Hotline After Dark -- Born To Run

"World News" led with Ford Motor Co. earning a profit this quarter. "Evening News" led with Ford Motor Co. earning a profit this quarter and featured Al Gore. "Nightly News" led with Ford Motor Co. earning a profit this quarter.

Accountant Doug Hoffman (C) appeared on "Hannity" 11/2 p.m.

Hoffman, on why the GOP gave the nod to a liberal GOPer: "I guess we'll never know. The only thing I can say is that it was just party politics behind closed doors, and the bosses just decided to just anoint somebody that was there."

Hoffman, on whether he understood why Assemb. Dede Scozzafava (R) was the GOP nominee: "I did not either, and that is why I decided to run. I thought the voters in the district would not have a good choice if I did not put my hat in the ring, and I felt that I had to do it."

Hoffman, on Scozzafava's Dem endorsement: "Absolutely. It's exactly what I was saying when I got in this race. And it just proved that I was correct. She was more liberal than the Democrat" (FNC, 11/2).

After the jump, more on NY-23 and WH staffers go into the "Situation Room."

(RACHELLE DOUILLARD-PROULX & ABBY LIVINGSTON)

IN A NEW YORK MINUTE, THINGS CAN GET PRETTY STRANGE

Pols and pundits weighed in on NY-23 on the cable nets 11/2 p.m.

Ex-WH dep. CoS Karl Rove, on why Scozzafava endorsed a Dem: "We do know that in the meantime, both the Democratic speaker, Sheldon, of New York called her, that White House officials called her, the Democratic National Committee called her, and really put the squeeze on her and said who knows what encouragement and blandishments they gave to her? But look, you can understand this. Her feelings were hurt" ("On The Record," FNC, 11/2).

Ex-"West Wing" EP Lawrence O'Donnell, on ex-AK Gov. Sarah Palin's (R) influence on the NY-23: "Dick Armey couldn't do this. She did it. All my sources up in the 23rd say this was chugging along in a normal way until Sarah Palin came in. They expected an extremely low turnout for a special election and the hard cores, who you get to turn out, and Palin has activated that part of the district" ("Countdown," MSNBC, 11/2).

Steele, on Scozzafava's endorsement of atty Bill Owens (D): "Well, that's disappointing. I mean, I get the sour grapes thing. ... I get the being upset and the angry part of it. At the end of the day if you're a Republican and you got trumped the way you got trumped in this race, as she did, I understand where that's coming from, so I discount it and I move on" ("Your World," FNC, 11/2).

Washington Post's Robinson: "You've got a situation where Newt Gingrich, whose whole career has been as a flame-thrower and kind of bomb-thrower who says inappropriate things and shakes things up. he's the voice of reason and stability in the Republican Party right now. That tells you that they're in for a long few years" ("Hardball," MSNBC, 11/2).

INTO THE OTHER SITUATION ROOM

CNN's Blitzer sat down with WH sr. adviser David Axelrod, WH comm. dir. Anita Dunn and WH press sec. Robert Gibbs for their first joint interview since Pres. Obama took office.

Dunn: "I'm a person who can at the end of every week look back and find about 2,000 things I would have done differently. But I think ... if you look at what the president said during his campaign of what he wanted to get accomplished and you look at where we are now, roughly a year after he was elected, by and large, he has certainly kept to what he laid out as the challenges that he wanted to address and that the administration has done a pretty good job of executing to get him where he wants to go and where he wants to lead the country."

Gibbs, on the new issue of Newsweek magazine with the headline 'Yes, He Can, But He Sure Hasn't Yet.': "I think the American people understand that what brought us to the point right before the president was either elected or eventually inaugurated we didn't get to overnight. We got into where we were over the course of a long time, and I think the American people understand that we're on the road to change. We're on the road to building a new foundation for an economy that works for them and helps create jobs for them, but understands that it's not all going to happen overnight. I think what we saw in the candidate America has had a chance now to see for the better part of almost a year."

Axelrod, on whether FLOTUS Michelle Obama is an "adviser" to Obama on "substantive policy issues": "I think I'll put this way. I think he really values her opinion, and I don't think she takes folders on nuclear proliferation home and offers her point of view, but she's incredibly bright. She's got great sense, and she, like anyone who has a good solid relationship with their spouse, she offers her views, and he takes them seriously" (CNN, 11/2).