The Pataki Succession

This article is from the archive of The New York Sun before the launch of its new website in 2022. The Sun has neither altered nor updated such articles but will seek to correct any errors, mis-categorizations or other problems introduced during transfer.

The New York Sun

Governor Pataki isn’t saying whether he’s running for president in 2008, but other Republicans are lining up to replace him if he does.


The potential candidates – including Mr. Pataki’s secretary of state, Randy Daniels; a congressman from Saratoga County, John Sweeney; and a state senator from Nassau County, Michael Balboni – are not committed to making the race, and aren’t overtly campaigning at this point.


But the Republican National Convention gives them an opportunity to talk about their ideas, make contacts, and raise their profile in the party.


“There are plenty of prospects out there,” said State Senator Martin Golden of Brooklyn, noting that Messrs. Daniels and Sweeney have been actively making the rounds at the convention this week. “These are the guys you see on a regular basis.”


The question of which Republican will receive the GOP nomination for governor in 2006 could become academic if Mr. Pataki seeks a fourth term. Any run by Mayor Giuliani – who is also considered presidential timbre – would likely clear the Republican field.


The eventual nominee faces an uphill fight in the general election, since the Democrats have two formidable candidates considering the governor’s race: Attorney General Eliot Spitzer and Senator Schumer.


Still, the possibility that Mr. Pataki will challenge Senator Clinton in 2006 or leave office to make a bid for the White House in 2008 is enough to stir the ambitions of lower-ranking Republicans.


The three prospecting candidates have all been close to Mr. Pataki. Mr. Daniels, a former Democrat, was appointed secretary of state by the governor in 2001 and switched his registration to Republican the next year. Mr. Sweeney is Mr. Pataki’s former labor commissioner and also a former executive director of the state Republican Party. Mr. Balboni is one of a handful of Republicans that Mr. Pataki has described as the future of the state party.


“I’ve been asked by the governor to move around the state, raise money, and keep my options open for 2006, and that’s exactly what I’m doing,” Mr. Balboni told The New York Sun yesterday.


Mr. Balboni said the governor is not anointing him or any other candidate, but trying to build a “farm team” to seek statewide offices.


“What we’re going to have to do is wait and see, over the next couple of months, who is raising money, who is making inroads, who is moving around the state,” he said.


“If the governor is not a candidate in 2006 I would take a long hard look at that race,” Mr. Daniels said. “I would expect I would probably be a candidate. But in politics, a lot of things of things can happen between now and then.”


Mr. Sweeney said he is flattered to be mentioned as a gubernatorial candidate, but too focused on running for re-election this fall to think that far ahead.


“Until the governor makes it known what he is intending to do, the rest of us should focus on what we do now,” he said. “I don’t think any of us are looking much beyond this November.”


The New York Sun

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