Washington -- A year ago, Doug Hoffman could do no wrong in the eyes of conservative Republicans, who viewed the political newcomer as a rising star, the darling of the tea party movement. As a third-party candidate seeking an open seat in the 23rd Congressional District, his anti-Washington message resonated from Upstate New York across the nation. A conservative...
Matt Doheny (left), Republican candidate for Congress, chats Thursday with Bill Fuegel, of DeWitt, during a visit to a political meeting in East Syracuse.Washington -- A year ago, Doug Hoffman could do no wrong in the eyes of conservative Republicans, who viewed the political newcomer as a rising star, the darling of the tea party movement.
As a third-party candidate seeking an open seat in the 23rd Congressional District, his anti-Washington message resonated from Upstate New York across the nation. A conservative group honored him in Washington with its Charlton Heston “Courage Under Fire” award. He fell just 3,600 votes short of an upset win against both major political parties.
But as the millionaire accountant from Saranac Lake makes his second bid for Congress this year, he suddenly finds himself abandoned by many of his big-name supporters in the biggest fight of his brief political career.
Republican Matt Doheny, a 40-year-old Alexandria Bay native who made his own fortune on Wall Street, has seized the momentum in Tuesday’s Republican primary against Hoffman. Doheny has the endorsement of every GOP committee or party leader in each of the 11 counties in the district.
Meanwhile, national conservative Republican leaders such as Sarah Palin, Fred Thompson and former New York Gov. George Pataki — all of whom endorsed Hoffman last year — have stayed out of the primary battle.
And the Upstate New York Tea Party — loyal supporters of Hoffman — signaled this past week that it would consider supporting Doheny if he wins the Republican nomination. Hoffman would still have the Conservative Party line, as he did last November.
So how did Hoffman fail to become the consensus pick of Republican leaders to challenge U.S. Rep. Bill Owens, D-Plattsburgh, in November?
Doug Hoffman (left), seeking the Republican nomination in the 23rd Congressional District, greets John Snow Jr., Granby deputy supervisor and historian, during a visit Friday to Granby Town Hall.Chuck Fortier, vice chair of the Oswego County Republican Committee, said the local GOP leaders endorsed Doheny because they view him as the best chance to win back the local congressional seat, which had been in Republican hands since 1857.
“We haven’t seen Doug Hoffman in Oswego County very much,” Fortier said. “To me, he’s not a people person. Last time, he had all the big money behind him. But not this time.”
Hoffman hears the criticism, but answers with confidence that the same grass-roots support that lifted him last year will deliver him the nomination over the establishment’s pick.
“The main difference between Matt Doheny and me is that I’m from Main Street and he’s from Wall Street,” Hoffman said. “He’s pleasing the people at the top of the pyramid. I’m pleasing the people at the bottom of the pyramid.”
Doheny won over the Oswego County GOP — a county with the largest voter enrollment in the sprawling district — through shoe-leather campaigning, Fortier said.
Doheny not only visited every city and town in Oswego County, he also traveled about 70,000 miles in his 1994 Ford Explorer to campaign in all 181 cities and towns in a district that stretches north to the Canadian border and east to the Adirondacks.
“I really believe Doheny will win back the seat from Owens,” Fortier said. “He knows the district and he’s seen the people. He’s an awful hard worker. The last time we saw Hoffman was in May at our endorsement meeting, but I haven’t seen him or heard from him since.”
Fortier said he also likes what he has heard from Doheny about his business experience. Doheny worked for Deutsche Bank and a partnership that invested in distressed companies, helping to turn them around.
“I think Doheny knows how to save jobs or create jobs better than Hoffman does,” Fortier said, adding that it’s the top issue in Oswego County, where unemployment hovers at about 10 percent.
Hoffman, 60, concedes that he has not attracted the big crowds that he did last year. During one stop at Mimi’s Drive-In Diner in Fulton last November, dozens of people spontaneously pulled over from the highway after seeing signs that he was visiting. Many wanted their photo taken with him.
Now he plays to much smaller crowds, but Hoffman insists he is not worried about what that will mean at the ballot box on Tuesday.
“As I go around this district, I am very encouraged and energized by the grass-roots support,” Hoffman said. “When we do show up, it may be small gatherings, but we can draw 30 to 50 people at a gathering. To me, that is incredible.”
Hoffman said he is counting on that grass-roots support and his name recognition from 2009 to help pull out a victory on Tuesday. No independent public polls have been released in the primary battle. Hoffman points to his own internal poll that had him leading by 32 points in July, with a large undecided block.
“We still have that momentum from last year,” Hoffman said. “I have the name ID and the recognition I have gained in 33 years of traveling around this district and knowing people.”
Hoffman said he traveled about 25,000 miles across the district for the primary campaign while still running his accounting firm and family businesses.
He insists that Doheny’s support, which includes an endorsement from former Republican Congressman David O.B. Martin who represented the North Country from 1981 to 1993, does not extend beyond GOP leaders in the district.
Doheny said his sweep of key endorsements in the district, and the fact his campaign has a 3-to-1 fundraising advantage over Hoffman, is proof that he has energized the electorate.
“He’s sleepwalking through the campaign,” Doheny said of Hoffman. “He thinks he’s entitled and doesn’t have to go out and do this.”
Hoffman, a lifelong Republican, ran on the Conservative Party line last year because he believed the GOP nominee, Assemblywoman Dede Scozzafava, was too liberal because of her support for abortion rights and same-sex marriage.
Scozzafava, trailing at the polls, dropped out of the race on the Saturday before the election and endorsed Owens.
This time, Hoffman has insisted that Doheny also is a liberal Republican, claiming he supports abortion rights and congressional pork-barrel spending. (Doheny says he opposes earmarks and any federal funding for abortions, as well as abortions after the first trimester.)
Even Hoffman’s own Upstate New York Tea Party (UNYTEA) supporters say there is no doubt Doheny is conservative.
Mark Barie, UNYTEA’s chairman, agreed there is little difference between the candidates when it comes to the issues — both oppose President Barack Obama’s health care reforms, his economic stimulus programs, and say federal spending is out of control.
One difference is that Doheny comes across as a more polished speaker and campaigner, Barie said.
“It’s no secret, Doug Hoffman is shy,” Barie said. “He’s ill at ease behind a podium or in front of a large crowd. That’s frankly one of the reasons I like him.”
But Barie was also critical of Hoffman’s campaign staff, one that he said left him unprepared for the first of only two debates in the campaign, held in Plattsburgh and Saranac Lake. Doheny wanted to debate in all 11 counties in the district, which includes Oswego, Madison and Oneida counties.
“I made no bones about the fact I was disappointed by Doug’s performance,” Barie said of the first debate. “Certainly on style and speaking performance, Doug appeared to be unprepared. I don’t blame Doug. I blame his staff.”
Barie said UNYTEA will reconsider its support of Hoffman if he loses the Republican primary but continues to campaign as the Conservative Party nominee.
“Nothing has changed,” Barie said of the 1,000-member group’s endorsement of Hoffman. “But we certainly have some decisions to make the day after the primary. I would find myself very concerned, if Doug should lose, that we would be delivering a victory for Mr. Owens.”
--Contact Washington correspondent Mark Weiner at mweiner@syracuse.com or 571-970-3751.