Tedisco to Scozzafava: Stick to Your Record

ALBANY—Assemblyman Jim Tedisco had some advice for his colleague Dede Scozzafava, who like he did last spring, is running in

ALBANY—Assemblyman Jim Tedisco had some advice for his colleague Dede Scozzafava, who like he did last spring, is running in a special Congressional election: stay the course.

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“Just keep working hard,” Tedisco told me by phone. “It’s always a battle when somebody tries to distort your record. The Democrats are very good at that. Dede’s got a record, he doesn’t.”

Just like Tedisco’s race against Scott Murphy. And vastly more money is being committed to Bill Owens’ candidacy than Scozzafava’s. Kind of like Tedisco’s race. And the NRCC is blanketing the air with negative advertisements, that seem to be hurting Scozzafava–exactly the same problem that sunk Tedisco.

“I’ve looked at the ads,” he said. “It can’t be a coincidence that her contrast ads are not perceived well just like my contrast ads were not perceived well. There’s a reason for that–she’s an elected official who’s got a record.”

He said Democrats “seem to have found a formula that works” in picking candidates without records and focusing about job creation.

Scozzafava’s record has become more a liability than an asset. She has been branded a liberal by conservative pundits, and that storm of criticism against her continued today. (Doug Hoffman, the nominee of the Conservative Party, is siphoning Scozzafava’s support.) Michelle Malkin wrote this morning in the Post that Scozzafava is on an “extremist fringe” for her past embrace of the Working Families Party and says of Republicans that “The Stupid Party is on a suicide mission.”

Talking this morning on Fred Dicker’s radio show, longtime strategist roger stone said Republicans “picked the worst candidate they could.”

“If I lived in the district I would vote for Hoffman. I think from time to time the party needs to be reminded what we stand for,” Stone said. “I think there’s a long-term lesson for the party.”

Scozzafava’s campaign has started to fire back with endorsements from conservative Republicans. On Friday it was Newt Gingrich. Today, it’s Representative Pete King, who warned that “a vote for either of her opponents is a vote for Nancy Pelosi and her far left, radical agenda.”

 

Tedisco to Scozzafava: Stick to Your Record