TCOT observes, amounts to about $1 million total.

Our complete coverage of the NY23 special election

NY23: Rumors swirlConfirmed

LAKE PLACID, N.Y.
A desperate struggle to control the narrative of the crucial special congressional election in upstate New York's 23rd District has broken out in the wake of Republican Dede Scozzafava's concession yesterday.

The Watertown (N.Y.) Daily Times -- which previously endorsed Scozzafava -- stirred the pot this morning with an editorial backing Democrat Bill Owens and claiming that this was also Scozzafava's agenda:

During the day Saturday, she began to quietly and thoughtfully encourage her supporters to vote for Democrat William L. Owens.

That single sentence sparked online commentary and inaugurated a race by reporters to confirm or refute the newspaper's assertion. Kerry Picket of The Washington Times was first to follow up:

Former Scozzafava campaign spokesman Matt Burns seems to distance himself from Ms. Scozzafava's latest reported actions. He sent the Washington Times Water Coooler the following statement:
"As of yesterday, I am no longer affiliated with the campaign. Dede knows the most about the district and would have represented it well in Congress, but I am not familiar with her current thinking or decision-making." . . .
Ms. Scozzafava has yet to release a statement on the Watertown report.

Meanwhile, Democrats continue pouring on TV ads attacking Hoffman as a greedy millionaire whose agenda is to export jobs to India and China. Anti-Scozzafava TV ads -- purchased by outside groups not under control of the Hoffman campaign -- also continue airing.

Ali Akbar of 73Wire's Campaign Trail will be riding with me to Watertown this afternoon, and we will continue to pursue the story.

UPDATE: 73Wire now has their own report up. We're hitting the road to Watertown.

UPDATE II: (Smitty) TCOT Report points to the NY Daily News:

At 10 p.m. last night - right in the middle of the Halloween festivities - Scozzafava's husband, Ron McDougall, president of the Jefferson/Lewis/St. Lawrence Central Labor Council issued a statement through the AFL-CIO that he is endorsing Owens against Conservative candidate Doug Hoffman.
...
Now that Scozzafava has bowed out of the race, her union backers are rushing to endorse Owens, which could prove crucial to him in the final hours of the race when it all comes down to the kind of GOTV that unions (or some of them, anyway) excel at.

Hopes for reconciliation dim.

UPDATE III: (Smitty) The hits just keep on comin'! Here comes the Puffington Host:

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."

If Dede keeps up the good work, she's a shoo-in for the Arlen Specter Award for Deeply Held Principles.

UPDATE IV: (Smitty) Couple of posts at NORC,

• The Newtist Colony smack-down
• Hoffman Sends Out Request For Aid

UPDATE V: (Smitty)
TCOT Report points to the Watertown Daily Times, where, at 1406 local, Dede laid it on the line, emphasis mine:

You know me, and throughout my career, I have been always been an independent voice for the people I represent. I have stood for our honest principles, and a truthful discussion of the issues, even when it cost me personally and politically. Since beginning my campaign, I have told you that this election is not about me; it’s about the people of this District.

It is in this spirit that I am writing to let you know I am supporting Bill Owens for Congress and urge you to do the same.

I, for one, hope that the people of NY-23 form the bolded words into a polite suppository on Tuesday.

NY23 VIDEO: Ali Akbar gets the scoop

Thanks to the 73Wire.com Campaign Trail crew, I had sofa-surfing privileges at their headquarters in Lake Placid. Shortly after breaking the scoop this morning about Dede Scozzafava's pullout -- my sources confirming their sources -- 73Wire's Ali Akbar took a call from another one of his sources:

Hey, I'm Steve Foley's "personal matchmaker."

NY23 EXCLUSIVE VIDEO: Democrat for Bill Owens get-out-the-vote volunteer

Yesterday, I broke the story of the massive Democratic get-out-the-vote (GOTV) effort in the crucial upstate New York congressional special election. Today, as Ali Akbar and I rolled into Plattsburgh, we encountered Sean Holmes, a young volunteer canvasser for Democrat Bill Owens:

NY23: Dave Weigel is almost right

On how we broke the scoop today:

"We're a little shell-shocked," said Eric Odom, a conservative blogger and Tea Party organizer, who'd been an early Hoffman backer. "It's not what we expected."
Odom was one of the first to hear the news. The Hoffman campaign made the call to Ali Akbar, one of the conservative bloggers rooming in Lake Placid with Odom. The bloggers hustled to get Internet connections to spread the news, then regrouped to head to Scozzafava's Watertown headquarters, based on rumors that the GOP candidate might be about to endorse Hoffman.

OK, while Eric was on the phone with his source, I got a call from my source, officially confirming Dede's withdrawal. While Eric and Steve Foley went west to Watertown, Ali Akbar took the 100 mph thrill-ride with me on State Route 86 to Plattsburgh.

Ali changed his plans, and will now be hanging in through Wednesday. Weigel is flying into NY23 on Sunday, and will hook up with our posse. Because we rock.