Dede Scozzafava says she’d do pretty well on a proposed “purity test” for future Republican candidates.

Scozzafava, the Republican Assemblywoman who dropped out of the race for Congress days before the election and endorsed Democrat Bill Owens, appeared on CBS’s Face The Nation (video below) Sunday to debate the idea.

Hoffman, the Conservative Party candidate, barely won the fight for absentee votes in Oswego County. He beat Owens among absentees, 544 to 534. Dede Scozzafava, the Republican who dropped out of the race on the weekend before the election and, a day later, endorsed Owens, pulled 204 absentees.

Did Doug Hoffman give up too soon?

At least one of his campaign staffers thinks that might be true, after revised numbers show the race for Congress is closer than it appeared to be on Election Night.

So, the question: Can Hoffman still win after all the absentee ballots are counted?

Assemblywoman Dede Scozzafava faced the music Monday for her decision to endorse a Democrat in the race for Congress after Republicans all but abandoned her candidacy.

Scozzafava was removed as Leader Pro Tempore of the Assembly’s Republican conference. Minority leader Brian Kolb said in a statement that Scozzafava stepped down voluntarily.

Democrat Bill Owens confounded the experts and defied more than a century of history as he won the three way race for Congress from Oswego County and the North Country.

With about 80% of votes counted, Owens held about a 4,000 vote lead.  There are as many as 11,000 absentee ballots yet to be counted and a handful of voting locations across the district had their voting machines sealed for hand counts beginning today.

Scozzafava gave in to the reality of polls, the most recent of which was revealed on Saturday, showing Democrat Bill Owens and Conservative Doug Hoffman in a virtual tie.  She also obviously gave in to the will of her party, which appears to have decided that if she can’t win, then Hoffman must.

If the 23rd Congressional District race was too close to call the first time the Siena Research Institute took a poll, it’s even harder to call now that they’ve published their second poll of the race.

Democrat Bill Owens has surged into the lead in the race to succeed John McHugh as the Congressman from the North Country but Oswego County residents are taking a liking to Doug Hoffman, the Conservative.

As a private citizen, after 12 years of representing Oswego County in the New York State Assembly, I write to express my unequivocal support for Dede Scozzafava to succeed John McHugh in the 23rd Congressional District.

Assemblywoman Dede Scozzafava, Republican and Independence Party candidate for the 23rd Congressional District, today announced the National Rural Letter Carriers Association is endorsing her candidacy.

Lots of folks have made up their minds — at least tentatively — about who they’ll vote for in November to replace John McHugh in Congress.  But the first independent and credible poll of the Congressional special election shows that this race will come down to the decisions of people who don’t know today who they’ll vote for and who may not even know who the candidates are.

Senator Darrel J. Aubertine visited the Fulton headquarters of sister nonprofits Oswego Industries, Inc. and ARC of Oswego County.

In response to recent regulations from the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation prohibiting open burning, Cornell Cooperative Extension of Oswego County (CCE Oswego County) is exploring the possibility of a collaborative effort with other county agencies to help local farmers address the issue of agricultural plastics disposal.

Happy New Year to all of our readers in the tri-county region!
While our Richland facility is closed until April, the society is still active with Friday afternoon hours at the Barclay Court House in Pulaski (2nd floor over DMV, 2pm until 5) or by appointment. We got off to a rocky start following our [...]