Doug Hoffman Declares Race for Congress

Great news that's no surprise, given the turn of events last fall: Doug Hoffman will run for Congress in New York 23rd district. Robert Stacy McCain, who covered the November election on the ground last year, has a report at the Washington Times, "'Tea Party' Favorite Set for Rematch in N.Y.: Hoffman Seeking GOP Nod":

Last year's underdog became this year's front-runner Tuesday when Doug Hoffman - whose 2009 congressional race became a rallying cry for the "tea party" movement - announced he would seek the Republican nomination in New York's 23rd District.

Mr. Hoffman's Conservative Party campaign last fall in the upstate district ignited grass-roots supporters, but fell 4,000 votes short of an upset victory in the three-way special election won by Bill Owens, who became the first Democrat to represent the district in decades.

"I'm just an average citizen, standing up to say, 'We're fed up. We're not going to take this any more,' " Mr. Hoffman told The Washington Times in a telephone interview Tuesday. "I don't think anybody should expect to inherit political office ... . I'm going to work very hard to earn the respect and support of all the voters in the district."

An accountant from Saranac Lake, Mr. Hoffman became the first Republican to officially declare his candidacy in the largely rural 23rd Congressional District, which sprawls across upstate New York from Lake Ontario on the west to the Vermont border on the east.

Several other potential candidates, including Assemblyman William Barclay, have expressed interest in entering the Sept. 14 Republican primary, but a January survey by pollster John McLaughlin found support for Mr. Hoffman among more than 70 percent of the district's Republican voters.

In a statement to the Plattsburgh (N.Y.) Press Republican, a spokesman for Mr. Owens said, "There is a time and place for politics, and Congressman Owens's main focus is to create more jobs in upstate New York and help our local economies grow."

Also, at Washington Wire, "NY-23: Hoffman Runs Again":

Hoffman’s renewed entry into the race, this time hoping to win the Republican as well as Conservative and Independence party nominations, reaffirms that hard-hitting fiscal conservatives and candidates supported by the tea party movement intend to play a big role in the upcoming election. What their impact will be is less clear.

Hat Tip: Sir Smitty at TOM.