Hoffman Takes Lead In Upstate House Race
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- November
- 2
In the race in the 23rd District in northern New York, the Conservative Party candidate Doug Hoffman—buoyed by the decision Saturday of the Republican candidate to drop out-- has a five-point lead over Democrat Bill Owens, a Siena College poll this morning found.
Hoffman leads Owens 41 percent to 36 percent, the poll found.
After Republican Assemblywoman Dede Scozzafava left the race Saturday amid strong criticism from conservative Republicans nationwide, Hoffman and Democratic candidate Bill Owens are making a last push today before Election Day tomorrow.
Vice President Joe Biden will be campaigning with Owens today in Watertown. Scozzafava backed Owens on Sunday, amid lobbying from Democrats, though not Gov. David Paterson.
The Siena Poll found that the number of undecided voters has doubled from nine percent to 18 percent since Scozzafava left the race
”Hoffman continues to demonstrate momentum, picking up six points since Scozzafava pulled out,” said Siena spokesman Steven Greenberg. “It appears, however, that the majority of Scozzafava’s supporters have gone to neither Hoffman nor Owens, but rather into the undecided column, which has doubled since Scozzafava ended her candidacy.”
Greenberg said that Hoffman has increased his lead among Republicans, while Owens maintains his lead among Democrats and has taken the lead with independent voters. Owens kept his lead in the northeastern counties, while Hoffman extended his lead in the southern counties. The two are in a dead heat in the northwestern counties, areas that Scozzafava previously led, Greenberg said.
This entry was posted
on Monday, November 2nd, 2009 at 10:53 am by Joseph Spector.
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Jay Gallagher has covered Albany for Gannett News Service since 1984 and has been Albany Bureau chief since 1989. He`s a native of the Boston area and likes to point out that in this millennium, the score is Red Sox 1 championship, the Yankees 0. 
Cara Matthews has been a statehouse correspondent in the Albany Bureau since August 2005. Prior to that, she covered Putnam County government and politics at The Journal News for nearly five years. Before that, she worked at newspapers in Connecticut and covered the state Legislature for one of them. 
