Currently, New York, the third largest state in the union, counts only three federal officials with an R at the end their name: King, Lee, and McHugh. So if Republicans are so endangered in NY, why keep trying to win elections in New York with more of the same, tired candidates?

This fall we will have our chance to redo our loss in the NY-20 Special and try something different. The eyes of the nation will be on the Special in NY-23 where Rep. John McHugh has been tapped to serve as the President’s Secretary of the Army pending his confirmation by the US Senate.

A quick scan of NY-23 shows nearly a 47,000 Republican voter registration advantage, a very rural geography with fractured media markets and no Republican candidates with big name ID.

Our party ought to pick someone willing to run on issues and talk about our conservative principles. Our candidate would need to engage the grassroots and give people a reason to vote instead of a reason to stay home. We need someone who will proudly articulate a conservative Republican approach to a broad set of issues that affect people on a day-to-day basis. After all, special elections are won and lost based largely on partisan turn-out.

We have a chance to nominate a new, young face on the Republican Party to help it promote its ideas: 26-year old Waddington, New York native Josh Lynch. Josh has been a friend of mine for the past four years, and I couldn’t be happier that our Party has a chance to nominate him.

Josh Lynch fits the exact mold of what the Republican Party has been longing for. Lynch is not the change we hope for; he is the change we desperately need for our party to save itself from permanent extinction in New York. Moreover, this guy has the message, experience and the credibility to win.

Lynch is a common-sense conservative legislative policy aide, and he has caught a lot of people both locally and nationally by complete surprise.

The mayor of Watertown, an Independent, wrote of Lynch on his blog last week that, “A young guy from Waddington [Josh Lynch] got high marks as a possible future star!” Another local blog wrote, “The GOP candidates gathered last night in Gouverneur… The surprise presentations were made by Paul Maroun and Josh Lynch. They both had a good handle on principles and issues and were crowd pleasers… Lynch, from Waddington, is a contender… He has a future, so look out for him to be around and he has excellent ideas… This may be the first time you have come across this name and face, but it is a safe bet it is not the last time.” Another wrote, “Lynch is not just some precocious hometown boy” and that “[his] background would give him a unique donor base from which to raise money.”

Josh’s message is positive and you can tell he knows how to drive a good message with the local media. His talking points are littered in the local press with quotes on how to bring rural economic prosperity, job creation, and a strong national defense.

The Ogdensburg Journal quotes him saying, “Lynch says high taxes and over regulation are forcing young people to move out of New York State looking for jobs.  ‘It’s splitting families apart… Young people have had to move away to find good jobs… [and] the federal government is way too big… I think what people want is something fresh and new.’”  The Watertown Daily Times says that, “Lynch is a proponent of shrinking government and reversing course on what he sees as meddlesome bureaucratic regulations that drive jobs away. He’d like to lower taxes to spur business growth and keep locally educated talent here.”

Not a bad message for the Republican Party in New York at all considering the financial mess they in.

At 26 and having come from a humble background, Josh Lynch still has more experience working with the federal government than any other candidate in the race. With grassroots campaign experience on two presidential campaigns — both of which I worked closely with him on, and he is a workhorse — and a compelling message, it seems to me that Lynch should get a solid look from the county chairs in NY-23, the NYGOP and the NRCC for the nod.

Lynch could turn out to be the best thing to ever happen to the GOP and his district in a long, long time. Here is to hoping.

Out of power in both houses of Congress and the White House, one would think that like the Republican Party, the Pro-Life Movement is in the wilderness and without leaders. However, this couldn’t be further from the case… In fact, the Pro-Life Movement is more united then ever. Case in point: the Susan B. Anthony List Campaign for Life Dinner held earlier this month in Washington, D.C.

In case you are unfamiliar with the Susan B. Anthony List (SBA), founded in 1994, it is EMILY’s List, except the opposite: it elects Pro-Life women to Congress or Pro-Life men running against Pro-Abortion women.

This past election cycle, its connected PAC bundled and earmarked over $1 Million into key races across the country. Besided electing pro-life candidates, it mobilizes over 150,000 pro-life activists nationwide to lobby Congress on critical life issues, and even helped form the Pro-Life Women’s Caucus for the women it helps elect. It also trains future generations of activists by conducting training academies on college campuses.

Unlike many Pro-Life organizations, SBA was not left in the dust by technology, as it has a very clean, cool website. SBA also has over 1,000 friends on Facebook, is active daily on Twitter and has its own “SuzyB” blog.

SBA founder and president Marjorie Dannenfelser and former chairman Jane Abraham, with the help of Jeri Thompson, were the braintrust behind the wildly successful Team Sarah Ning website of over 60,000 members which helped defend Sarah Palin against attacks during the general election.

But, back to to the dinner, which was held at the historic Willard in downtown Washington. The dinner was so packed that there was barely any room to move around in the biggest ballroom the hotel had to offer.

To show how united the Pro-Life Movement is in the face of a White House and Congress lead by Obama and Pelosi, there were all sorts of factions of the Pro-Life movement present.

I saw many of its Catholic leaders, many of its Protestant leaders. I saw one of the leaders of the troops on the ground, 40 Days for Life founder David Bereit. I saw some of its leaders in Congress, such as Cong. Trent Franks, Cong. Jean Schmidt, Cong. Marsha Blackburn, Cong. Joseph Cao, and Cong. Cathy McMorris Rodgers, who gave a fantastic speech centered on her baby boy with Down syndrome. I saw Romney backers, I saw Brownbackers. I saw Thompson backers, which was easy since Fred and Jeri Thompson headlined the dinner. I saw Ken Blackwell, I saw Michael Steele staffers. I saw past members of Congress, such as Sen. Spence Abraham, Cong. Mike Ferguson, and Cong. Bob Livingston. I also saw future pro-life members of Congress, such as Rob Wasinger, who is a candidate for Congress in Kansas.

The mood wasn’t what you’d expect: instead of being depressed about the number of babies that will be aborted due to Obama’s anti-life policies or the millions of tax dollars that are being funneled to Planned Parenthood, the mood was… wait for it… of hope. All the speeches were about looking forward, about pro-lifers taking back Congress.

This was especially evident when SBA gave out their annual Susan B. Anthony List Trailblazer Award, which is given to young women who are making a difference in the battle to end abortion. It was especially a proud moment for my family, as my sister, Christina, was given an award for her work in the pro-life movement (she got her start in the movement as SBA’s first intern long ago). However, the climax of the night was when Lia, a very bright 12 year-old girl, received the award for a very compelling and persuasive speech on abortion to her class (which of course, school administrators tried to censor) that was put up on YouTube and has been viewed by over 500,000.

SBA also used the occasion to announce its new, groundbreaking project, “Votes Have Consequences,” a program that will target members of Congress who vote out-of-step with the pro-life views of their district. The project is being headed up by former Cong. Marilyn Musgrave, and will start targeting members in Fall of this year, well ahead of 2010 elections.

Overall, the night was a smashing success for the Pro-Life Movement. It strong, is here to stay, and isn’t going anywhere until every unborn child is welcomed into the most prosperous nation on Earth and women are protected from the horrors of abortion.

Billy Valentine is vice president of Students for Life of America and can be reached at billyvalentine(at)gmail.com

Susan B. Anthony List Trailblazer Awardees with Jeri Thompson and Marjorie Dannenfelser at the Susan B. Anthony List Campaign for Life Dinner.

12-Year Old YouTube Star Lia with Congresswoman Jean Schmidt (R-OH)