House nominee votes are put off
WASHINGTON — North country voters will have to wait a little longer than expected to find out who their choices will be to fill Rep. John M. McHugh's congressional seat.
Republican officials from the 23rd Congressional District, who planned to pick a nominee from a field of nine Wednesday, said they may scrap the vote but meet anyhow to talk about the choices.
And Democrats announced they had extended until Thursday a deadline for candidates to submit materials in support of their bids. The original deadline was last Friday.
Those developments, along with the lack of a confirmation hearing date for McHugh's nomination as Army secretary, kept a sense of mystery around the north country's House seat as Congress closes in on its August recess. The date for the special election will not be known until Mr. McHugh, presumably confirmed, resigns from Congress and vacates the seat.
Gov. David A. Paterson will pick the date, most likely this fall. But if the Senate does not confirm Mr. McHugh before recess, he would not vacate the seat until after Labor Day.
On the Republican side, chairpersons from the 11 counties in the congressional district are still hashing out the process for picking a nominee, after meeting with all nine contestants at four regional sessions, said Jefferson County Republican Chairwoman Sandra L. Corey. Even if no balloting takes place, a meeting is a good idea, she said, because the county GOP leaders have yet to all meet in the same place to talk about the race and how to proceed.
"It's just going to be a meeting on how we're going to do this," Ms. Corey said. The meeting will be in Potsdam, which is somewhat central to the sprawling district.
Mrs. Corey said plans for the vote Wednesday "didn't pan out," but in an indication officials could change their minds, the Franklin County Republican chairman, James Ellis, would only say he was unsure whether balloting would take place as planned.
Among the big choices the party faces is whether to go with state Assemblywoman Dierdre K. Scozzafava, R-Gouverneur, who might match Mr. McHugh's moderate side but rankle more conservative voters in the party and be something of a mismatch with the House GOP's socially conservative leadership if elected. She became a more serious prospect after state Assemblyman William A. Barclay, R-Pulaski, decided not to run.
In general, the procedure for the Republicans is set, Mr. Ellis said, with party leaders casting weighted votes based upon the returns for Mr. McHugh in each county during the last congressional election. By that system, he acknowledged, three counties could easily end up picking the candidate, should there be a split among counties.
Mr. Ellis dismissed the possibility that regional divisions could complicate the choice, although Ms. Scozzafava may be more politically at home in the labor-friendly territory of St. Lawrence County than in the district's more right-leaning reaches.
On the Democratic side, the county leaders announced that anyone interested in seeking the nomination would have until Thursday to submit supporting material. Already, about a dozen people have done so, said Sean M. Hennessey, Democratic chairman for Jefferson County.
In a statement, the Democrats cited "overwhelming demand" for their decision to extend the deadline.
"The more, the merrier," Mr. Hennessey said in a telephone interview Monday.
The big question in the Democratic camp is whether state Sen. Darrel J. Aubertine, D-Cape Vincent, will seek the seat, or if officials will have to pick a candidate with less political experience, connections and name recognition. The aspiring candidates include two people whom Mr. McHugh trounced in earlier races.
Mr. Hennessey would not say whether Mr. Aubertine submitted material. Mr. Aubertine's spokesman has consistently said he is undecided about running.
The national political parties' campaign committees are watching the process as they determine whether to pour money into the race.
Despite Republicans' own uncertainty, Mr. Ellis said it is the Democrats who are struggling to find their way.
"I think they're casting about in confusion," Mr. Ellis said.
Mr. Hennessey, for his part, took credit for upending the Republicans' schedule.
"I think the other side is reacting to us," Mr. Hennessey said. "But I can tell you for certain that we're not reacting to them."
Mr. Hennessey could not predict when Democrats will pick a candidate. Officials plan a conference call Tuesday night to set the schedule for considering possible nominees, he said, and may have an announcement about that on Thursday.
