Doug Hoffman Breaks Out in NY-23!

The Washington Post's Chris Cillizza offered the Beltway take yesterday, "NY-23: Can Doug Hoffman Win?" But for the inside angle, see Robert Stacy McCain, "It's Up to You, Upstate New York":

Rob Ryan's hoarse voice rumbled with laughter Tuesday afternoon as he reacted to reports that liberal Republican Dede Scozzafava had called police on a reporter who asked too many questions after her Monday speech.

"The only thing the police need to investigate in this race is if Dede Scozzafava is impersonating a Republican," Ryan said in a telephone interview yesterday.

Yet the media coordinator for New York congressional candidate Doug Hoffman was less jocular when discussing the Conservative Party campaign's most pressing need in the crucial 23rd District special election. "We need money and we need it now," he said. Fundraising has been "picking up every day," Ryan said, and the Hoffman campaign is "getting donations from across the country."

However, Hoffman is battling against major party candidates, with the national GOP spending hundreds of thousands of dollars for Scozzafava -- angering conservatives like Michelle Malkin -- while the Democratic Party pours cash into the campaign coffers of its candidate, Bill Owens.
With high-profile supporters including Fred Thompson, Dick Armey, Bill Kristol and the Club for Growth, the Hoffman campaign has become what John Gizzi of Human Events calls a "national conservative crusade."

Conservatives have had their eye on the Hoffman campaign for weeks, but now major national media are finally taking notice. "The race the nation should be watching is a special election in upstate New York," Newsweek magazine's David Graham wrote yesterday, saying the outcome would show "whether Democrats can hold on to voters who went for Obama in 2008."

More at the link. (And at The Other McCain.)

Plus, see Dana Loesch's new blog, "Dump Dede."

Video Hat Tip: Newsbusters, "Cops Called About Reporter Committing Journalism on Congressional Candidate."