That strange election in upstate New York concludes its final pre-election rallies today, with some notable developments: • Dede Scozzafava, the Republican who quit the race over the weekend and then endorsed Democrat Bill Owens, showed up at an Owens campaign event on Sunday, telling him about her concern on local issues and entreating him [...]

Public Policy Polling released a spate of polls last night, all of which you can find on their blog. There’s absolutely no good news in them for Democrats and their supporters. They showed Bob McDonnell holding a comfortable 56-42 lead in VA-Gov, Chris Christie surging late to a 47-41 lead in NJ-Gov, Question 1 winning [...]

The Watertown Daily News has the statement from Dede Scozzafava: Since announcing the suspension of my campaign, I have thought long and hard about what is best for the people of this District, and how to answer your questions. This is not a decision that I have made lightly. You know me, and throughout my [...]

Due to travel and some logistical nightmares, I was basically away from the Internets yesterday, but obviously the major political story was Republican candidate Dede Scozzafava suspending her campaign in NY-23. The GOP establishment quickly endorsed Conservative Party candidate Doug Hoffman, and the teabaggers roared with anticipation of a victory. But the major local paper [...]

Reading over Eric Kleefeld’s report of the candidate debate in NY-23, I learned something new about Democrat Bill Owens: it turns out he supports the public option included in the House health care bill unveiled today. Owens was generally supportive of the health care bill, though there were things he would modify, such as raising [...]

For those of you scoring at home, I thought I’d lay out exactly what the major races are next Tuesday, November 3. From Maine to California, New Jersey to Washington state, there are several significant races on the ballot, all of which will be spun by Democrats and Republicans as indicative of the national mood. [...]

The race to replace Army Secretary John McHugh has completely gotten away from the Republican Party. A schism between the GOP candidate Dede Scozzafava and Conservative Party candidate Doug Hoffman has exploded into view, with high-profile Presidential hopefuls taking sides in an effort to advance their conservative credentials. Sarah Palin’s endorsement of Hoffman is only [...]

A Quinnipiac poll shows conservative Marco Rubio making a race of it in Florida against Governor Charlie Crist in their Republican Senate primary. This could explain why Crist has moved sharply to the right in recent days. Gov. Charlie Crist’s lead over former state house speaker Marco Rubio in the 2010 Republican U.S. Senate primary [...]

An eye-opening new report from the Democratic-aligned research organization Democracy Corps suggests that conservative Republicans, the majority of the GOP base, harbor a well-developed, consistent, peculiar worldview about President Obama and his “hidden agenda” for the country. Armed with “facts” from conservative media, these individuals, fully 2/3 of the Republican Party at this point according [...]