Don’t Republicans want to win in New York State this year?

When Randy Daniels first visited The New York Sun last year and spoke extensively about his plans for New York, I thought our former secretary of state would be an excellent candidate to defeat Eliot Spitzer for governor. I naively thought the Republicans would be eager to embrace Mr. Daniels, but noooo.

I had originally planned to include him in a previous column about Mr. Spitzer’s vulnerability. However, when I met with a Republican insider to discuss the race, he told me Mr. Daniels did not have the support of his own party. How could this be?

My cynicism about the impotent New York Republican Party has almost convinced me to change my registration to the Conservative Party in protest. Clearly, Albany is not interested in supporting credible candidates. That was confirmed last week when Edward Cox withdrew from the senatorial race because he lacked Governor Pataki’s support. Would Mr. Daniels be another candidate to drop out of contention?

This inquiring mind wanted to know, so I went to Mr. Daniels’s Midtown office for an update on his campaign. Fortunately, not only is he not going to drop out, he is confident he will win in November. And after listening to him for an hour, I believe he’s a real contender.

Let’s face it: Republicans are considerably outnumbered in New York State. The only person who can make significant inroads to the Democratic base is Mr. Daniels. This is not just because he’s a black man, but because he is already known favorably for his achievements in the black community. Thanks to Mr. Daniels, the Harlem Urban Development Corporation, which wasted millions of taxpayer dollars, was shut down. Mr. Daniels brought in private retailers who invested millions in the community, leading to its current revival.

If Republicans could ever make a dent in the African-American vote, which currently belongs to the Democrats, the Democrats would be toast. Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Maryland are leading the way toward breaking the Democrats’ hold. The former NFL star Lynn Swann, winner of four Super Bowl rings in his nine-year pro career, is challenging the incumbent Pennsylvania governor, Ed Rendell. Ken Blackwell, the Ohio secretary of state, will be facing the state attorney general, Jim Petro, in the gubernatorial race. Michael Steele, the lieutenant governor of Maryland, is running a strong race for the U.S. Senate seat. He is the candidate whose credit history was allegedly stolen by Senator Schumer’s campaign operatives. Why are the Democrats so frightened of black Republicans? And since they are so afraid, why hasn’t Governor Pataki championed Mr. Daniels, his handpicked secretary of state?

Minority voters will see a stark contrast between Mr. Spitzer, the Wall Street “crusader,” and Mr. Daniels, one of 10 children who grew up in the Chicago projects. A former CBS war correspondent, Mr. Daniels has not only been to over 100 countries, he’s done business abroad as well. He knows how to attract commerce to our state, which has been steadily losing population and businesses. He’s a Reaganite politician who can attract Democrats the same way the Gipper did.

Mr. Daniels told me, “We must get back to the core principles of the Republican Party. We are the party of Lincoln. We are the party that fought for civil rights. It was the Democrats who were opposed to the Emancipation Proclamation. They fought to re-enslave the blacks. In 1964, Dixiecrats like Al Gore Sr., Robert Byrd, and Fritz Hollings fought against the Civil Rights Act. How did we let the Democrats steal what our party has always stood for? It’s time for us to stop being Democrat-lite.”

Like Messrs. Swann, Blackwell, and Steele, Mr. Daniels can deliver that message of truth to the African-American community. Misguided party officials who think white upstate communities won’t vote for a black candidate forget that these communities were very active in the abolitionist movement, and that Mr. Daniels has been receiving overwhelming support there.

Mr. Daniels is widely regarded as one of the state’s leading educational reformers and a forceful advocate for school choice. “Our greatest resource is intellectual capital,” he said.

One of Mr. Daniels’s most sensible proposals is a 24/7 government. “With today’s technology, there is no reason why we should not have access to our government whenever we need it.” Tell that to Assemblyman Sheldon Silver, who virtually controls the do-nothing legislature.

I have yet not filled out my registration change forms, because if there is a Republican primary, my vote and those of my seven family members will go to Mr. Daniels, whose campaign Web site iswww.randydaniels.com.

But if the powers upstate rule out a primary, then the New York Republican Party is toast, and so are Mr. Pataki’s ambitions for higher office in 2008.