The Scozzafava Revolt

Politico has a double-bylined take-out of the conservative movement’s rebellion against Assemblywoman Dede Scozzafava, the liberal Republican nominated for the open NY-23 House seat. Lots of great details on how the right, locally and in Washington, is manning battle stations for Conservative Party candidate Doug Hoffman, including a memo from the Conservative Party’s Mike Long demanding that conservatives cut off the NRCC “until that organization ceases support for Assemblywoman Scozzafava and clarifies its plans for candidate recruitment and support going forward.”

It’s the latest example of a micro-trend this year: a very active, very pumped up conservative base is not going blindly along with the national GOP’s priorities. By and large the surge of conservative activism is good for a party that could not begin to compete with Democratic enthusiasm in 2008. But in NY-23, in the Senate races in Florida and California, and potentially in the Senate races in Illinois and Delaware, that base is not knuckling under and supporting moderate GOP candidates.