Key Dem says N.Y. special showed GOP 'eating themsevles'

A key Democratic lawmaker on Wednesday said that the Republicans' split in New York's special House election is an example of how the party is "eating themselves." 

Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla.) said that Republicans' divided support for Conservative Party candidate Doug Hoffman (N.Y.) and centrist Republican nominee Dede Scozzafava (N.Y.) magnified internal divisions in the GOP.

"They're eating themselves and it's going to play out in races across the country," said the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee vice chairwoman in an interview on MSNBC. "It shows the knock down drag out civil war that's going on in the Republican Party."

Scozzafava dropped out of the race three days before voters went to the polls, citing poor fundraising efforts and polling data. Before that national grassroots conservatives and several national Republicans endorsed Hoffman.

Fewer national Republicans backed Scozzafava, but she did earn the support of the National Republican Congressional Committee and the Republican National Committee. Grassroots conservatives then took aim at the GOP establishment for supporting a candidate they deemed to be too liberal.

But Hoffman lost to Democratic candidate Bill Owens last night in a district that has been represented by a Republican over for 100 years.

"New York 23 is really the race to focus on from yesterday," Wasserman Schultz added. 

The Democratic chief deputy whip chalked up Republican victories in the Virginia and New Jersey gubernatorial races to "historical trends."