Ed Cox, the state GOP chairman, said he spoke with Dede Scozzafava soon after she decided Saturday to suspend her campaign in the 23rd congressional district. He said the Republican candidate was sobbing on the phone and was then pressured by Democrats to back Democratic candidate Bill Owens.

“She made the right decision in suspending her campaign, but in her conversation with me right after that, she was in an emotional state. She was sobbing,” Cox said.

“And she made an emotional decision under a lot of pressure from the White House and the person she considered who would be the next governor of New York, in her mind, Andrew Cuomo, and Speaker Silver, who guaranteed her a job in the Assembly.”

A Silver spokesman said no offer was made.

Cox said the state GOP will be stronger because of its experience in the race. He and other Republican leaders are now backing Conservative Party candidate Doug Hoffman.

“We’re dealing with a very strong and growing political force that is reacting to the Democratic policies in Washington and in Albany,” Cox said. “We as a party will harness these forces all the way into next year and that will make a very strong force in New York state politics.”

Former state Democratic chairwoman June O’Neill, who has been coordinating the Democrats campaign in the district, blasted Republicans who once backed Scozzafava for criticizing her now.

“As a resident of the 23rd congressional district, I want to thank Dede Scozzafava for her extraordinary show of courage and doing the right thing, and standing up and saying we can’t turn this congressional district over to the radical right,” she said.

O’Neill said the national conservatives’ message won’t work in the closely knit district.

“The fact that these outsiders have come into our home with their hate-mongering tactics and their obnoxious behavior and their telling us everything they are against and not what they are for, I find it personally offensive,” she said.