Taegan Goddard's Political Wire

November 12, 2009

Did Hoffman Concede Too Soon?

It appears the special election race in New York's 23rd congressional district is not yet over.

Though Conservative Doug Hoffman conceded the race to Bill Owens (D) on Election Night after being told he had barely won his stronghold of Oswego County, it turns out that wasn't true.

The Syracuse Post-Standard reports that a recanvassing shows that Owens' lead has narrowed to just 3,026 votes over Hoffman. And in Oswego County, "where Hoffman was reported to lead by only 500 votes with 93 percent of the vote counted election night, inspectors found Hoffman actually won by 1,748 votes."

"The new vote totals mean the race will be decided by absentee ballots, of which about 10,200 were distributed... Under a new law in New York that extended deadlines, military and overseas ballots received by this coming Monday (and postmarked by Nov. 2) will be counted. Standard absentee ballots had to be returned this past Monday."

Owens "was quickly sworn into office on Friday, a day before the rare weekend vote in the House of Representatives. His support sealed his party's narrow victory on the health care legislation."

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Taegan D. Goddard is the founder of Political Wire, one of the earliest and most influential political web sites.

Goddard spent more than a decade as managing director and chief operating officer of a prominent investment firm in New York City. Previously, he was a policy adviser to a U.S. Senator and Governor.

Goddard is also co-author of You Won - Now What? (Scribner, 1998), a political management book hailed by prominent journalists and politicians from both parties. In addition, Goddard's essays on politics and public policy have appeared in dozens of newspapers across the country, including the Washington Post, USA Today, Boston Globe, San Francisco Chronicle, Chicago Tribune, Philadelphia Inquirer and Christian Science Monitor.

Goddard earned degrees from Vassar College and Harvard University. He lives in New York with his wife and three sons.

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