NY-23 and NJ Are The New Lexington and Concord

The past 10 days or so have seen an amazing sequence of events in the New Conservative Revolution. New York's 23rd Congressional District and New Jersey's Governor's race have become the first battlegrounds in the fight to restore liberty and sanity in our country.

A brief view of the history of New York's 23rd Congressional District is in order. First, no "registered" Democrat has won this seat since the Civil War. However, as we are discovering ever so quickly, the letter following a candidate's name, is always a good indication of their true affiliation. This was never more true, in this district, than with the previous man who held this seat.

John McHugh, a registered Republican, was recently appointed by the Obama Administration to the position of Secretary of the Army. This is a position McHugh earned by selling his vote on this year's House version of the Cap and Trade bill, a bill passed by a mere six votes. McHugh was one of only eight Republicans to vote for that piece of legislation.

Contrary to Newt Gingrich's claim that the committee of District Republicans who nominated Dede Scozzafova to be their nominee to replace McHugh were NOT unanimous in their endorsement of her. It took at least three votes to finally nominate her.

A closer look at Scozzafava's views on certain key issues quickly revealed that she was practically, if not literally, just as liberal in her views as Bill Owens, the Democratic nominee. She supports gay marriage, abortion, says she would have voted FOR the Stimulus bill, and more.

Within short order, it became clear that conservatism was not being represented in this election. A vote for Owens, was akin to a vote for Scozzafave, and a vote for Scozzafava was akin to vote for Owens. Conservatives in the District knew they needed to do something. Within weeks, they recruited Doug Hoffman, a conservative Republican, to run for the seat on the Conservative Party ticket.

At first, Hoffman didn't have much by way of support. He had no money, not big name endorsements, not big party support structure and little time. He was trailing Scozzafava and Owens in the polls by 20 points. But then the unthinkable happened, his numbers got a little better and Sarah Palin openly endorsed him. Soon after, so did Glenn Beck and Sean Hannity and other conservatives.

Hoffman's numbers rose. He was bringing in all sorts of money, gaining grass roots volunteers and more. Within days, he had passed Scozzafava in the polls and was on the heels of Owens. A few polls even had him in the lead.

Then the next unthinkable thing happened, Scozzafava withdrew, suspending her campaign. Immediately the rest of the Republican Party backed Hoffman and it became a two man race between him and Owens.

Now, as of today, the next unthinkable event has occurred. Scozzafava's true colors as a liberal in elephant's clothing came into clear view as she came out in favor of Bill Owens. Her reasoning is that Owens would best reflect the views of the District's previous representative, John McHugh. Well, she couldn't be more correct about that. The problem, for her, is that we don't want someone to represent the Republican Party or conservatives who is willing to sell his vote for a promotion.

The outcome of this vote will be made clear on Tuesday, but, to me, this represents the first shots of the New Revolution. Conservatism will not stand by and watch this country be "fundamentally transformed" into a socialist/Marxist regime under the control of Barack Hussein Obama. It is not a foregone conclusion that Doug Hoffman will win this election. But if we can bring this victory home, we will have dealt the first major blow to our adversary in this War. This IS our Lexington.

The second great battle of this War, our Battle of Concord if you will, is in New Jersey. While the conservative/Republican candidiate in Virginia will, barring some disaster, win the Governor's seat there (and we would love to see similar results in the Lieutenant Governor's race and Secretary of State's race), the race for New Jersey's Governor's seat is the New Battle of Concord here.

New Jersey is clearly a blue state, as liberal as they come. For Chris Christie to even be running even with Corzine at this point is already a defeat for Obama. The fact that he, himself, is having to come out, during the last days, to campaign for Corzine is testimony to the importance of this race.

You see, to Obama, losing Virginia, a traditional Red State, is not a big loss. But to lose New Jersey would be devasting to him. This is now especially true because of Obama's appearances in New Jersey the past few days. If he cannot bring this seat home, he will be forced to re-group and re-formulate his entire presidency. He will have lost a great deal of political clout within his own party, especially with the Blue Dogs. No one in Congress will legitimately feel their seat is safe.

We will have effectively turned the tide of this war. Obama, Pelosi and Reid (along with their cohorts in progressivism, Chris Dodd, Barney Frank and others) will NOT be able to buy anymore votes. Health care reform, as it currently stands, will be dead. Cap and trade will likely fail. As will Card Check and other elements of the socialist Obama game plan.

Like the original battles of Lexington and Concord, we don't necessarily have to win NY-23 or the NJ Governor's seat. The mere events leading to this Tuesday's election are enough to wake up a lot of people. Winning in one or both of these races, will only accelerate our victory. For all our sakes, I hope and pray we win both.