Barie none-too-happy with Hoffman campaign...

I present here, in its entirety, a release issued by Upstate New York Tea Party Chairman Mark Barie this morning. To sum it up, Barie isn't pleased with how Doug Hoffman ran his campaign:

Although the results of yesterday’s GOP primary are still unclear, the Upstate New York Tea (UNYTEA) party is moving quickly to organize for the November elections.

“There are less than seven weeks until the November election, and we intend to use that time to reorganize and to make the case to voters that Bill Owens has got to go”, said Mark L Barie, Chairman of UNYTEA.

Barie acknowledged that UNYTEA’s endorsed candidate, Doug Hoffman, is the apparent loser in the race. His opponent, Matt Doheny, is now leading in unofficial results by more than 600 votes. Approximately 1800 absentee ballots have yet to be counted.

“Doug would have to take about two thirds of the absentee ballots in order to win. I think that’s unlikely, but we can not afford to sit idly by while the recount takes place.”, said Barie.

According to Barie, UNYTEA’s Steering Committee will be meeting tonight to discuss the results of the Primary.

“We will be polling our members in the days to come and then making a decision as to the role UNYTEA will play in the Congressional race”.

Barie spoke bluntly about the results.

“I am very disappointed with the way in which the Hoffman campaign was conducted. It was unorganized, it lacked focus, and it failed to take advantage of Doug’s tremendous popularity.” said Barie, adding, “Doug’s senior campaign adviser (Chris Baker) ran this campaign from his office in Arizona and he was clearly ignorant of what was happening on the ground here in the North Country.”

“Speaking just for myself, if Doug doesn’t make some personnel changes, his campaign for Congress is going no where. I think his chances for success on the Conservative Party line are minimal. This is true because, unlike last year when he came so close to defeating Bill Owens, this year’s GOP nominee is not a tax and spend liberal. Matt Doheny is a fiscal conservative”.

Barie stopped short of formally endorsing Doheny, saying that was up to UNYTEA’s 1000 plus membership who will be polled by email and regular mail, in the next two weeks.