It's going to be ugly on both sides. Newt Gingrich weighed in via Politico:

“I just think it is a mistake for the conservative movement to think splitting in the special election is a smart idea,” Gingrich said. “If we give that seat to the Democrats, shame on us.”

A number of top national conservative voices have endorsed Hoffman in the last week, while others have yet to weigh in on behalf of either candidate. Gingrich, however, is one of the few prominent conservatives to support Scozzafava.

Asked why he chose to back Scozzafava, who supports abortion rights, same sex marriage and has ties with local labor leaders, Gingrich responded, “Let’s just start with she is the nominee of the local party. My bias is to be for the nominee of the local party, and I don’t second guess the local party.”

The former Georgia congressman then rattled off a list of Scozzafava’s conservative credentials.

“She has signed a no tax increase pledge. She is endorsed by the National Rifle Association. She has come out against cap and trade…She is opposed to the Obama health care plan. She will vote for John Boehner instead of Nancy Pelosi,” Gingrich said. “All of those things together make her – it seems to me – a legitimate, authentic, Republican nominee.”

Gingrich also argued that Scozzafava, a state assemblywoman, stands a better chance of winning the seat over Hoffman, who is trailing in public polls.

“In the last poll that came out yesterday, she is well ahead,” he said. “And she is much more likely to beat the Democrat than Hoffman because Hoffman doesn’t live in the district.”

That last sentence jumped out at me. I had no idea that NY allowed candidates to run in districts without actually living in said district. Weird...

While we're at it, here's the Club for Growth's ad for Hoffman. I thought it was interesting that they attacked Scozzafava as "liberal" and hailed Hoffman as a "conservative Republican," even to the point of using the Republican logo. I'm surprised that they can do that; I always thought that the parties had those logos copyrighted...

Someone else mentioned that his "no earmarks" pledge might hurt Hoffman locally. FT Drum sits in NY-23, and it was a chunk of earmarks that got it past the Base Closure Commission a few years ago...

This isn't going to help either...all politics are local, but Hoffman can't deal with local issues:

Douglas L. Hoffman, the Conservative Party candidate for the 23rd Congressional District, showed no grasp of the bread-and-butter issues pertinent to district residents in a Thursday morning meeting with the Watertown Daily Times editorial board.

In a nearly hour-long session, Mr. Hoffman was unable to articulate clear positions on a number of matters specific to Northern New Yorkers rather than the national level campaign being waged in a three-way race for the vacant seat of now-Army Secretary John McHugh.

I thought this was a pretty poor play on Hoffman's part:

A flustered and ill-at-ease Mr. Hoffman objected to the heated questioning, saying he should have been provided a list of questions he might be asked. He was, if he had taken the time to read the Thursday morning Times editorial raising the very same questions.

Dude, if you want to represent a particular Congressional district, you'd better be up to snuff on issues within that district. Nonetheless, we also got this comment from Dick Armey:

Coming to Mr. Hoffman's defense, former House Majority Leader Dick Armey, R-Texas, who accompanied the candidate on a campaign swing, dismissed regional concerns as "parochial" issues that would not determine the outcome of the election.

I'm guessing that telling voters that their local/regional concerns are "parochial" isn't going to win friends and influence people...