“Doug Hoffman” on The Daily Caller

“Is there a proven method to online fundraising?” I can’t tell you how often I get that question. Having worked on dozens of campaigns over the years, I feel confident that the answer is yes. (more)

Dede Scozzafava, a prominent New York Republican and former member of the state’s assembly, has joined the administration of newly inaugurated Democratic Governor Andrew Cuomo. An outspoken supporter of Cuomo’s gubernatorial bid last year, Scozzafava was named deputy secretary for local government at the Department of State on Tuesday. (more)

New York magazine’s John Heilemann writes in his latest cover story that Sarah Palin could put the White House back into Republican hands in 2012, given the right circumstances. But he assumes that Republicans put enough stock in Palin to nominate her in the first place. Palin is to Republicans what the U.S. invasion of Iraq is to Democrats: she had no right to be here in the first place and her presence has been a disaster. That’s clear to some now — Peter Beinart calls her “the Republicans’ George McGovern” — and might be to more after the midterms. (more)

Primary season is all but over. The 2010 candidate field is nearly set. The strongest and most vulnerable members of both parties know who they are. (more)

Last week, Kentucky Senate candidate Rand Paul crossed the nation’s political radar as a result of comments made by him and heavily publicized in the national media regarding his views on the 1964 Civil Rights Act. Immediately following Paul’s primary win on Tuesday, national-level scrutiny of remarks he made to the Louisville Courier-Journal on the subject had begun; subsequently, he went on Rachel Maddow’s show to discuss the topic further; Paul was also slated to appear on NBC’s Meet the Press on Sunday, an appearance his campaign ultimately canceled. (more)

Iran celebrates moving one step closer to getting carpet-bombed – Illegal immigrants find American Dream ‘vastly overrated’ – Haitian-collecting missionaries likely to be set free today – New jobs bill will save at least 435 jobs – Mitt Romney taking cues from ‘Political Do-overs for Dummies’ – Study finds poor people fail to preserve their husks beyond natural age (more)

Following the weekend’s National Tea Party Convention in Nashville, the conservative grassroots activists made clear they don’t want any more NY-23’s in 2010. (more)

Three months after the election of Bill Owens in the 23rd Congressional District ended a political soap opera that drew a national audience, a new episode began to unfold Wednesday. (more)

Conservatives have long written-off New York as a state taken over by social-welfare liberals, union bosses, and dependents on big-government. New York lost its only Republican senator, Alfonse “pothole” D’Amato, in 1998, and after three Republican terms under George Pataki, the governorship slipped to liberals Eliot Spitzer in 2004 and then (through scandal) David Paterson in 2008. Reflecting an overall trend in the northeast, liberals won congressional seat after congressional seat in both upstate New York and the Long Island, Staten Island and other New York City suburbs. President Barack Obama’s appointment of Republican Rep. John McHugh as his Secretary of the Army appeared to spell doom for yet another Republican seat. And sure enough, Democrat candidate Bill Owens won the seat just in time to vote in favor of Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s health care bill in the U.S. House of Representatives. (more)