Club for Growth backs Hoffman, too

Just hours after former Sen. Fred Thompson (R-Tenn.) backed the Conservative Party candidate over the Republican in New York's special election, the Club for Growth is joining him.

The Club for Growth PAC just announced the endorsement of Doug Hoffman over GOPer Dede Scozzafava. It comes on the heels of a poll it conducted last week that showed the race to be a three-way dead heat.

“After months of runaway spending, bailouts, and record deficits, the last thing we need in Congress is another rubber stamp for Nancy Pelosi and the liberal Democrats,” Club President Chris Chocola said.  “Doug Hoffman is the only candidate in this race who will stand up for taxpayers and fight to protect our freedoms in Washington.”

This and the Thompson endorsement should help Hoffman raise the kind of money he needs to be viable. The third-quarter fundraising reports won't include much of that money, but if he does well up to that point, the rest is a bonus.

This race is officially a three-way affair.

UPDATE: The anti-abortion rights Susan B. Anthony List is joining the party, and it is also endorsing Hoffman today.

"Dede Scozzafava is an abortion radical who does not represent the views of the growing majority of pro-life American women," said Marjorie Dannenfelser, president of the Susan B. Anthony List Candidate Fund. "The lives of women and their unborn babies are on the line, and the Susan B. Anthony List Candidate Fund is ready to defend them at the ballot box in New York and across the country.”