Pataki Rallies Support for Bush-Cheney
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CHEEKTOWAGA – On the eve of what he called the most important election of his lifetime, Governor Pataki rallied support yesterday for the Bush-Cheney ticket and for GOP candidates filling the under card in every corner of the state.
“We are winning the war on terror because George W. Bush is fighting the war,” shouted Mr. Pataki to a doughnuts and coffee-fueled crowd of about 300 inside a hangar at Prior Aviation in suburban Buffalo, his first of seven stops yesterday.
The Republicans, who sent state Chairman Sandy Treadwell, Lieutenant Governor Mary Donohue, and Senator Schumer’s challenger, Howard Mills, along, called the full-day excursion the “Bush-Cheney GOP Victory ’04 Tour.”
Meanwhile, Mr. Schumer, a Democrat, had a busy final campaign day of his own with at least eight stops scheduled yesterday in New York City and its suburbs as he campaigned for himself and candidates for Congress and the state Legislature. Mr. Schumer began his day with a 7:30 a.m. stop at the Sheepshead Bay subway station where he campaigned 30 years ago in his first race for the state Assembly.
In New York, polls are open from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. There is no same-day registration in New York. Figures released by the state Board of Elections late last week show almost 11.84 million New Yorkers have registered to vote, up more than 5% from the 2000 election.
Mr. Mills, campaigning against Mr. Schumer in Buffalo, said the best part of his candidacy “is the ability to speak all over this state about the critical need of re-electing George W. Bush president of the United States.”
“Osama bin Laden wanted to impact this election. Now what did he do? He sent a videotape. Why did he send a videotape? Because he couldn’t get here and attack us, and he couldn’t get here because of the leadership of George W. Bush,” said Mr. Mills.
“Let me say, quite simply, this is the most important election in my lifetime,” Mr. Pataki said in Buffalo before flying to rallies in Elmira, Syracuse, Plattsburgh, Albany, Long Island, and Newburgh. “September 11 was a defining moment in our lives and in our country’s future.”
