WILL HE OR WON’T HE?
Fox News host, garage band cover guitarist, and former Arkansas
Gov. Mike Huckabee will be making a
long-planned speech before the New York Conservative Party in
Syracuse, New York on October 28, but has thus far declined to
say whether he will formally endorse or financially support
Conservative Party House candidate Doug Hoffman, who is running
to fill former Rep. John McHugh’s 23rd Congressional District
seat.
Most Republican Party leaders have thus far taken a pass in
endorsing Hoffman, who has the support of the conservative Club
for Growth, as well as the American Conservative Union. House
minority leader John Boehner and his right
hand man, Rep. Eric Cantor have
refused to get in the middle of the race, while former House
Speaker Newt Gingrich and former
Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney have
also declined to support Hoffman.
Huckabee had agreed to attend the dinner for the state party in
upstate New York some time ago and is looking forward to using
his speech to draw attention to Hoffman, according to a longtime
Huckabee aide. But Huckabee has not decided whether to fully
endorse Hoffman or just “say some nice things about him to boost
his candidacy,” says the source, adding, when asked how far
Huckabee might go to support the conservative in the
race, “We probably won’t be going so far as to let him
tap into our national fundraising network, if that’s what you
mean.”
Hoffman is running on the Conservative Party line in the special
election after state Republican Party officials and the
Republican National Congressional Committee chose to place
liberal Dede Scozzafava on the ballot.
Sources within Club for Growth, who requested anonymity, say that
the organization has recently polled the 23rd District to measure
the impact of its $125,000 media buy over the past ten days, and
that it appeared that among likely voters, Hoffman may now be
running second, with Scozzafava slipping to third. Hoffman has
been running TV advertising in several media markets within the
district, while the Republican candidate has barely been visible
on TV.
RICECAPADES
Advisers to Secretary of State Hillary Rodham
Clinton were none too thrilled to see Amb.
Susan Rice, Permanent U.S. Representative
to the United Nations, given prominent placement in the Situation
Room briefing on Afghanistan-Pakistan Wednesday. Rice and Clinton
have knocked heads since early in the Obama Administration
transition, when Rice demanded the same access and senior
staffing levels as Clinton at the State Department was expected
to receive. Clinton was present at the meeting as well, via
video link. Some Clinton advisers believe that Rice,
the former Clinton Administration State Department hand
and Brookings Institution fellow, at times has Obama’s ear
more than Hillary does.
“[Rice] is far more savvy about using her UN post for having her
views on international affairs heard than others in the past,”
says a current Clinton adviser. “It seems like every time we turn
around she has something to say about Iran, Iraq, negotiations
with Russia, whatever, and Secretary Clinton hasn’t had a
chance to weigh in at all.”
