ALBANY (AP) -- Conservative Party candidate Doug Hoffman is writing to supporters saying he lost New York's 23rd House race because of scheming, and he's asking for financial support in case he decides to lodge a legal challenge.

Earlier this week Hoffman withdrew the concession he issued to Democratic Rep. Bill Owens on election night, saying if he had known how close the race was he would have stayed in it. Owens has been sworn into Congress.

On election night Hoffman conceded when he learned he was down 5,335. After counties started the mandatory process of checking the machine count with a count of paper ballots, the state Board of Elections declared he was down by only 3,026 two days after the Nov. 3 election, with thousands of absentee ballots yet to be counted.

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