NRCC goes negative, again, in NY-23

The National Republican Campaign Committee is going negative in NY-23, but this time it’s against Democratic Congressional candidate Bill Owens.

While this is the first time the GOP is going negative against Owens, it isn’t the first time it has gone negative in this race so far — it sponsored a preemptive negative television ad against Democratic state Sen. Darrel Aubertine, when he was still mulling a run for the seat vacated by Rep. John McHugh.

The NRCC also came out negative early in the 20th congressional race earlier this year, helping to drive up negatives against well-known Republican Assemblyman Jim Tedisco and bring up voter ID for political unknown Scott Murphy. The Democrat squeaked out a win by a 399-vote margin, after a weekslong recanvass and recount.

The 23rd race has a similar candidate composition — a better-known Republican Assembly member, Dede Scozzafava, runs again an unknown Democrat, Owens. An additional factor — attacking Scozzafava on the right is Doug Hoffman, the conservative party candidate who has the potential to split Republican votes in the special election.

We’ll see how the strategy will play out this time around.