Ronald L. Caravan

Glance at an open map of New York State with the 23rd Congressional District filled in and you see an oddly shaped profile resembling some kind of deformed animal standing atop the rest of the state, symbolic of the convoluted way governments do business, including the business of drawing election-district boundaries.

Viewed, however, by heavy-hitting Republican and Democratic party political forces, outside as well as inside New York, the 23rd District is seen as one of November’s most important election battlegrounds, carrying genuine national significance.

With the recent U.S. Senate confirmation of long-time District 23 Congressman John McHugh to be secretary of the Army, Gov. David Patterson finally made the inevitable official—a special election to fill Mr. McHugh’s vacated seat as part of this year’s general election Nov. 3. The governor’s official announcement came Tuesday, and it was accompanied by some serious increase in intensity in the race for the 23rd District vacancy.

The national political parties are focusing unusual attention on the special election, as it is the only election for a seat in the House of Representatives in the nation this fall, and it is widely considered a potential referendum on the policies of the House Democratic majority and President Barack Obama versus their Republican opposition.

As noted in this space just a few weeks ago, the county Republican chairs within the district evidently chose a candidate using criteria Republicans are famous for using in their weakest moments—making a selection on the basis of name recognition, a misplaced desire to appeal to the “middle,” and/or an antiquated perception of who in the pool of potential candidates is “next in line” in accordance with inside party politics. Putting their confused sense of “electability” ahead of public-policy principles, they ended up with regional state Assemblywoman Dierdre “DeDe” Scozzafava, whose politics lean far enough to the left as to be in direct contradiction of important traditional planks in the national Republican platform.

Indeed, Ms. Scozzafava’s stance as pro-abortion and pro-gay marriage are enough to reveal her as diametrically opposed to essential public-policy positions that most define the differences between the national Republican and Democratic parties where social issues are concerned. And so, with Democratic Party candidate Bill Owens presumably committed to his own party’s agenda, the two “major parties” are presenting District 23 voters with two left-of-center candidates to replace a mostly-conservative John McHugh.

Given the well documented center-right leanings of District 23 voters, it isn’t a pretty scenario—but for the fact that one of the candidates rejected by District 23 Republican leaders ended up on the Conservative Party line when that party’s leadership broke with the Republicans and refused to cross endorse the Republican candidate, as they have done more often than not.

Although some of the mainstream news-media organizations haven’t figured it out yet (for instance, the major Syracuse market radio station whose news blurb on the special election this week named only the Republican and Democratic candidates), Conservative Party candidate Doug Hoffman has made a genuine three-horse race out of the District 23 special election by putting principles ahead of politics, and some strong indications emerged this week that principles might actually have a decent chance of trumping politics this time around.

Mr. Hoffman received a compelling high-profile endorsement Monday when former U.S. Senator Fred Thompson (R-Tenn.) broke with his own Republican Party and endorsed the Conservative Party candidate. In his statement, Mr. Thompson cited the “opportunity to send a message to Washington, to the Obama administration, and to the politicians who have made careers of ignoring the will of the people they represent…” Although the former senator, presidential candidate, and actor may not have intended it specifically, his “ignoring the will of the people” statement applies perfectly to the District 23 Republican leaders who selected a left-leaning candidate for a center-right constituency.

Mr. Hoffman also received the endorsement of the Susan B. Anthony List Candidate Fund, a Washington, D.C. based national “pro-life” political action committee. The organization’s president, Marjorie Dannenfelser, stated, “It’s gravely disappointing that the Republican Party chose to nominate a candidate whose position flies in the face of the actual pro-life party platform. Dede Scozzafava’s support for the extreme abortion agenda is out of step with New York’s 23rd District.”

In her remarks, Ms. Dannenfelser went on to note that Assemblywoman Scozzafava has “embraced the Planned Parenthood abortion-on-demand agenda” in the state legislature and received that notorious organization’s Margaret Sanger Award, Ms. Sanger being the group’s founder and an advocate of abortion as a means of population control, including by race.

Citing the SBA List Candidate Fund endorsement of Mr. Hoffman, Ms. Dannenfelser stated, “He will be a passionate advocate for women and the unborn who will reflect the growing pro-life views of his district and the country.”

The SBA List Candidate Fund, by the way, is named for the famous central New York women’s-rights advocate who strongly opposed abortion and referred to it as “child murder.”

As for some tangible indication that Conservative candidate Hoffman is making a strong run in the district, a public-opinion poll of 300 likely voters in the 23rd District, commissioned by the Washington, D.C. based Club for Growth, revealed a statistical dead heat among the Republican, Democratic, and Conservative party candidates when it was conducted Sept. 17 by Basswood Research. The poll, that owing to its small sampling carried a 5.7% margin of error, showed 20.3% for or leaning Scozzafava, 17.3% for or leaning Owens, and 17% for or leaning Hoffman.

One of the poll’s more revealing numbers, though, is that the largest percentage of respondents, 45.3%, were undecided, suggesting there may be plenty of opportunity for persuasive principled campaign messages to connect with voters. Also significant is that when those polled were asked if they would prefer the election be won by a liberal Democrat, liberal Republican, or Conservative Party candidate who would align himself with House Republicans, the latter choice was preferred by 36% versus 31% for the hypothetical Democrat and 18% for the Republican. Now if only voters will manifest their principles Nov. 3.