Race in N.Y. finds GOP at crossroads

WASHINGTON — Silvan Johnson is a Sarah Palin fan, belongs to a conservative discussion group and fumes at President Obama's spending policies. When it comes to picking a new representative in Congress for her upstate New York district, however, she is in no mood to help the Republican Party.

In fact, she and many other conservatives want to use a special election Tuesday to teach the GOP a lesson about sticking to conservative values — even though that likely will mean the party loses a House seat it has held for decades. The conservatives are backing a third-party candidate, in essence splitting the Republican vote and giving the Democrat a lead in recent opinion polls.

"Both parties seem to be more for big government," said Johnson, a probation clerk in Fulton, N.Y. "The Republicans need to learn that the people they are running [for office] do not represent the views of the people."

The conservative rebellion in northern New York is showing that the anger among disaffected voters, which became so prominent last summer during the "Tea Party" anti-spending rallies and at town-hall meetings on health care, has become a baffling political force.

The fight on the right also has made this district the epicenter of a national debate about the future of the Republican Party: Is the GOP better off emphasizing small-government and socially conservative values, or trying to broaden its appeal to reach independent and moderate voters as the party lines up candidates for important 2010 races.

For now, major GOP figures are using New York's special House election to signal they want the party to turn toward the right. Palin has endorsed the conservative alternative to the Republican candidate, who was hand-picked by local party leaders and supports abortion rights and gay marriage. So have former House Republican Leader Dick Armey and former GOP presidential candidate Steve Forbes.

Voters from outside the district also have weighed in. Cathy Vasilakos, a Brooklyn, N.Y., accountant, sent a $50 check to the conservative candidate, Doug Hoffman, to protest the fact that Newt Gingrich and the national GOP had endorsed Dede Scozzafava, a longtime state assemblywoman.

Vasilakos angrily returned a fundraising letter from the Republican National Committee, after scribbling with her black Sharpie: "I'd rather give my monetary support to conservatives like Doug Hoffman. When the RNC gets a clue, they can put me back on their mailing list."

But Gingrich and many other Republicans say that, for the party to win nationally and in swing districts, it can't move too far to the right. A vote for Hoffman, they argue, is a recipe for electing the Democrat, lawyer Bill Owens. That may allow Republicans to maintain ideological purity, they say, but it will not win elections.

"If we are in the business of feeling good about ourselves while our country gets crushed, then I probably made the wrong decision," Gingrich said on his Web site.

The New York off-year election comes at a critical juncture for the GOP, which suffered brutal defeats in 2006 and 2008.

The party has been buoyed by unity among its lawmakers on Capitol Hill in opposition to Obama's policies. Its fundraising and candidate recruitment efforts for 2010 have rebounded.

But polls show dwindling enthusiasm for Obama and his policies is not translating readily into increased support for the GOP. Recent surveys show Republican Party identification dropping this year, to as low as 20 percent.

New York's 23rd District lost its 16-year congressman when Obama picked moderate Republican John McHugh as secretary of the Army. The region has sent Republicans to Congress since 1980. Yet, Obama won the swing district with 52 percent of the vote in 2008.

When McHugh left, the district's 11 GOP county chairmen chose Scozzafava as their nominee because she had high name recognition and was the one most likely to draw centrist support.

Hoffman abandoned a promise to back the GOP nominee and ran with the endorsement of the Conservative Party, a significant force in New York politics. Word of his insurgent campaign spread locally and nationally, via online activists and publicity from Fox News commentator Glenn Beck. Donations started coming from all parts of the country.

Vasilakos, the Brooklyn accountant, was among them.

"This race matters to me," she said. "But I can't go upstate with a sign."