• A piece on the influence of Ayn Rand in the conservative movement. (3/6/09)
• A look at the GOP’s much-heralded, but mind-boggling, charts. (3/26/09)
• Photos from the Knob Creek Machine Gun Shoot. (4/6/09)
• The inside scoop on a civil war in the right-wing blogosphere. (4/21/09)
• A piece on the damage done to Tom Tancredo by his racist, karate-chopping confidant. (6/2/09)
• A conversation with Jim DeMint, where the senator compared America to pre-World War II Germany. (7/9/09)
• A prescient account of the dilemmas the “birther” movement threatened to cause the GOP. (7/17/09)
• An early look at the problems birthers were causing moderate Republicans at town hall meetings. (7/20/09)
• A glimpse of Saul Alinsky’s surprising new fan base. (8/11/09)
• An exclusive look at a propaganda-filled health care “survey” from the RNC. (8/27/09)
• A report from inside the How to Take Back America Conference, where fear of fascism and a “gay agenda” dominated. (9/28/09)
• Ahead-of-the-curve coverage of the special election in New York’s 23rd Congressional District, where a Tea Party candidate split the GOP vote and led to a Democratic victory. (11/19/09)
• A spotlight on conservative attacks on Mike Huckabee for granting clemency to a future suspect in the shooting of four police officers. (11/30/09)
• A look at the strange campaign of the antiwar Republican Adam Kokesh to unseat John McCain. (12/18/09)
• A series of conversations with key Republicans who expressed their unwillingness to embrace party-switcher Parker Griffith. (12/22/09)
• A preview of Tucker Carlson’s journalism venture, The Daily Caller. (1/17/10)
• An investigation of the “perfect storm” that led to Scott Brown’s Senate win. (1/20/10)
• A heated conversation between Andrew Breitbart and Joseph Farah over the value of “birtherism.” (2/6/10)
• An account of growing pessimism among Tea Partiers that the passage of health care reform could be prevented. (3/17/10)
• After reports of the RNC’s lavish spending, a look at past conservative donor frustration with RNC habits that made the latest incident the “nail in the coffin.” (4/2/10)
• And, finally, a heartfelt farewell. We miss you too, Dave.

Hoffman rather infamously un-conceded the race after counting errors revealed that he’d lost by a smaller margin than expected; he conceded again, and that issue disappeared.

The full statement, from his campaign:

Since early January I have been weighing the idea of once again running for the 23rd Congressional District seat. During that time I travelled throughout the district, meeting and speaking with men and women who supported me in last fall’s hard fought campaign. I did a lot of listening. Their words of encouragement and continued support touched my heart and soul. Their kind thoughts are often repeated to me by total strangers who have approached me while I am at the gas station, in the grocery store, or out to dinner with Carol, my wife.

Back in January I commissioned a poll. The results were encouraging. The poll showed that 74% of Republicans who vote in primaries thought I should run again. 71% thought I could win back the congressional seat in next November’s election. But, perhaps more importantly, the vast majority of Republicans said they would cast their vote for me in a Republican primary.

But, perhaps, what has influenced me the most is what I have seen and heard in my professional life, not my political one. As many of you know I am a Certified Public Accountant. My firm has five offices across the Congressional District and literally thousands of clients. January through April is our “busy season” as we prepare tax returns for clients that represent an economic cross cross-section of New York and the nation.

The words repeated by client after client were that the tax burdens and government regulations they face are breaking their back and that the direction this nation heading is breaking their spirit. The dysfunction and corruption in Albany and Washington is filling them with disgust and they are worrying what will be the future for their children and grandchildren.

Their words of despair have filled me with resolve. They made me realize the fight we face is bigger than any one individual. If we do not shift the balance of power in Washington and Albany this year, our chance may be lost.

I have discussed my decision with my family and they are totally supportive. I now want to take this opportunity to let you know that I will be formally entering the race for the 23rd Congressional District seat and this time we will defeat Bill Owens!

The months ahead will be filled with hard work; because, I realize you don’t inherit a nomination…you have to work for it. I plan to work hard to deserve the nomination of the Republican, Conservative and Independence Parties and unite them, as one team, to defeat the agenda of Nancy Pelosi and Bill Owens.

I will champion the fight for less spending, lower taxes, and shrinking the deficit. I will speak out about the need to defend our nation and the freedoms of its people. And, I will never back down from taking on the career politicians who conveniently forget that they represent and work for you; average American citizens, not the Special Interests who fill the back rooms of Washington with lobbyists and fill the campaign coffers of elected officials with money.

I will fight hard for our soldiers at Fort Drum, our dairy farmers, our small business people, our children and our seniors; all the people who live and work in our district.

I hope I can once again count on your support and hopefully have the opportunity to speak with you between now and Election Day.

Sincerely,

Doug Hoffman

“Since the morning of November 4th, many of my supporters have asked me to challenge the outcome of this race,” said Hoffman. “Their concerns centered on the veracity of the new voting machines used, for the first time, in the majority of the eleven counties that make up the Congressional District. Over the past three weeks, we nearly cut Bill Owens’ lead in half. Sadly, that is not enough. The shift in support since election night highlights one fact; the Boards of Elections, both state and county, need to work closely to ensure the seamless use of these machines in the 2010 statewide and midterm elections.”

The whole statement after the jump:

Yesterday, the remaining ballots were counted in the 23rd Congressional District special election. The results re-affirm the fact that Bill Owens won.

Since, the morning of November 4th, many of my supporters have asked me to challenge the outcome of this race. Their concerns centered on the veracity of the new voting machines used, for the first time, in the majority of the eleven counties that make up the Congressional District. Over the past three weeks, we nearly cut Bill Owens’ lead in half. Sadly, that is not enough.

The shift in support since election night highlights one fact; the Boards of Elections, both state and county, need to work closely to ensure the seamless use of these machines in the 2010 statewide and midterm elections.

I would like to thank my supporters for everything they did over the past four months. They proved that average Americans can stand up and make their voices heard, all the way from Watertown to Washington. They proved that the voters are sick and tired of wasteful government spending, high taxes and an ever growing deficit. And most importantly, that when it comes to politics: principles do matter.

While we may have lost the election, this race proved that Americans are sick and tired of the status quo in both Albany and Washington.

Thursday, America celebrates Thanksgiving. It’s a time to reflect on the bounty and the beauty of this nation and all we have to be grateful for. High on my list will be all those that supported me in this race.

I would also like to extend holiday wishes to all the residents of the 23rd Congressional District, to Congressman Owens and his family, and to all the media who tirelessly covered this race.

I plan to stay active in politics and in the weeks and months ahead hope to be able to personally thank all those who made this race so close and exciting.

UPDATE: Jude Seymour has updated numbers that basically end the race (again) for Hoffman–Owens leads by 3,105 votes with only 3,072 absentee ballots outstanding. And that’s with no absentee ballots from Essex, Franklin and St. Lawrence Counties, which went for Owens on election day.

HANNITY: Look, you supported [Conservative Party candidate] Doug Hoffman in the New York 23. And when you did that, though, it was a big jolt to his campaign. As a matter of fact, according to the latest numbers he has a chance to win this thing.

PALIN: That’s exciting.

This is not really true, but it jibes with what Hoffman is saying.

I’d credit that to Hoffman’s greenness as a candidate if he wasn’t being advised by professional politicos like Rob Ryan, a veteran of George Pataki’s 1994 gubernatorial campaign, and Mike Long, chairman of the state Conservative Party. Throughout the campaign, Ryan tried to make the case that Democratic allies like ACORN and the Working Families Party were all set to commit vote fraud. It always seemed like a base-motivating gimmick — indeed, it worked so well that Hoffman backers I met saw an African-American GOP strategist walk by and started assuming, out loud, that he was an ACORN plant.

Why did Hoffman concede in the first place? That I’d credit to the campaign’s overconfidence. They went into election day planning for a clear victory. Hoffman bragged to me, and to other reporters, that he hadn’t even talked to Dede Scozzafava, the ousted GOP candidate, because he’d “win without her.” When votes started coming in far, far below their expectations, they lost hope very quickly. Hoffman himself was so devastated during his election night speech that he temporarily forgot to mention that he was conceding the election — Mike Long ran onstage with a note reminding him to — and he left the election party making no more statements to the press.

Simply put, I think Hoffman panicked on election night and is now honestly, frantically trying to undo a mistake. I don’t know if he or his team realize the long-term political damage of this.

Hoffman’s getting some brushback from local Republicans. George Williams, chairman of the Oswego County Republicans, says Hoffman’s wrong and says the party is “not going to take the blame because he didn’t hold his concession speech.” I was in the district in the run-up to the election, when Hoffman accused Democrats or ACORN of slashing a campaign worker’s tires; when that charge turned out to be baseless, ACORN spokesmen informed me that they had no volunteers in the district. While ACORN’s credibility has been challenged left and right lately, its very public implosion would seem to back that up.

This isn’t the sort of behavior that wins over a skeptical electorate looking at a possible rematch between Hoffman and Rep. Bill Owens (D-N.Y.).

A quick update: Here’s the letter Hoffman is circulating, available at http://www.doughoffmanforcongress.com/stolenelection.html.

Dear Fellow Conservative,

As evidence surfaces, we find out that reported results from election night were far from accurate. ACORN and the unions did their best to try and sway the results to Obamacare supporter Bill Owens.

I was forced to concede after receiving two pieces of grim news – - down 5,335 votes with 93 percent of the vote counted on election night – and barely won my stronghold in Oswego County. On Election Night, the information we received was far different from what we received this week!

Rest assured, they will not succeed, and I am therefore revoking my statement of concession.

That is why I am writing you today. Recent developments leave me to wonder who is scheming behind closed doors, twisting arms and stealing elections from the voters of NY-23.

I’m sure you are as dismayed as I am to learn of the mischief that took place in Oswego and neighboring counties. We know this would not be the first time for the ACORN faithful to tamper with democracy.

Now it’s time to actually count every legal ballot and I need your help to ensure the people of NY-23 get the Congressman THEY ELECTED. Please donate now to help me ensure every vote is counted!

A recanvassing in the 11-county district shows Owens’ lead has narrowed to 3,026. In Oswego County, I was reported to lead by only 500 votes with 93 percent of the vote counted election night, but inspectors found I actually won by 1,748 votes

Let’s force them keep this recanvassing active! Let’s give this election a chance to end differently!
Oswego County elections officials blame the mistakes on “chaos“ in their call-in center that included a phone system foul-up, and on inspectors who read numbers incorrectly when phoning in results. This sounds like a tactic right from the ACORN playbook.

The district’s second biggest voter turnout was in Jefferson County, where I had also benefited from a turnaround since election night, gaining another 700 votes. Owens led by 300 votes on the final election night tally, but after recanvassing, I’m now leading by 424 votes.

Jerry Eaton, the Republican elections commissioner for Jefferson County, said inspectors found a problem in four districts where my vote total was mistakenly entered as zero.

The new vote totals mean the race will be decided by absentee ballots, of which the state Board of Elections distributed about 10,200.

The people of NY-23 deserve to have their ballots counted properly, but we can’t let ACORN or the unions keep that from happening. They have more lawyers and more experience tampering with democracy.

State Board of Elections Communications Director John Conklin said the state sent a letter to the House Clerk last week explaining that no winner had been determined in the 23rd District.

Now it’s time to actually count every legal ballot and I need your help to ensure the people of NY-23 get the Congressman THEY ELECTED. Please donate now to help me ensure every vote is counted!

We need to make sure that fair elections are a reality in NY-23, just like our Founding Fathers envisioned So long as we remain the “land of the free,” we MUST ensure every vote is counted.

Help us today so we may be the first of many conservative victories during the Obama Regime.

Yours in Freedom,

Doug Hoffman

Doug Hoffman – 132 (36.7%)
Bill Owens – 115 (31.9%)
Dede Scozzafava – 113 (31.4%)

As I reported yesterday, these absentees so far have come from counties that Hoffman carried. The numbers really aren’t there for him. He netted 17 votes in a count of 360; that ratio, if extrapolated across the district, would leave him more than 2500 votes behind when the count ends.