Is the Republican Party flexible enough to include leaders who support gay equality and women's right to choose? Or is the GOP limited to the hard-right fundamentalist fringe? An election today in upstate New York seems to suggest that the latter is the answer.

Abutting the Canadian border, the 23rd Congressional District has been solid Republican since the 1850s, when the GOP was created to fight slavery. The district never elects Democrats. Last year, it re-elected Republican John McHugh to Congress.

But President Obama appointed McHugh secretary of the Army, so county GOP chairmen in District 23 picked a Republican nominee for a special replacement election, which is today. They nominated state Assemblywoman Dede Scozzafava, popular and progressive. She was endorsed by former U.S. House Speaker Newt Gingrich and other national Republican big guns.

But Scozzafava supports the right of women and girls to terminate pregnancies. And she would let gays marry. And she backs labor union rights. This triggered a storm among far-right Republicans such as former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, who demanded her defeat in today's election. They urged New York voters to elect Doug Hoffman, nominee of the far-right Conservative Party.

Palin said Hoffman is the only genuine Republican in the race, holding core GOP principles. Retaliating, Gingrich protested "this idea that we're suddenly going to establish litmus tests, and all across the country, we're going to purge the party of anybody who doesn't agree with us 100 percent."

The dump-Scozzafava bandwagon was joined by Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck, Sean Hannity and other conservative commentators. The split among Republicans raised the possibility that District 23 might elect its first Democratic nominee, lawyer Bill Owens, who is registered Independent. Polls found Hoffman slightly ahead of Owens, with the female Republican trailing badly.

During the weekend, Scozzafava abruptly quit and urged her supporters to vote for the Democratic nominee. If he wins today, Democrats will hold 27 of New York's 29 seats in the House of Representatives.

Bloomberg News columnist Margaret Carlson says the New York Republican battle "puts into stark relief the schism in the party that's been brewing like a tea bag since the party's loss in November." The GOP is being wracked by the "culture war" between mainline Americans and the puritanical fringe. Carlson added: "Palin has lit a match. Her band of believers may be small, but it is fervent, and they are now clearly on the side of the witch-hunters in the once Grand Old Party."

When New York votes are counted tonight, we can't guess whether Democrat Owens or Conservative Hoffman will win. No official Republican candidate remains. Scozzafava's ouster implies that the GOP isn't large enough to accept supporters of women's rights and gay equality, but is restricted to the extreme right of U.S. society.

During Sunday's news interviews, House GOP Leader John Boehner defensively declared, "We accept moderates in our party" -- but the New York mess suggests otherwise.

Is the Republican Party flexible enough to include leaders who support gay equality and women's right to choose? Or is the GOP limited to the hard-right fundamentalist fringe? An election today in upstate New York seems to suggest that the latter is the answer.

Abutting the Canadian border, the 23rd Congressional District has been solid Republican since the 1850s, when the GOP was created to fight slavery. The district never elects Democrats. Last year, it re-elected Republican John McHugh to Congress.

But President Obama appointed McHugh secretary of the Army, so county GOP chairmen in District 23 picked a Republican nominee for a special replacement election, which is today. They nominated state Assemblywoman Dede Scozzafava, popular and progressive. She was endorsed by former U.S. House Speaker Newt Gingrich and other national Republican big guns.

But Scozzafava supports the right of women and girls to terminate pregnancies. And she would let gays marry. And she backs labor union rights. This triggered a storm among far-right Republicans such as former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, who demanded her defeat in today's election. They urged New York voters to elect Doug Hoffman, nominee of the far-right Conservative Party.

Palin said Hoffman is the only genuine Republican in the race, holding core GOP principles. Retaliating, Gingrich protested "this idea that we're suddenly going to establish litmus tests, and all across the country, we're going to purge the party of anybody who doesn't agree with us 100 percent."

The dump-Scozzafava bandwagon was joined by Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck, Sean Hannity and other conservative commentators. The split among Republicans raised the possibility that District 23 might elect its first Democratic nominee, lawyer Bill Owens, who is registered Independent. Polls found Hoffman slightly ahead of Owens, with the female Republican trailing badly.

During the weekend, Scozzafava abruptly quit and urged her supporters to vote for the Democratic nominee. If he wins today, Democrats will hold 27 of New York's 29 seats in the House of Representatives.

Bloomberg News columnist Margaret Carlson says the New York Republican battle "puts into stark relief the schism in the party that's been brewing like a tea bag since the party's loss in November." The GOP is being wracked by the "culture war" between mainline Americans and the puritanical fringe. Carlson added: "Palin has lit a match. Her band of believers may be small, but it is fervent, and they are now clearly on the side of the witch-hunters in the once Grand Old Party."

When New York votes are counted tonight, we can't guess whether Democrat Owens or Conservative Hoffman will win. No official Republican candidate remains. Scozzafava's ouster implies that the GOP isn't large enough to accept supporters of women's rights and gay equality, but is restricted to the extreme right of U.S. society.

During Sunday's news interviews, House GOP Leader John Boehner defensively declared, "We accept moderates in our party" -- but the New York mess suggests otherwise.