Hoffman Takes the Lead; NRCC to Spend $300K on Scozzafava

NRCC chairman Pete Sessions refused to comment on the NY-23 special election for my piece in the magazine this week, but a top NRCC official has stepped forward to defend Scozzafava in an interview with Politico, which reported yesterday that the NRCC will spend $200,000 to $300,000 on "TV ads propping up Scozzafava in the days leading up to the Nov. 3 contest and plans to keep up a near relentless barrage of press releases slamming Hoffman."

The NRCC official, granted anonymity, defends the decision to spend money on Scozzafava and bash Hoffman:

"I have yet to see a poll that shows a path to victory for the Conservative," the official said. "They have no base."

Asked why so many prominent Republicans had thrown their support to Hoffman, the official responded, "We're dealing with data, not hopes and dreams."

Well, here's the data showing Hoffman's path to victory. The conservative Hoffman is now beating Democrat Bill Owens 31 percent to 27 percent in the new Club for Growth poll; liberal Republican Scozzafava gets less than 20 percent of the vote.

So why is the NRCC spending money attacking Hoffman? If Scozzafava were to pull off a miraculous upset, it would simply set up a nasty NY-23 GOP primary that will cripple the NRCC's fundraising efforts in 2010. Surely NRCC officials know that Scozzafava can't win, which means they must be spending a quarter of a million dollars this week to save face.