50) Old Patriot I agree completely with your assessment. Hoffman’s loss was extremely slight to be caused by a backlash against either the “foreign” influences in the campaign or his perceived social conservatism. Both issues probably cost him some votes, which given the closeness of the election was probably not good, but the significant two issues which are brought to light by this are:
1) A D or an R next to the name still matters. Keep in mind third parties are rarely more than spoilers in American politics.

2) Voting absentee can cause lead to some nasty results in these close 24hr media election cycles.

Had there been a primary the Republican candidate would have won the election (Hoffman’s + Dede’s numbers + what ever Dede’s endorsement cost Hoffman). It is quite possible the winner of a primary would have been to the right of Dede and the left of Hoffman local primaries tend to be better selectors of the mood of local people about candidates than either party elites or national influences.

Alas my libertarian friends Social Conservatism does not appear to be in retreat Gay marriage has still not survived a ballot initiative even in Maine (hardly the buckle of the bible belt) while I fervently hope that eventually the Republican party sees that one can’t “legislate morality” and claim to be in favor of small government. I doubt at this time that would disqualify a candidate. Additionally you would have to be a pretty devout libertarian to accept that a Democrat, which is to say a full on statist, is going to be a better guarantor of individual freedoms that a conservative. As Ayn Rand pointed out the Democratic party is lost there is still some hope with the Republicans.

Now onto the issue of Dede as a “Moderate Republican”. She isn’t at least not in the Socially liberal/Fiscally Conservative sense most libertarians would like to pretend that see is. It is not that she supports Gay Marriage or is Pro Choice, while those issues cause consternation in some elements of the base they would be OVERLOOKED COMPLETELY were she a libertarian leaning Republican. But support for card check, cap and trade, and the stimulus, In addition to her social liberalism make her pretty close to a full on Democrat and thus make her an extremely hard sell to the base, especially after McCain, Spectre, and Snowe. She is a “Moderate Republican” according the the MSM which uses this term to mean a “statist” light. The people that argue there is no difference between Democrats and Republicans had this lady in mind when they made that claim. Since that is the definition of “Moderate Republican” according to the MSM they need to be defeated if they are ever so identified. In fact in this case it is probably preferable to have another “Blue Dog” Democrat rather than a statist Republican. It will be much easier to correct Mr. Owens behavior than it would have been to correct Ms. Dede’s