I would probably vote for the Doug Hoffman guy. While we don't agree politically, he is a strong candidate.

NY-23 was my congressional district when I lived in NY. There are a lot of similarities between east TN and the North Country of New York actually. The country music station was the most popular station around, and everyone has lots of hunters and fisherman in their families. The politics aren't quite as conservative, but it is quite conservative by New York standards. Most of the folks in the Democracy for America group I was a part of up there are working for Bill Owens (the Democrat in that race).

Also minor parties work quite differently in New York because they allow fusion voting. A candidate can run on multiple party lines. Usually the Republican in a race also gets the Conservative party endorsement and the Democrat gets the Working Families Party endorsement. The Republican in that race though has at times had the endorsement of the Working Families Party (actually a creation of labor unions that has replaced the largely defunct Liberal Party) when she was running for state assembly.

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“...out of many, we are one; that while we breathe, we hope, and where we are met with cynicism, and doubt, and those who tell us that we cant, we will respond with that timeless creed that sums up the spirit of a people: Yes We Can.”