Conservative Loses in NY-23 Stunner, Despite Palin and Pawlenty Support

The Republicans got the press, but the Democrat got the votes in the special election in New York's 23rd Congressional District.

On an otherwise dismal night for his party, Democrat Bill Owens captured 49 percent of the vote. Conservative Doug Hoffman won 45 percent of the vote, while Republican Dede Scozzafava picked up a crucial five percent, even after dropping out of the race.

Owens, an Air Force retiree and lawyer, will become the first Democrat in more than 100 years to hold the seat, leaving the New York congressional delegation with just two Republicans in its ranks.

Democrats were quick to call the Owens victory a rebuke of the conservatives who rallied behind Hoffman, including Sarah Palin, Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty, Dick Armey and others. "This election represents a double-blow for National Republicans and their hopes of translating this summer's 'tea party' energy into victories at the ballot box," said Democratic Congressional Committee Chairman Rep. Chris van Hollen of Maryland. "Now they have to deal with an emboldened and well-funded far right wing that refuses to tolerate moderate Republicans with differing opinions."

In truth, the contest was marked more by chaos and verbal bomb throwing than a clear presentation of conservative ideas. The final weekend before Election Day saw Scozzafava withdraw from the election, only to endorse Owens, the Democrat, and be derided by national conservatives like Rush Limbaugh, who called her "guilty of widespread beastiality."

Polls taken on the weekend of Scozzafava's announcement showed Hoffman beating Owens by five to 17 points. But the Republican's surprise exit clearly upended the race, which she had led as recently as six weeks ago.

Although she nabbed the Republican nod this summer, it came through a vote of 11 local GOP representatives, not a traditional primary contest that would have tested her positions on an increasingly restless conservative base, both in her district and around the country.

After eight years of government-growing under George W. Bush, Scozzafava's candidacy served as a rallying cry for conservatives about exactly what they think is wrong with the national party: inside deals, squishy priorities, and Republicans In Name Only, who do little in office to advance the first principles they champion.

National Republican Campaign Committee chairman Pete Sessions called the result a "temporary victory for Democrats," but conservatives declared the Owens win a victory for their cause. Erick Erikson at RedState.com said the NY-23 race was an example for Republicans of what will happen to their candidates without the support of the far right. "The GOP now must recognize it will either lose without conservatives or will win with conservatives," he wrote.

By pulling Republican Congressman John McHugh out of his congressional seat to make him Army secretary, President Obama set in motion a series of events that gave conservative activists a testing ground for their messages and transformed a placid corner of New York into Ground Zero in the Battle for the Soul of the Republican Party.

Although a Democrat won the battle, only time will tell if Obama helped himself or his opponents more by opening the field for the not-so-civil war.