Huckabee: "G.O.P. Nominating Dede Scozzafava Was A Train Wreck!"

Huck: Dede nomination "a train wreck"


Former Arkansas Gov. and 2008 GOP presidential contender Mike Huckabee said Wednesday that Dede Scozzafava’s nomination was a “train wreck.”

Speaking about the contentious special election Tuesday in upstate New York's 23rd District, Huckabee criticized both Scozzafava, the Republican nominee, and the way in which local GOP officials gave the state assemblywoman the party nod.

“The process by which she was selected was in fact the train wreck,” he said at a Christian Science Monitor breakfast in Washington. “She was more liberal than most of the Democrats in Congress at a time when conservatives are trying to regain their voice.”

On Saturday, after sparking a conservative grassroots revolt over her liberal positions on a host of issues, Scozzafava abruptly announced she was dropping out of the race. On Sunday, she announced her endorsement of Democrat Bill Owens, a development that played a role in his victory.

Owens won with 49 percent of the vote, while Douglas Hoffman, the Conservative Party candidate the GOP threw its support behind in the waning days of the campaign, had 46 percent. Scozzafava, whose name remained on the ballot, won five percent, according to unofficial results.

Like many prominent GOP figures, Huckabee took issue with the state assemblywoman’s support of gay marriage, abortion rights and her close relationship with labor — and the GOP establishment's decision to support her campaign.

“Hoffman likely would have won had he been the Republican nominee from the get go,” Huckabee said.

Huckabee said this should be a lesson for the National Republican Senatorial Committee, which endorsed Florida Gov. Charlie Crist over a more conservative rival more than a year ahead of the August 2010 GOP primary.

“They should let the process carry out and not officially pick a winner,” he said.

Huckabee, who has thrown his own weight behind Crist's challenger, former Florida House Speaker Marco Rubio, offered him glowing praise.

“He’s the face and the future of the Republican party,” he said.



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Sources: Politico, Google Maps