Posted on 07/14/2005 11:02:51 PM PDT by alessandrofiaschi
Gov. George E. Pataki of New York is headed to Iowa this weekend for what associates described on Thursday as an exploration of whether he should run for president in 2008, reflecting what they called an increased likelihood that he would forgo a bid for a fourth term next year and turn to the national stage.
Gov. George E. Pataki could grab the votes of G.O.P. moderates. Mr. Pataki's associates said he viewed the trip - as part of a visit by him to a National Governors' Association meeting, taking place in a state that begins the presidential selection process with its winter caucuses - as a test of whether a moderate Republican from New York has a real chance of winning his party's presidential nomination.
If he ran, Mr. Pataki, who supports abortion rights and gun control, would most likely be the most moderate candidate in the Republican field, and would face significant hurdles with a Republican primary electorate that has become increasingly conservative, particularly in states like Iowa.
His associates, who said they would discuss Mr. Pataki's plans only anonymously in deference to his wishes, said that should he seek the presidency, he would not run for re-election as governor, in the belief it would be impossible to run for president while still running New York State.
(...)
His schedule includes an appearance at a private fund-raising luncheon by the Iowa Republican Party, which is expected to raise $100,000 for the party; a visit to a Little League game; and even the Saturday morning farmer's market in Des Moines.
"We might do a country fair - I just love those," said Mr. Pataki, who grew up in Peekskill, a northern Westchester suburb. "If we're going to be out there and there's one nearby, I want to do one."
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
Please, read the whole article.
Posted already
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1443289/posts
He should have the integrity to run as a Democrat, if he is going to run.
Ohh... so your a moderate if you think like a dem... I see... I never knew Abortion was a RIGHT... What Amendment is that?
Sorry but he is to liber... er moderate for my blood.
Another pol with a gigantic ego who betrayed his original base.
Has about as much of a chance of getting the nomination as Lincoln Chafee.
LOL!
Your forgot a RINO who is allowing a monument to be built in Osama Bin Ladin's honor at Groud Zero.
No.
"Sorry but he is to liber... er moderate for my blood."
Well said. Did you notice that the only people mentioned in the article as campaigning in Iowa are Pataki's fellow 'moderates' of both parties? No freakin' way will a 'moderate' get the GOP nod--and I bet the GOP base won't tolerate a 'moderate' VP either.
All 12 of them!
Going with the notion that the MSM isn't just writing this to puff their liberal buddy Pataki (they are), let's consider who would be those 'GOP moderates,' exactly. Romney and Giuliani fans? I doubt it.
No, I think their assumption is somehow that most GOP-leaning libertarians, a block which they consider 'moderate' for the GOP because they generally don't care about the social issues so central to the religious Republicans, would vote for a Pataki.
The problem with this is that most GOP-leaning libertarians are strict constructionists and realistic enough to know better than vote Pataki for those ends, they know that Pataki is a free-spending corporate whore who would do nothing to curtail government. I wouldn't vote for a NY Republican running for national office if I had a shotgun to my 'nads and a ballot and pen forced into my hands.
Okay, maybe in that situation I would--but I'd NEVER do it voluntarily. And I think most libertarians on FR would feel the same way. What NY calls Republican, I'd generally call old-guard, fat-cat-pol, RINOs.
"Pataki Will Test '08 Winds in Iowa"
Pataki's Campaign will be a break of fresh wind...
Mr. Pataki, asked about any problems he might have as a moderate trying to win the party's nomination, asserted that that would be less of a problem than some analysts suggest, particularly in the face of what could be a very intense presidential contest in 2008. But, he said, there was little he could do about moderate stances without which, his aides said, he would not have been elected to three terms as New York governor.
"You don't change your philosophy or tilt your beliefs to suit a particular electorate," he said.
That cuts both ways, Mr. Pataki. Neither will the principled voter, who sees a policy of abortion on demand for any reason at any point for anything other than the holocaust it is, shift his or her beliefs and support a candidate with such a trite view of said holocaust.
He's a left leaning bum. The guy makes McCain look conservative. Could that be why he's entering the race with the McCain loving NYT promoting him?
Aptly put, except you left the "quotes" off "moderate".
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