It is often said that, in the final analysis, “all politics is local.” But there sometimes are peculiar crosscurrents that make a difference.

There was a U.S. House of Representatives contest in the Albany, N.Y., 23rd District this year because Democrat President Barack Obama had appointed Republican Congressman John McHugh to be secretary of the Army. That created a wide-open race for the rest of Rep. McHugh’s term. It was expected that another Republican would win easily in the normally Republican district.

Dierdre Scozzafava ran as a Republican. But she soon outraged many Republican voters because she favored abortion and same-sex marriage, for a couple of obviously non-Republican views.

Other candidates were Democrat lawyer and retired Air Force Capt. Bill Owens and Conservative Party candidate Doug Hoffman.

“RINO” (Republican In Name Only) Scozzafava got off to a good start because of her Republican label in the usually Republican district. But pretty soon, she was laughed and sneered out of the competition because of her radical views. Seeing the handwriting on the wall, she withdraw — and then, proving the Republican criticism of her had been valid — she endorsed the Democrat candidate!

Democrat Capt. Owens won by a margin of about 4 percent of the votes over Conservative Mr. Hoffman.

So President Obama’s naming a Republican to be Army secretary gained him one Democrat vote in the House of Representatives, at least till the next election.