I’m beginning to think it might be. A victory for independent conservative candidate Doug Hoffman might convince the party base — even more so than they are now — that the way to back to power is to push further to the right (how they could possibly think that so soon after the last two elections, which were a complete disaster for the conservative movement, is beyond me). That could make for a lot of weak candidates come next November. The really nutty thing is the number of nationally known Republicans campaigning for Hoffman over their own party’s candidate. When you get right down to it, it’s bizarre, and the only real explanation is that the Republican party is going through a major split right now, and the most active forces are pushing it away from any and all moderate positions. There’s a chance that might do them some good in 2010, but demographically, it nearly guarantees them minority status for a generation.
Tags: 23, conservative, election, GOP, hoffman, ny, Republican, special, split
