GOP candidate in New York folds campaign, and Florida's Marco Rubio applauds

Why, you may wonder, would Marco Rubio be closely watching a congressional race in upstate New York when his hands are more than full trying to beat Charlie Crist for the Republican Senate nomination? Because that special election 1,300 miles away has real implications for his underdog campaign.

The New York race is the latest Battle for the Soul of the GOP. It features a Democrat, a liberal Republican and a third-party candidate, Doug Hoffman, who has become a hero of conservative activists and leaders across the country.

"If you live in NY CD 23 vote 4 Hoffman," Rubio tweeted Friday night. "Send message to those who want GOP to 'moderate' that we do not need 2 Democratic Parties."

The next morning, the GOP establishment-backed Republican, Dede Scozzafava, suspended her campaign, citing fundraising problems. The demise of a stimulus package-supporting moderate Republican is sure to embolden conservative donors and key activist groups across the country, and Rubio is positioned to be the biggest beneficiary anywhere.

One big difference, of course, is that Gov. Crist won't suffer from anemic fundraising. Our governor was raising money in Las Vegas on Thursday, Arizona Friday and Saturday at the California home of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Dockery on deck

Republican state Sen. Paula Dockery, R-Lakeland, is expected to announce her candidacy for governor on Tuesday, taking on Bill McCollum, the heavy GOP favorite. Probably the biggest question we're unlikely to get answered? Is C.C. "Doc" Dockery — a longtime GOP power broker, former workers' compensation executive, and high-speed rail initiative bankroller — prepared to spend millions of dollars of his own money to help his wife snatch the nomination from McCollum?

Attack Web site

The Crist political machine is waking up to the threat Rubio poses but is also facing questions about whether the governor's political operation is a lot wobblier than people realized.

Last week, a crude and anonymously created Web site, truthaboutrubio.com, popped up featuring negative news articles about Rubio. The Crist campaign quickly declared it knew nothing about who was behind it.

But then the conservative site RedState.com reported on the computer source code behind the Web site and found a reference to "rheffley." Hmmmm. Rich Heffley is one of Florida's lowest-profile, roughest, and most respected Republican operatives and a top adviser on Crist's 2006 campaign. His firm has earned at least $3 million from the state GOP, and he has an office at the party headquarters.

If the Crist campaign were behind that Web site, it could face penalties for federal election law violations. And Heffley — usually eager to keep his name out of the media — found himself denying that he or the Crist campaign did anything wrong. Yes, he forwarded some factual articles to people putting together a site, Heffley told Buzz, but he did not create the site and he makes no apologies.

"I'm tired of this guy getting an open field, running without accountability and without the other side of the story being told that's out there," Heffley said of Rubio. "Nobody on the Crist campaign asked me to do it, and I'm not being paid by the Crist campaign."

Lakeland mayoral candidates

Check out Political Connections on Bay News 9 today and see the three men vying to be mayor of Lakeland. The show airs at 11 a.m. and 8 p.m.

Adam C. Smith can be reached at asmith@sptimes.com.