As Josh reported yesterday, Doug Hoffman is preparing a second run at the NY-23 congressional seat next year.
On his website yesterday, Hoffman laid out his reasons for deciding take on Rep. Bill Owens (D) so soon after he conceded to the freshman Representative for the second time. In short, Hoffman suggests again that the Nov. 3 special election was rigged in Owens' favor -- and then immediately apologizes to elections officials for offending them with the claim.
From Hoffman's 2010 announcement, posted to his campaign website yesterday:
Yes, there seem to have been many vote counting problems, missed vote counts and, as was recently reported by the Gouvernour Times, software problems in the computerized voting machines. Despite these incidents, I do not believe the voters of NY-23, or New Yorkers in general, would be well-served by a disruptive and costly recount that would most likely not change the election outcome.
Hoffman has made the allegations before, blaming ACORN and "chaos" at polling stations in a recent fundraising email for potentially leading to "another stolen election." In yesterday's statement, he backed off some of the claims:
I would also like to commend those election commission officials who worked tirelessly and may have taken offense to an unfortunate and poorly worded fundraising email that was sent out toward the end of our campaign. As we tried to make sense of the false vote counts and stories of so/ftware [sic] viruses in the voting machines, we never intended to imply the election commissioners had somehow acted improperly. This was never our intention and, on the contrary, the election commissioners went above and beyond to uphold their duty to ensure a fair election took place. I owe them a debt of gratitude for all they have done.
So what's next? Hoffman says the secret to winning in 2010 is to start laying the groundwork early. "Next time we will be better prepared," he writes. He also suggests he'll run as a Conservative Party candidate again, rather than make a run for the GOP nomination. But Hoffman also says the the key to victory is for Hoffman's national supporters to take the movement back to their own congressional districts:
But there is more to do than just win back NY-23 in 2010. We must work to help other like-minded citizen candidates win across the country. We need to make time to help other candidates who are working for the principles we hold dear... other fiscal, common-sense conservatives. Together we can successfully take back our great nation, one legislator and one member at a time. We need more than one common-sense conservative voice in the echo chamber of liberal, spend thrift cacophony if we are to redirect our great country.

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November 27, 2009 11:23 AM
If he won't go for the GOP nomination, he'll probably be shocked when next year becomes a repeat of this year.
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ilovebacon
November 27, 2009 11:25 AM
We can all look forward to his yellow teeth, googly eyes, and dried spittle crusted lips.
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ericf
November 27, 2009 11:38 AM
"common sense conservatives". Three things about common sense: one, everyone thinks they have it; two, despite the name, everyone thinks it's rare; three, everyone is right on point two.
This seems to be a Republican pattern. They claim fraud and then claim their not going to drag the public through an investigation. Funny, they do this only where they can't win. We saw in Minnesota's Senate race, and in Florida 2000, that if there's a chance they'll fight to the bitter end. In this case, since New York has switched to optical scanners, the votes are on paper, and they can be recounted. So I say call his bluff and have a recount. Make him justify his claims with an offer to investigate anything he wants investigated.
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jvwalt
November 27, 2009 11:48 AM
If he's serious about running again, he needs to take his own advice and actually get to know the district he wants to represent. One of the biggest blows to his special-election campaign came when he showed his ignorance of regional issues. And now, in this statement, he misspells "Gouverneur."
This is the kind of thing that turns off local voters, regardless of political affiliation. Hoffman needs to either learn the district, or run for office where he actually lives.
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MarniePip
November 27, 2009 10:14 PM
Why not just try taking up residence in the district and buying a farm and running it for a couple years.
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Hyla Brook
November 28, 2009 9:36 AM
If Hoffman wants to waste his time & money, he can go ahead.
Owens doesn't have much lead time to run for re-election in 2010, but I can guarantee Owens will soon be announcing a couple of jobs and infrastructure projects he's gotten for his district & Hoffman will be toast.
The conservatives can rail all they want about Nancy Pelosi, but she's not stupid. There will be 'pork' for NY-23 in time for the elections.
This should be another contest where we can sit back, have some popcorn & let the games begin.
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AhTrini1
November 28, 2009 10:34 AM
Conservatives are freakin' sour L-O-S-E-R-S! The only 'time accept an outcome and pull yourself up by the bootstraps' apply, is to minorities and Democrats.
Limpballs - Al Sharpton was responsible for NFL saying hell no!
Palin - Katie Couric and that darn gosh gotcha media was responsible for her being sent back to Alaska.
Hoffman - the elections commission and those darn pesky voters rigged the elections in their Democrat's favor.
Whaaaaaaaaa, wahhhhhhh, whaaaaaa, geeeeez
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