Politics – Political News

WASHINGTON – House Republican leader John Boehner says the GOP wants moderates in the party and calls the special election for a New York congressional seat an unusual situation.

The Republican nominee in an upstate New York district dropped out of the race Saturday, just days ahead of the Tuesday election. Moderate GOP candidate Dierdre Scozzafava (skoh-zuh-FAH’-vuh) had been losing support to the Conservative Party candidate, Doug Hoffman, a former Republican.

Hoffman drew endorsements from former vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin, Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty and other prominent Republicans.

John Boehner says the GOP needs a broad group of people who share conservative values.

Boehner spoke Sunday on CNN’s “State of the Union.”

Nov. 1 (Bloomberg) — Abdullah Abdullah withdrew from
Afghanistan’s Nov. 7 presidential run-off election against Hamid
Karzai, saying a “free and fair” ballot wouldn’t have been
possible.

He urged his supporters “not to take to the streets” or
demonstrate in two Kabul press conferences today broadcast by
international networks including CNN. The former Afghan foreign
minister said he was “absolutely not” calling for a boycott of
the run-off.

“The Afghan people deserve a better electionâ€

“I will pursue my efforts to bring reform and change to
this country for the rest of my life,” said Abdullah, who was
born in 1960. “I will do my best to institutionalize democracy
in Afghanistan. Our commitment is much deeper than what happens
today or tomorrow.”

The run-off election will proceed as scheduled, the
election commission said today after Abdullah’s announcement,
Agence France-Presse reported.

Abdullah said he had consulted in recent weeks with U.S.
President Barack Obama, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and
Sen. John Kerry as well as British Prime Minister Gordon Brown.

‘Democratic Process’

He said he took his decision to quit the election after a
meeting last week with Karzai, 51, when the president ruled out
dismissing the head of the election commission or meeting other
demands Abdullah said were required to improve the fairness of
the second-round ballot.

The next step must be to bring the electoral process to a
conclusion in a “legal and timelyâ€

U.K. Prime Minister Brown said in an e-mailed statement
that he is “confident” that Afghanistan’s leaders will support
“the remaining steps of the democratic process.

“We hope to see an Afghan government emerge that responds
to the will of the people, that reaches out to all parts of
Afghan society, and that is ready to take strong action to meet
the challenges that Afghanistan faces,â€

A UN-backed partial recount of the initial Aug. 20 vote
found more than 1 million ballots, most of them for Karzai, were
suspect, putting his tally below the 50 percent needed to win
and triggering the run-off.

Fraud Allegations

More than 200 of the 380 district election coordinators
were fired for complicity in first-round fraud, and polling
stations where irregularities occurred wouldn’t re-open, Aleem
Siddique, a spokesman for the UN mission in Afghanistan said in
a telephone interview on Oct. 21.

Most allegations of fraud in August came from violence-
prone areas in the nation’s south and southeast, where Karzai’s
political base is.

Allegations of voting fraud have complicated the Obama
administration’s decision on whether to increase the number of
troops in Afghanistan beyond the extra 21,000 the president
approved earlier this year. About 68,000 troops are in
Afghanistan today, the administration’s current goal, according
to Pentagon data.

Abdullah today said there is “no doubtâ€

The UN said on Oct. 29 it was reviewing security in
Afghanistan after Taliban militants raided a Kabul guesthouse
and killed five UN workers a day before in a bid to disrupt the
elections.

Taliban militants threatened more attacks in the country
and “will not allow the second round to pass off peacefully,”
spokesman, Qari Yousef Ahmadi told AFP. The militants will
ensure that the elections are a “failure,” according to AFP.

To contact the reporter on this story:
Jay Shankar in Bangalore at
jshankar1@bloomberg.net

NEW YORK (AFP) –
A moderate New York Republican abandoned her bid for the US Congress on Saturday, days before an election that pitted her against a more conservative rival and divided the country's political right.

With a poll showing her support dropping to 20 percent, Dede Scozzafava conceded that even though her name would still appear on the ballot on Tuesday, "victory is unlikely."

After several months of campaigning, the state assemblywoman and one-time frontrunner bowed to pressure from prominent members of her own party, saying her supporters should feel free to defect to rival camps.

"In recent days, polls have indicated that my chances of winning this election are not as strong as we would like them to be," she said in a statement.

"The reality that I've come to accept is that in today's political arena, you must be able to back up your message with money — and as I've been outspent on both sides, I've been unable to effectively address many of the charges that have been made about my record."

The move marked a major shakeup in the race, with Scozzafava not endorsing either of her two former opponents, Conservative Party candidate Doug Hoffman and Democrat Bill Owens.

The mother of four was figured in what would have been a low-key congressional race for New York's 23rd district that has merged into a battle for the soul of the Republican Party.

Her abrupt withdrawal gave a lift to Hoffman, who already enjoys 50 percent support from Republicans, according to a Siena Research Institute poll released Saturday.

Conducted October 27-29, the survey showed Owens held a very thin lead over Hoffman, at 36 percent to 35 percent.

The closely-watched race also had major ramifications for national politics.

After a drubbing at the hands of Democrats in last year's presidential and congressional elections, conservatives have called for the Republican Party to return to its "core values."

A year after President Barack Obama's election, political operatives are also focusing narrowly on two key governors' races in Virginia and New Jersey that could help shape the US political landscape ahead of the crucial 2010 midterm ballots.

"One of the things that people tend to overlook is that nearly half the conservatives nationwide do not consider themselves Republican. That is the challenge that is facing the GOP," independent pollster Scott Rasmussen told the Fox News Channel.

Despite her selection as the Republican candidate, Scozzafava — who backed legal abortion and gay rights — struggled to rally the party's conservative base.

Many Republican Party notables flocked to her deeply conservative rival, including former Alaskan governor and vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin, and Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty — both believed to be nursing White House ambitions.

But Scozzafava said she has "always been a proud Republican" and hoped her campaign suspension would help her party "emerge stronger."

The Republican National Committee, which had thrown its backing behind Scozzafava, applauded her "selfless act" and said it would now support Hoffman, a candidate it had disparaged in several statements during the race.

Owens will also be getting some last-minute help, as Vice President Joe Biden is expected to campaign for the Democratic candidate on Monday.