Dennis Affinati, business manager of Electrical Workers Local 910 in Watertown, N.Y.,--located near the Canadian border--doesn't turn his back on his friends.  

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Huge bombshell from The Hill:

The Republican in a New York House race that has become a symbol of the divisions within the GOP endorsed her former Democratic rival Sunday, a sharp snub to the third-party conservative who forced her out of the race.

Dede Scozzafava, who'd been chosen by local Republican leaders to try to hold the seat for the GOP, instead threw her support behind Democrat Bill Owens -- only a day after she unexpectedly backed out of the tough, three-way special election. Ultimately, her decision not to back Conservative Party candidate Doug Hoffman in the contest to fill former Rep. John McHugh's open seat is likely to enrage party leaders...

"I am writing to let you know I am supporting Bill Owens for Congress and urge you to do the same," Scozzafava added. "It's not in the cards for me to be your representative, but I strongly believe Bill is the only candidate who can build upon John McHugh's lasting legacy in the U.S. Congress."

Scozzafava's late nod to Owens could spell trouble for Hoffman, who is statistically deadlocked with his Democratic opponent in recent polls. The New York assemblywoman is considerably more moderate than Hoffman -- and presumably, some of her supporters are too -- so the possibility that many of her prospective voters could gravitate toward Owens on Tuesday is not totally unfathomable.

Jonathan Martin, Marc Ambinder, and our own Jonathan Singer have all predicted that Scozzafava's drop-out would help Owens as much as it would Hoffman given that at least half of Scozzafava's remaining supporters were probably independents and moderate Democrats unlikely to back the right-wing Hoffman. This news bolsters that prediction. Perhaps one local Republican endorsement is all it will take to balance the countless carpetbag Republican endorsements (Palin, Pawlenty, Bachmann, etc.).

(BTW, my dad grew up in what is now NY-23 and most of his family still lives there - my late grandfather never moved in his 99 years and 11 months, save WWII - so I feel a little personally as well as politically invested in this race.)

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Crossposted from The Motley Moose

In what may well come to be seen as the culmination of the death throes of the Reagan Republican party, the first echoing retort shot across the media today as the cracks in the GOP began to give way to calving chasms and massive bergs sheared off the weathered cliffs.  The ability of Michael ("No, really! I'm, like, hip to your happening shizang my home young gentlepersons!") Steele and the GOP "leadership" (or is that "GOP" leadeship?) to maintain anything like coherency even among the reduced ranks of Republican membership is not only in retreat:

It's in hiding.

In the special election in the 23rd Congressional District race, Dede Scozzafava - the Republican candidate - quit the race today after hearing that she is being out-polled by the Conservative Party candidate that Alaskan blogger Sarah Palin is supporting.

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