NY 1- Chris Nixon Cox vs Zionist Republican Randy Altschuler [Archive]

HOLLYWOOD

05-31-2010, 10:32 PM

Appears the 23rd's Hoffman race team spinsters are backing Altschuler with the Tea Party's endorsement.

http://www.nydailynews.com/blogs/dailypolitics/2010/01/team-hoffman-takes-on-ny-1.html

Team Hoffman Takes On NY-1 » (http://www.nydailynews.com/blogs/dailypolitics/2010/01/team-hoffman-takes-on-ny-1.html)

By Elizabeth Benjamin
Two members of the effort behind the NY-23 phenomenon that was Doug Hoffman are now at work in the 1st Congressional District and have trained their sights on ousting Democratic Rep. Tim Bishop.

GOP consultant Rob Ryan and pollster John McLaughlin (http://www.mclaughlinonline.com/), who helped turn Hoffman (http://www.nydailynews.com/blogs/dailypolitics/2009/09/acorn-aubertine-ny-23-heats-up.html)i from an unknown upstate businessman into a Tea Party cause célèbre last November (http://www.nydailynews.com/blogs/dailypolitics/2009/11/hoffman-concedes-clears-way-fo.html), are now working with another businessman, Randy Altschuler, one of half a dozen Republicans vying to run against Bishop on Row B.
In a brief interview this afternoon, Ryan said he sees parallels between NY-23 and NY-1.

"Once again, the pick is taking place from the top down instead of the bottom up," Ryan told me. "A lot of people, including the candidates, are very upset about it." Ryan was obliquely referring to the recent candidate screenings held by Suffolk County GOP Chairman John LaValle and the belief that LaValle is somehow in cahoots with state GOP Chairman Ed Cox to anoint Cox's son, Chris (http://www.nydailynews.com/blogs/dailypolitics/2010/01/a-cox-for-congress.html), to get the party's nod.
LaValle has praised Chris Cox (http://www.nydailynews.com/blogs/dailypolitics/2010/01/lavalle-gives-boost-to-cox-for.html) and made it clear (http://frankseabrook.com/2010/01/11/suffolk-county-gop-in-the-news/) he would prefer to avoid a GOP primary in NY-1.
But both he and Ed Cox have insisted the chairman is taking a hands-off approach to the candidate selection process. (Except, of course, for the fundraiser he headlined for the party last week).
Even if the process is being micromanaged from the top down, the big difference between NY-23 and NY-1 is that candidates in the latter have the right to mount primary challenges, which was impossible in the special election held to fill ex-Rep. John McHugh's seat.

At this point, Ryan doesn't want to address the issue of a primary, other than to say that his candidate "is in this race and plans to be the nominee of the Republican, Conservative and Independence parties."
(After losing out to Assemblywoman Dede Scozzafava for the GOP nod, Hoffman stayed in the race on the Conservative line, eventually forcing her out of the running and losing to Democrat Bill Owens).
Ryan also noted a SurveyUSA poll (http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/77009-poll-shows-rep-tim-bishop-in-a-battle) out today that shows Altschuler pulled almost even with Bishop, 47-45. The poll didn't test Chris Cox or George Demos, another of the would-be GOP contenders.

"What we saw last night in Massachusetts is working its way down the coast, and I think the poll reflects that," Ryan said. Ryan predicted that Alschuler would, "because of his career being a businessman and creating jobs", emerge as the candidate with "a very conservative view." When I pointed out that conservatives have been irked by the fact that Altschuler used to be a member of the Green Party, Ryan replied:

"In the words of Winston Churchill, and I'm paraphrasing here, but it's pretty close, 'If you're not liberal when you're young, you have no heart. If you're not conservative when you're older, you have no brains.'"
"Randy has felt the bite of regulation, felt the bite of red tape, felt the bite of high taxes. He has become very conservative."

Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/blogs/dailypolitics/2010/01/team-hoffman-takes-on-ny-1.html#ixzz0pZYaQbLj (http://www.nydailynews.com/blogs/dailypolitics/2010/01/team-hoffman-takes-on-ny-1.html#ixzz0pZYaQbLj)