Look, Dede Scozzafava is the most amoral, underhanded, unprincipled and craven creature to crawl out of New York state politics since… well, Eliot Spitzer 18 months ago. But at first, I didn’t quite get why conservatives were surprised or outraged that she suddenly reversed her announcement and endorsed the Democrat. She had been exposed as a spectacularly ham-handed politician. (“A reporter’s asking questions I don’t like! Quick, somebody call the cops!”) She had made enemies all around the GOP. It’s not like she had a bright future in Republican politics that she was throwing away by endorsing Owens, the Democrat.

So I asked, via Twitter, “what, precisely, did she owe the GOP or conservatives at this point?”

And I got my obvious answer: About $900,000.