Our Source Was The New York Times

Admittedly, that’s a pretty shaky source, but still, they’re actually right about this one. At Newbusters, Ken Shepherd writes:

If you’ve heard it once, you’ve heard it 1,000 times: the New York 23rd Congressional District (NY-23) has had a Republican incumbent since the 1870s. It’s a helpful talking point for mainstream media types bent on portraying the Hoffman loss in the district last night as evidence of how the Republican mainstream has moved away from conservatism.

The only trouble with the talking point is it is patently false and the New York Times can prove it. (h/t EyeBlast.tv’s Stephen Gutowski)

From the 1990 obituary for one Samuel Stratton:

He was the third-most senior Democrat on the Armed Services Committee when he announced in 1988 that his failing health prevented him from running for a 16th term.

He was first elected to the House in 1958, becoming the only Democrat in 42 years to be sent to Congress from what was then the 32d Congressional District in the Albany-Schenectady-Troy area.

Despite several redistrictings in a predominantly Republican area, he was returned to Congress with ease every two years and became dean of the New York delegation in January 1979. At his retirement, Mr. Stratton represented the 23d District.

Stratton retired in 1989 and was replaced by another Democrat, Michael McNulty, who held the seat from 1989-1992. Pursuant to redistricting, McNulty ran for and won election as the representative from New York’s 21st district in 1992. Liberal Republican Sherwood Boehlert ran for and won election to NY-23 in 1992 and was succeeded by moderate John McHugh (R) after Boehlert was redistricted to the 24th district in 2002.

It appears this is one case where the mainstream media are wrong and Wikipedia is right.

And speaking of NY-23, the Democrats’ victory there has paid one dividend already — it caused NBC’s Andrea Mitchell to drop the mask once again: “David Axelrod — well, we loved you in the HBO documentary, and umm, uhh, we’ll always have the New York-23rd.”

Mitchell’s Kinsleyesque gaffe comes at end of this clip: