Willravel

Strategic analysts have been calling this one for about 3 years, and the day has finally arrived: the right has officially fractured. With the Sarah Palin endorsement of Conservative Party candidate Doug Hoffman over Republican state Assemblywoman Dede Scozzafava (R), the first truly high profile leader on he right has signaled not just a willingness to admit that the Republican party is somehow too progressive, but to actively back a third, even more far-right party.

I'm sure everyone (or at least a few of you) have been following the bizarre race to fill the seat of recently appointed Secretary of the Army John McHugh in the NY House. It's been a bizarre case of "far right, but not far right enough" which has been considered by many as a signal of the coming problems for the Republicans in the 2010 election cycle, but when Rick Santorum, Fred Thompsan, and insane super-neocon Dick Armey decided to break ranks with the Republicans to support, and now Sarah Palin, it's pretty clear the fracture is already upon us. What's interesting are the battle-lines which are starting to be drawn. Newt Gingrich, for example, is bucking against this trend and essentially calling for party unity (I guess he's not that stupid), but it seems too late.

I think we should watch carefully over the next few weeks to see if other big-name Republicans like Pawlenty, Huckabee, and Romney chime in on this growing problem.

Meanwhile, the Democrat running, Bill Owens, actually stands a decent shot if the Conservative and Republican split right-wing votes as much as it might seem. Wouldn't it be interesting to see what is usually a Republican district go to a Democrat as a direct result of Republican infighting?