Pataki's exit strategy
We reported a while back that Congressman John Sweeney was unhappy with Pataki's lack of focus on the New York GOP and the World Trade Center rebuilding effort. He pointed to Pataki's heavy travel schedule to early primary states. Now State Sen. Joe Bruno is leveling the same charge.
Bruno says, "when you have a Governor in exit mode that's a problem." He points to the huge electoral deficits facing Gubernatorial candidate John Faso, AG candidate Jeanine Pirro and Senate candidate John Spencer.
Pataki's response?
"While I'm sure it's nerve-racking not having George Pataki at the top of the ticket, we're not interested in engaging in pre-emptive scapegoating -- we are focused on winning the elections at hand," said Michael Marr, Pataki's press secretary.
It seems to us at the Cooler that the legacy you leave has to impact your Presidential chances to a certain extent. That effects Romney and Huckabee as well, since the Gubernatorial candidates aiming to succeed them in Massachusettes and Arkansas face impending defeat- by large margins we might add.
Huckabee in particular has escaped the accusation that he is abandoning the state party at its time of need. Pataki hasn't been so lucky. Eventually caucusgoers will have to look at the legacy Pataki has left with the New York GOP and they will find a fractured, broken party with no statewide elected officials. Is that entirely Pataki's fault? Absolutely not. But he is doing the worst job of the 3 Governors in handling the media and chattering class perception of the issue.
Will Governors' Eliot Spitzer, Deveal Patrick, and Mike Beebe hurt Governors' Pataki, Romney, and Huckabee's bid for the Presidency? A lot will depend on how each man handles the fallout and right now Pataki seems to be in need of some damage control.
Bruno says, "when you have a Governor in exit mode that's a problem." He points to the huge electoral deficits facing Gubernatorial candidate John Faso, AG candidate Jeanine Pirro and Senate candidate John Spencer.
Pataki's response?
"While I'm sure it's nerve-racking not having George Pataki at the top of the ticket, we're not interested in engaging in pre-emptive scapegoating -- we are focused on winning the elections at hand," said Michael Marr, Pataki's press secretary.
It seems to us at the Cooler that the legacy you leave has to impact your Presidential chances to a certain extent. That effects Romney and Huckabee as well, since the Gubernatorial candidates aiming to succeed them in Massachusettes and Arkansas face impending defeat- by large margins we might add.
Huckabee in particular has escaped the accusation that he is abandoning the state party at its time of need. Pataki hasn't been so lucky. Eventually caucusgoers will have to look at the legacy Pataki has left with the New York GOP and they will find a fractured, broken party with no statewide elected officials. Is that entirely Pataki's fault? Absolutely not. But he is doing the worst job of the 3 Governors in handling the media and chattering class perception of the issue.
Will Governors' Eliot Spitzer, Deveal Patrick, and Mike Beebe hurt Governors' Pataki, Romney, and Huckabee's bid for the Presidency? A lot will depend on how each man handles the fallout and right now Pataki seems to be in need of some damage control.
posted by Caucus Cooler at 10/17/2006
7 Comments:
Here's the scoop on the Huckabee situation: Arkansas is a Democratic state that temporarily set aside it's partisan voting habits to elect (and re-elect) a remarkable man who happened to be a Republican. The fact that he is former Baptist minister, a true compassionate conservative, and an enormously gifted speaker with a gigantic personality outweighed his Republicanism for Arkansas voters. In the absence of a Huckabee-like figure, Arkansas will revert back to its Democratic voting pattern. Everybody knows this, and nobody faults Huckabee for being a uniquely gifted leader.
VFLR-
You've got to consider that Bush won the state TWICE. Not only that, Asa is going to get crushed, in the South, in a state that R's need as part of their electoral map. So let's not let Mike completely off the hook.
Huckabee's record is checkered at best, VFLR. Calling those who sponsored a bill opposing his plan to give state benefits to illegal aliens and their children "racists" isn't a very Republican thing to do, or a very smart one. Pardoning or commuting the sentences of nearly 700 hardened criminals - including murderers (one of whom murdered again after being pardoned) - isn't, either. This stuff may work for AK, but not the rest of the country.
We can do better than this.
Caucus Cooler...Arkansas' Democrats are a rare breed. They are generally conservative and highly patriotic. In fact, in any other state most of them would be Republicans, as would the Democrats they elect. Mike Beebe, for example, is pro-life, anti-gay marriage, anti-gay adoption, pro-gun and pro-tax cuts. The only real difference between Beebe and Hutchinson is the (D) and (R) after their names. Bush won in Arkansas for the same reasons he won in the rest of the South: God, Guns and the war on Terror. If Arkansans had had a choice of a Democratic presidential candidate who was strong on all those issues, you can bet they would have gone Democratic.
Anon 4:57,
1) Huckabee is Governor of Arkansas (AR) not Alaska (AK)
2) Huckabee has been Governor for nearly a decade, the 2nd longest serving Governor in the country. So of course he has pardoned more people than almost anyone else. But the average number of pardons he's given annually is not at all out of line.
3) Wayne Dumond, the pardoned criminal you are referring to who killed again, was a very sad and unfortunate situation. Liberals and Huckabee opponents try to make much out of the Dumond case--as if it were "Huckabee's Willie Horton." But I can assure it is not. Believe me when I say Huckabee is loaded with an answer about this the moment it is brought up.
4) Who DOESNT have something they could be vulnerable on?
Anon 4:57,
I forgot to address your other point about the immigration issue. Huckabee is a compassonate conservative. The Arkansas constitution madates that every child, without regard to legal status, receive a public education. Huckabee believes that under these circumstances any young person who graduates from High School with a GPA making them eligible for a college scholarship should be able to apply for it. Most of these kids were born here, making them US citizens anyway. I don't believe that most people would disagree with this position. Not only that, but every public university in the Arkansas (and probably your state as well) is already offering scholarships to illegal aliens who qualify. It is a non-issue.
Finally, Huckabee did not call anyone a racist. He said that some of the anti-immigrant rhetoric he hears is clearly driven by racism. Do you deny that is true?
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