Republicans Eating Their Own

By David A. Graham, Newsweek

25 September 10

Doug Hoffman and other vanity candidates could undermine GOP pickups.

Remember Doug Hoffman? You might say he was the original Christine O'Donnell - and now he's back for a victory lap.

He's the very conservative candidate who cost Republicans New York's 23rd Congressional District in 2009, handing it to Democrat Bill Owens in a special election to replace John McHugh, a Republican who resigned to become secretary of the Army. In that race, he ran as a Conservative Party candidate facing moderate Republican Dede Scozzafava. It should have been easy for Republicans to hold, given that McHugh was a Republican and the district has historicall voted for Republicans for president, including in 2000 and 2004 (CORRECTION: This post originally stated that the 23rd district voted for McCain). But even after Scozzafava bowed to intense pressure and left the race, she drew 6 percent of the vote, enough to split conservatives and hand the election to Owens. (Hoffman had a hard time letting go, trying to "un-concede," then asserting that ACORN had stolen the election from him, despite having no evidence.)

At the time, he promised to run again the following year - since it was a special election, a regular race had to be held to fill the seat on a regular basis in November 2010. And Hoffman's a man of his word: he did run for the Republican nomination, and he didn't get it, losing a primary to Republican Matt Doheny. It took Hoffman 10 days, but he's now conceded - and promised to stay in the race as a Conservative Party candidate. That should set him up well to potentially sabotage Doheny's chance to reclaim the seat.