Tipsheet

Tea Partiers Confront Gingrich Over Endorsement in NY-23 Race

A group of tea partiers recently dropped in on one of former House Speaker Newt Gingrich's book signings to ask him about the NY-23 congressional race and his support for Republican nominee Dede Scozzafava over Conservative Party nominee Doug Hoffman. 

Here's what Gingrich had to say:



Gingrich: “Lets just start with, she is the nominee of the local party, my bias is to be for the nominee of the local party, and I don’t second guess the local party, she has signed a no tax increase pledge, she is endorsed by the National Rifle Association, she has come out against Cap and Trade, [crosstalk] she is opposed to the Obama Health Care plan, she will vote for John Boehner instead of Nancy Pelosi.

All of those things together make her it seems to me, a legitimate, authentic, Republican nominee. In addition, the last poll that came out yesterday, she is well ahead of, and she is much more likely to beat the Democrat than Hoffman because Hoffman doesn’t live in the district, he’s never won an election in the district, she represents the biggest county in the district, she actually knows the local issues, and Hoffman has says publicly he doesn’t know the local issues...

So I just think it is a mistake for the Conservative movement, to think splitting in the special elections is a smart idea, if we give that seat to the Democrats, shame on us…