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Despite the Club for Growth, Dick Armey and Sarah Palin's involvement in New York's 23rd District Congressional race resulting in Democrat Bill Owens being elected, Fox News Sunday makes The Club for Growth's Chris Chocola their "Power Player of the Week". Yeah, the power to drag the Republican Party even further to the right. Wallace touts that as a good thing for the party.

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Conservatives virtually declared victory after forcing a moderate Republican out of a highly contested House race in upstate New York. The Republican candidate, Dede Scozzafava, withdrew Saturday virtually guaranteeing a win for Conservative Party Candidate Doug Hoffman in New York's 23rd Congressional district.

White House senior advisor Valerie Jarrett told ABC's George Stephanopolous that pressure on Scozzafava to drop out shows how conservatives are marginalizing moderates. "I think [the Republican Party is] becoming more and extreme and more and more marginalized," said Jarrett.

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Looks like the Club for Growth/Sarah Palin wing of the Republican Party has prevailed in this race. DeDe Scozzafava suspends her campaign:

Dede Scozzafava, the Republican and Independence parties candidate, announced Saturday that she is suspending her campaign for the 23rd Congressional District and releasing all her supporters.

The state Assemblywoman has not thrown her support to either Doug Hoffman, the Conservative Party candidate, or Bill Owens, the Democratic candidate.

"Today, I again seek to act for the good of our community," Ms. Scozzafava wrote in a letter to friends and supporters. "It is increasingly clear that pressure is mounting on many of my supporters to shift their support. Consequently, I hereby release those individuals who have endorsed and supported my campaign to transfer their support as they see fit to do so. I am and have always been a proud Republican. It is my hope that with my actions today, my party will emerge stronger and our district and our nation can take an important step towards restoring the enduring strength and economic prosperity that has defined us for generations."

Ms. Scozzafava told the Watertown Daily Times that Siena Research Institute poll numbers show her too far behind to catch up - and she lacks enough money to spend on advertising in the last three days to make a difference. Mr. Owens has support from 36 percent of likely voters in the poll, with Mr. Hoffman garnering 35 percent support. Ms. Scozzafava has support from 20 percent of those polled.

The Gouverneur resident said she thinks she will receive more than 20 percent of the vote, based on several factors, including her performance during a Thursday debate.

See the Watertown Daily Times' "All Politics is Local" blog to read Ms. Scozzafava's complete statement or for more information on today's Siena poll.

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Josh Kraushaar has a cute post at Politico about the usual shenanigans that go on in congressional races where one candidate tries to pretend his opponent is more liberal or conservative than he or she really is in order to sway voters. In this case it's the rightwing Republicans attacking the Republican candidate.

At first glance, the group’s ad looks like it’s an endorsement of Scozzafava. But it’s a dirty trick engineered by Hoffman supporters, looking to render her unacceptable to many Republican voters by detailing her liberal position on gay marriage, support of President Obama’s stimulus and connections to labor."

...Common Sense in America is spending about $150,000 on the ad buy, and it is up on broadcast and cable in all three media markets in the sprawling upstate New York district....

In tracking down information about Common Sense in America, it’s clear they don’t have the best intentions for Scozzafava in mind. The group, which was founded on October 23, is headed by Arkansas businessman Jackson Stephens, a board member of the Club for Growth. The Club for Growth was one of the first groups to endorse Hoffman. Stephens donated the maximum $4,800 to Hoffman’s campaign, and is one of the Club for Growth’s leading donors.

Calling the group’s phone number – listed on the advertisement – led me to a voice mail from Stephens, which directed all questions about Common Sense in America to Dan Blum, a communications consultant who is serving as a spokesman for the organization. According to FEC records, Blum worked for the Republican National Committee as a staffer as recently as this January.

And with these Republicans now endorsing the Independent Doug Hoffman is it any wonder these type of tricks are being attempted?

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From Washington Journal Oct. 25, 2009. As much as I hate to say I agree with Newt Gingrich about anything, I'd say he's right here. Gingrich is asked what he thinks about E.J. Dionnne's article Is there room in the GOP for moderates?. Gingrich says there is and disagrees with Dick Armey who has injected himself into the NY-23 special election and endorsed Conservative Party candidate Doug Hoffman over Republican Dede Scozzafava.

It appears not everyone agrees with Joe Scarborough and Dan Senor that this Republican food fight is good for the party.

So what happens when a moderate Republican (Dede Scozzafava) gets bushwhacked from the far right in her quest to win a seat in congress, in what would normally be in a district where the prospects were pretty good she'd win? First, her finances dry up; right-wing Club for Growth starts running ads for her Conservative opponent while she can't run any due to lack of money; she gets attacked by Dick Armey (albeit Newt Gingrich tried to come to her rescue); The Weekly Standard starts running snide things about her campaign so her campaign manager flips out and calls the cops on him.

And then this.

In what can only be described, charitably, as a severe lapse in judgment or common sense, a protest news conference staged in front of her Conservative opponent's headquarters goes awry. And the resulting optics were less than stellar. Scozzafava's pained expression probably came at the exact moment she realized she would be seen standing in front of a wall of signs for her opponent on the local evening news.

Somewhere Democrat Bill Owens and his campaign are chuckling at the continuing travails of the Republicans in upstate New York, and perhaps even the oncoming civil war within the national Republican party itself.

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Rachel Maddow weighed in on the race on her show last night.

Maddow: Common political wisdom is that the first round of elections in the new president‘s first year are a referendum on that president. This year‘s bellwether looks a lot more like a referendum on the state of the Republican Party. And at this point, Democrats rejoice. It‘s a cage match.

Transcript below the fold.

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