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7:08

Doug Hoffman: Candidate For One More Day

We arrived in Saranac Lake around 2pm today. We caught up with Doug Hoffman a little after five. His plane from Plattsburgh was running late. He made one last stop at his headquarters in Saranac Lake (an old gas station he worked at as a kid...a story he tells a lot on the campaign trail.) It was the last stop on the election day get-out-the-vote tour. Hoffman was greeted by campaign staff and volunteers and a whole lot of media. From there, it was off to the polls for Hoffman. Hoffman won't be voting for himself, he doesn't live in the district. His campaign staff made sure to remind us on several occasions to day that he lives just a few miles away.

When Hoffman makes his next public appearance it'll be here at the Hotel Saranac. A "hotel insider" tells me she's expecting five...six...seven hundred people here.

7:11	Right Now: CNN broadcasting live from here in the hotel.

7:20

THE WATERTOWN CREW ROLLS IN....

Watertown Mayor Jeff Graham just dropped in with jeff. co. independence party chair John Rice. Rice decided to back Hoffman after Dede dropped out of the race. Mayor Graham is firing up his blog now so it looks like he'll be wearing his "media hat" for the night (mayorgraham.blogspot.com). Or, maybe he's showing his support for Doug Hoffman? Any friend of Sarah Palin's is a friend of Mayor Graham.

7:22	MORE CELEBRITY NEWS: Graham just pointed Liz Benjamin has arrived...political blogger extraordinaire of the NY Daily News.

7:28

Foul Play?:

We've been hearing some scuttle about Hoffman supporters heckling voters at poll sites. Well, the Hoffman Campaign is crying foul play now. A campaign staffer tells me this story:

A Hoffman camp poll watcher was making his third trip to a poll site in Lake Placid this afternoon. While he was inside the site (United Methodist Church, 127 Beekman Street) his tires were slashed.

Who's to blame? The Hoffman Campaign is pointing to ACORN....

8:12

AND THE PARTY STARTS:

Hoffman supporters are starting to outnumber media in the grand ballroom of the Hotel Saranac (not an easy feat, trust me.) Where"s Hoffman? Not sure. But we aren't expecting him for awhile anyway. His staff is here but largely out of site. We hear they're sequestered in the "war room" behind a locked door in the back of a small lobby bar.

8:43	An Independant Voice: I just interviewed Jeff. co. indy party chair John Rice. He's confident turnout will be high and that Hoffman wins Jeff. co and the night. His committee has given its endorsement to Hoffman. Earlier, the committee backed Dede.

8:54

From The Horses Mouth:

We just interviewed Rob Ryan spokesperson for Doug Hoffman. After 30+ years working political campaigns he says he's never seen one quite like this. Let's put it this way: he's the man who handles the press ( i don't envy him). No one could have known how big a job that would be going into this campaign.

9:20

The Who's Who of Who's Here:

We've already mentioned that hundreds are expected here tonight...so who are they? A little of everyone really. I'll say it...PRESS. Campaign staff. Other likely supports...local party leaders and elected officials. And.....VOTERS! Yes there are a few of them here too. I've met a few Hoff-heads. Passionate people who are repeating a lot of what we've heard say over the course of the campaign....time to take back the republican party, time for that party to take back America. No chanting here yet. No waving. All the hype will come when Hoffman does. Right now it's eat, drink and chat.

9:37

A LONG WAY:

No doubt Doug Hoffman has come a long way already. The third party candidate was in first place headed into election day. We just interviewed Mike Long, he's New York State's conservative party chair. He's the man who decided to run a conservative in the race. He's the man who handpicked Doug Hoffman. A Hoffman victory tonight is all his. Mike Long, he brought a third party a long way. Now he's waiting to see if the mainstream republican establishment will do it his way next year... by running conservative republicans for Congress 2010.

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