Three months after a rift between GOP party leaders and grass-roots conservatives led to the special election loss of a historically Republican-held seat in upstate New York, another campaign melodrama is taking shape in the same district.

Doug Hoffman, last November’s Conservative Party nominee in New York’s 23rd District who is vying again for the seat, is refusing to rule out running as a third-party candidate this year if he fails to win the Republican primary.

And his leading backer, Conservative Party Chairman Mike Long, told POLITICO that he refuses to endorse any candidate other than Hoffman — raising the prospect of another contest in which a fracture on the right enables Democratic Rep. Bill Owens to skate to victory.

Long said he was confident that Hoffman would be the Republican nominee but added that Hoffman already had the endorsement of the Conservative Party. Long repeatedly refused to say whether Hoffman would endorse the eventual Republican nominee in the event he loses the GOP primary.

“Of all the potential candidates who are running, Doug Hoffman has the right to run on the Conservative Party platform. There is not even a consideration of anyone else,” Long said. “Doug Hoffman is going to be the Conservative Party candidate.”

Hoffman campaign spokesman Rob Ryan declined to say whether Hoffman would run as a third-party candidate if he failed to win the GOP nomination.

Already preparing for a rematch with Owens, Hoffman commissioned a poll last month showing him with an early, commanding lead in the primary. The poll, conducted by GOP pollster John McLaughlin, shows him leading state Assemblyman William Barclay 56 percent to 24 percent in a head-to-head matchup. The poll shows Hoffman with a strong 63 percent favorability rating among Republicans, with just 19 percent viewing him unfavorably.

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