RACHEL MADDOW: Joining us now, the noun that gave us the verb, New York assemblywoman and former Republican congressional candidate Dede Scozzafava. Ms. Scozzafava, I apologize for verbing you, but I know that you know it's happening. Thank you very much for coming on the show.

DEDE SCOZZAFAVA, NEW YORK ASSEMBLYWOMAN: Thank you, Rachel.

MADDOW: One of the big national news stories to come out of the election was your endorsement of Democrat Bill Owens after you dropped out. And I wanted to just clarify that with you, because I know you didn't endorse him right away. What was the turning point? What made you decide to back him instead of Doug Hoffman?

SCOZZAFAVA: Well, I think, you know, it was kind of an emotional morning when I made the decision to drop out of the race. And I needed to take a little time and just step back from it. And then I had supporters calling me, asking me what should they do and what candidate should they endorse.

So when I got to that point, I had to think long and hard. But it came back to - I needed to endorse the candidate that I thought would best look out to represent the constituents that I currently represent in the state assembly.

And there were real differences in the two campaigns, not only in the tone of the two campaigns but also philosophically. You know, Ft. Drum is a very important part of this region.

And one candidate pledged he was not going to provide the same level of funding that John McHugh always provided to our area. And Ft. Drum is definitely an economic engine in this area. And we're very much an area that's transitioning from more mature industries and trying to create new technology. But we're still very dependent on the base, and that's been a driving force in our area.

MADDOW: A lot of attention has been paid, including on this show, to the big name, national Republican celebrities, who came and campaigned for Doug Hoffman and against you.

But I wanted to ask you what the conservative versus Republican contest looked like locally before Dick Armey and Sarah Palin and Tim Pawlenty all got involved.

SCOZZAFAVA: Well, I have a lot of local support. I mean, this was an open process. It was fully vetted with the 11 county chairs. All committee people had an opportunity to listen to all the candidates.

And the conservative candidate was part of the process. He promised to support the eventual Republican nominee. He also put it in writing. But at the end of the day, he just decided to run on the conservative line.

The local support was good, but it just - it got overwhelmed by what became a national agenda that really didn't put the local interests first. In fact, Dick Armey was at an editorial board and he said, "We don't care about the local issues. They're parochial."

Well, that, to me - it's all about the local issues. It's all about the types of things that we need to do in upstate New York in understanding the issues and dilemmas that we currently face.

MADDOW: There's still debate going on right now about what the election in your district means for the Republican Party heading into 2010. And what it means for the Republican Party in the post-George Bush, post John McCain era. Conservatives are counting it as a victory that you dropped out. What do you think that it means for the overall health for your party?

SCOZZAFAVA: I don't think it's good for the health of our party. Any party that just tries to purge members that might have any sort of independent thinking, I think, eventually will run itself to very much of a minority status.

I think any sort of party has to be willing to solve the problems. And in order to solve problems, you have to look at things sometimes differently. And you do have to drive towards some sort of consensus building.

Otherwise, you have ideology that's really not based on any sort of substance that can move an agenda forward, that can really help people in this country.

MADDOW: I know that you have recently resigned your leadership positions in the New York state assembly. I know when you endorsed Bill Owens, you got a lot of attention from a lot of very powerful Democrats across the country.

Are you definitely going to stay in the Republican Party? Are you thinking at all about moving to the Democrats?

SCOZZAFAVA: No. I plan to stay. You know, the original Republican Party was all about less government interference in the lives of individuals. It was about promoting self-sufficiency versus government dependency.

I feel my philosophy and my viewpoints and my record - I voted 95 percent with my Republican leader in the state assembly. But you know, people had a bigger agenda that they wanted to push. And the only thing I can say is anybody that endorsed the opponent didn't vet my record.

And I hope they have a little better record in their own individual states at problem solving than they did in choosing a candidate in this race.

MADDOW: New York Assemblywoman Dede Scozzafava, I also do a talk radio show and I feel like, on behalf of talk radio hosts, I want to apologize for all the mean personal things that were said about you. And I want to wish you good luck moving forward. Thanks for joining us tonight.

SCOZZAFAVA: Thank you, Rachel.