Hoffman Race Takes Twist: Here's What It Means

Republican Dede Scozzafava's surprise decision to suspend her congressional race in New York leaves Conservative Doug Hoffman to battle Democrat Dan Owens. Here's what the political blogosphere is saying:

• Nate Silver, FiveThirtyEight: "Gun to my head? Sure, I'd take Hoffman at this point." But it's not that cut and dried: Most conservative Republicans had already defected to Hoffman, so the gain may not be that big.

• Marc Ambinder, Atlantic: Conventional wisdom "says that most go to Hoffman, but I'm with Jonathan Martin: I think half go to Democrat Bill Owens or they stay home."
• Ed Morrissey, Hot Air: "Hoffman now has the default Republican endorsement with Scozzafava’s retreat, as well as all of the late momentum. ... Will the NRCC shift gears and start buying ads supporting Hoffman in the final three days of this race?"
• Jake McIntyre, Daily Kos: "The impact of the NY-23 saga on the fate of the GOP will have far more long-reaching effects than the simple question of who wins on Tuesday. The Republican establishment that at least pretended to speak to all Americans is deeply, deeply wounded, and a wild-eyed, exclusionist, birther religio-beast is taking its place."

(More Doug Hoffman stories.)