NY-23 Update: Republican Seizes Lead

Guy Benson | October 07, 2010 3:07 PM

On Tuesday, we let you know that Conservative Party candidate Doug Hoffman had finally decided to drop out of the NY-23 House race. At the time, I offered an 'attaboy' for Hoffman, who swallowed his personal ambition and endorsed the winner of the GOP primary,

Matt Doheny. Hoffman's selflessness looks like it will pay off, based on some hypothetical head-to-head numbers:

A Public Opinion Strategies poll conducted for the NRCC of the NY-23 race found the GOP nominee, Matt Doheny, with a wide lead over Democratic incumbent, Rep. Bill Owens, in a hypothetical head-to-head match-up.

The poll was conducted Sept. 22-23 – long before Doug Hoffman decided to suspend his candidacy on the Conservative line and call on his supporters to support Doheny, who won the Sept. 14 GOP primary.

The poll, which questioned 400 likely voters and has a margin of error of /- 4.9 percent, did not include Hoffman, even though his name will remain on the Nov. 2 ballot. It found Doheny leading Owens, 51-37, with the Republican candidate picking up some 68 percent of Hoffman’s voters.

If Doheny ends up beating Owens, Republicans and conservatives of all stripes should circle this race in bright red ink as a shining example of what reasonable, responsible party/movement unity can accomplish.