NY GOP Dropout Backs Dem Over Palin Fave

Sarah Palin-backed conservative upstart Doug Hoffman called Dede Scozzafava a “turncoat” after the New York Republican state assemblywoman endorsed Hoffman’s Democratic opponent, Bill Owens. Scozzafava issued her surprise endorsement a day after pulling out of the upstate congressional race. With prominent conservatives backing Hoffman, an independent, Scozzafava had been running a distant third in the polls. “This afternoon Dede Scozzafava betrayed the GOP,” a spokesman for Hoffman said in a statement.

“She endorsed a Pelosi Democrat who will spend more, tax more, and push the liberal agenda that is dragging down this nation." Scozzafava, coaxed to back Owens by the White House, characterized the Democrat as “the only candidate” who was a suitable replacement for now-Secretary of the Army John McHugh, the Watertown Daily Times reports. Owens exhibits a "sense of duty and integrity that will guide him beyond political partisanship,” she said.