What Does Dede Scozzafava’s Withdrawal Mean For Other Republican Races?
Some are hoping this means a brave new era of candidates chosen on principle and not political expediency. Others, like Ace, are worried about spurned conservative candidates running on third party tickets or as independents and guaranteeing Democrat victories.
“Does this prompt a spate of third-party conservative challengers who wind up drawing just enough support from GOP candidates to give the House to the Democrats?”
The answer: There’s a good chance of that. This was the danger, and this was what Newt Gingrinch was worried about.
...there are two conflicting camps here: The Rush Limbaugh camp, which recognizes this danger and doesn’t seek to encourage it—not enough to harm our chances, anyway—and the Glenn Beck camp, which seems to, at least rhetorically, call for near-complete purity, or else, the thinking goes, there is no difference between Republican and Democratic candidate, and we might as well drive Republicans to defeat until they “listen.”
I hope the Limbaugh view prevails.
This is a tricky issue. On one hand, nothing gets done without winning elections. Conservatives need politicians representing them in office to advance a conservative agenda.
On the other hand, backing less-than-conservative candidates is not just detrimental to the conservative agenda but is also cancerous to the overall limited government movement. After all, how do you tell rank-and-file members of the movement that we stand for limited government, but that we have to support candidates who aren’t consistent advocates of limited government because that’s what’s best politically.
There’s a certain tolerance for that within a political movement, but too much of it and you lose the base. That’s, I think, what has happened to Republicans.
So it’s a balancing act. There’s no hard and fast rule for how these things should go.
For conservatives, I think the Hoffman race illustrates that you needn’t always just support whatever candidate the Republicans throw out. Sometimes there are viable third party candidates who are worth taking a look at.
