The time has come for Republicans to stand up and to be proud of being Republicans [applause]. We don’t need sometime Republicans, we don’t need sunshine Republicans, we need some standin’ up and fightin’ back Republicans, we need some talkin’ back [applause] Republicans, we need some Republicans who believe in themselves and their party and their country [applause]. We need Republicans who agree with Abraham Lincoln that we are the party of freedom, and we need Republicans who agree with Ronald Reagan who believe that we are the future, that we were right, that the policies we pursued were just – Ronald Reagan [applause]. Ronald Reagan is remembered, and he is revered by Americans, not only for the quality of his mind, which we have learned over time to appreciate, but this was a man who had core values and principles, and you knew where he stood, and he didn’t equivocate. He was very clear that democracy was the best form of government, that communism would be relegated to the ash heap of history, and that we could get there without a war. He understood it even as many of us did not. And for that, he is a great man. …

Now we have challenges in New York – and it’s a matter of perspective, how you see things. … I believe that we must harness the cost of government and bring it under control – I’ve said it before, I’ll say it again: The government of New York is too big and spends too much of your money [applause]. And until we change that, until we change that, we cannot create the environment in which the investment will come into New York and create the new industries, and the new jobs, and the new hopes and opportunities of the future. We must change New York, we must and we can. … We are capable of growing our way out of the economic hole that we are in; we have to make the decisions, do it, and move forward with the policies that will get us there. …

– New York Secretary of State Randy Daniels, Speech to the Albany County Republican Party, April 19, 2005

To our friends among New Yorkers sympathetic to the ideas of freedom, growth, and free markets who are fretting that Governor Pataki has left the state’s Republican Party with “no bench,” all we can say is, don’t overlook Randy Daniels.

Listen to him on the substance – the understanding conveyed above, so rare even among Republicans in this state, that “the government of New York is too big and spends too much of your money,” and that reducing the size of government, and the share it takes in taxes, will lead to growth in the private sector. Or on education, where Mr. Daniels told The New York Sun back in September of 2003, “I think we need to expand competition as much as possible because that is the only way we are going to get meaningful, sustainable reform. Competition is what is missing. So I want to see vouchers. I would like to see the cap on charters expanded. I’d like to see that expanded as high as 700 charter schools in the state; right now it’s 100. I believe that charters and vouchers and every available tool we can give a parent to educate their kid, we should provide that.”

Listen to his personal story. One of 10 children born to a seamstress from Mississippi and a dry cleaner from Arkansas, he became a reporter for CBS News and worked for Democrats such as Atlanta’s Andrew Young and New York’s Mark Green before moving toward the conservative end of the political spectrum, inspired in part by a stint covering Ronald Reagan and by face-to-face experience, as a reporter, covering the horrors of communism.

Then look at the demographic shifts affecting New York and America as a whole. The Census Bureau says that in 2003 New York was about 16% Hispanic, 16% black, and 6% Asian. Any population growth in New York State in recent years has been the result of immigrants from abroad replacing whites who died of old age or moved to Florida, New Jersey, Las Vegas, or elsewhere. The growth has been in New York City, not upstate. It could well be useful to have a Republican candidate who lives in the Bronx and who wasn’t born into the Republican Party, because to be successful in New York State, Republicans are going to have to learn how to appeal to voters who live in cities and who were not born into the Republican Party. Republicans nationwide are starting to appreciate this; 2006 could have the GOP fielding African-American candidates for governor in Maryland (Michael Steele, currently lieutenant governor), Ohio (J. Kenneth Blackwell, currently secretary of state), and Pennsylvania (former Pittsburgh Steelers football star Lynn Swann).

Which brings us to New York, where Mr. Daniels is looking like he will run for governor if Mr. Pataki decides not to seek a fourth term. Some Republicans seem to be trying to lure the former governor of Massachusetts, William Weld, into running for governor of New York. Another possible candidate, John Faso, is a terrific fellow who made a strong run for comptroller in 2002. Mr. Pataki could be a strong candidate himself if he ran on a tax-cutting platform. We’ve always felt a vigorous primary can help a candidate run stronger in a general election, so there’s no opposition here to a Republican contest. Mr. Weld was effective in the Bay State. But it’d be a mistake to underestimate the power of Mr. Daniels’s message, and he certainly shows plenty of promise as a messenger.