Talk Elections

Lazio Launches New York Run (http://online.wsj.com/article/SB125366619389232511.html#mod=WSJ_hpp_sections_news)

By SUZANNE SATALINE

A former Republican congressman announced Tuesday that he is seeking the New York governor's job, the first candidate to officially launch an attempt to win the office back for his party.

Rick Lazio, who once represented a Long Island district, called for a one-house legislature and a cap on property taxes in declaring his candidacy.

"I think people of New York are sick and tired of people who whitewash the problems," he said at a news conference. "I think the people of New York want someone to offer a plan on how to get there."

Ultimately, Lazio is probably who we can thank (I mean that sarcastically) for Obama.  If his campaign the first time around weren't such an epic fail then we would have had no Hillary to raise Barack Obama's status.  Without a "Hillary" for there to an "anti-Hillary" Obama does not emerge from the field.

Anyway, if Lazio were discovered in a ditch tomorrow, I wouldn't shed a tear.  Waste of oxygen.

On a more constructive note, though, this doesn't surprise me, as Lazio is pretty much the only Republican in the state, beside Rudy, who has state wide connections and any experience running at the state level.

I like to think of him and Rudy as the Tony Knowles of New York.

Lazio.  LOL.

But will he be running against Hillary Clinton? That seems to be all his 2000 campaign was based upon.

Is Rudy even running?

part of the reason why Lazio bombed, of course, was that Guiliani played footsie and dropped out of the race

Looks like a primary of "9/11" vs. "No Hillary".

Ahh Lazio, doesn't have a chance in hell.  This reminds me of when Mitty thought Lazio could win back his old House seat...

Hi Rick! We haven't heard from you for a long time

Rudy is only going to enter if he thinks he's going against Paterson, it's that simple.

srsly?

Lazio is pissed at Rudy for dicking around with him last time, so he's in it this time preemptively (and he has no congressional seat to lose this time), so that he can take advantage of the situation if Paterson ends up being the Democratic nominee

obviously no Republican would be in this race now if Cuomo announced

I never bought the idea that Rudy would have any interest in any office besides US President.  Lazio loses to Cuomo, ball game.  state still is in the toilet, life goes on.

On a side note, why does everyone want Cuomo so bad if Paterson steps aside?  Personally I think Souizzi is a more appealing candidate

U mean Suozzi?

Suozzi will probably run for AG once Cuomo's in.

Not Lt. Gov?

Attorney General of New York is a very high-profile gig, as we've seen with Spitzer and Cuomo. Suozzi obviously wants to be governor (he ran against Spitzer! when Spitzer was still uber-popular!), so AG would be a much better stepping stone to a theoretical 2018 run than being second banana to Cuomo.

Both Cuomo and Suozzi would be excellent candidates, I'm really not sure who I would vote for in the Primary if that were to be the case.   Suozzi obviously wants to run for Gov, but the fact that he is still fairly young  (he is 47) gives him time to do it in the future if he takes a LT Gov or AG position and as Johnny pointed out AG is a very high profile position in NY

he polls the strongest and has been gathering a populist record since the financial crash by making media stories pretend-prosecuting fat cats

NYS doesn't have a Lt. Gov right now. We just have a President Pro Tempore of the EXTREMELY unpopular State Senate who serves as Lt Gov.

True, but he meant for next year's elections.  We do not currently have a LT Gov, but one will be running next year on the Gubernatorial ticket.

Didn't the courts okay Ravitch?

Ahh yes, that is right.  Once the situation in the State Senate was resolved, Ravitch was basically forgotten about.