New York House race lays bare Republican infighting

Mr. Gizzi notes that if Mr. Owens wins NY-23, it will be the second time this year that the “behind closed doors” selection process ends up with a Democrat winning a special House election in New York. NY-20 became open when Rep. Kirsten Gillibrand (D) was tapped to fill the Senate seat vacated when Hillary Rodham Clinton became Secretary of State. Senator Gillibrand is a moderate Democrat, who had wrested her House seat away from the GOP in 2006.

Republicans believed they had a shot at winning it back. The local county GOP chairs selected the minority leader of the New York State Assembly, Jim Tedisco. He lost to Democrat Scott Murphy in the April vote.

One Republican who was discussed as a possible nominee for NY-20 is former assemblyman and 2006 GOP gubernatorial nominee John Faso. In an interview, Mr. Faso said he agrees that the situation in NY-23 points to the need for reconsideration of how nominees are chosen for special elections, but he does not see New York passing a law to switch to a primary system.

“It would be viewed as an unnecessary expense,” Mr. Faso says. “The state is broke. So are the local governments.” The problem, he adds, is that “the nomination process right now is disconnected from what it takes to get someone elected. That means political strategy and money.”

In NY-20, the Democrats picked “someone with no connection to the district, but who was a fresh face, had some business experience, and was presentable,” Faso says. “And he had no record to shoot at.”

Still, Faso defends the selection of Scozzafava in NY-23. “She was relatively well-known to the chairs and had a strong base of support from being in the assembly,” he says. “One of the chairs is a colleague of hers in the assembly. She was much more familiar to them. It was not an illogical choice from that perspective at all. “

Scozzafava’s moderate views seemed to fit with her district, which Obama narrowly won in 2008. Former Congressman McHugh was a moderate. But she ran into the buzzsaw of the GOP’s deep internal divisions, as well as the energy of the independent antitax “tea party” movement.

Thus, she was exposed on key issues. She favors abortion rights and gay marriage. And, more important, her moderate positions on economic matters gave conservatives, including the activist Club for Growth, a juicy target. The only major Republican establishment figure in her corner is former House speaker Newt Gingrich.

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