Is 2010 the last gasp for NY's GOP?
Typo corrected: Thanks, folks.
Could New York's Republican Party go down with a whimper?
There are rumblings out there that the last generation of GOP heavyweights -- George Pataki, Rudy Giuliani and John Faso -- are leaning toward not running next year.
Those three represent their party's best shot at retaking the governor's mansion, a US Senate seat, and the NY-20 House seat won in an upset by Glens Falls Democrat Scott Murphy.
The problem, of course, is that Republicans don't have much of a bench. These titans are pretty much it.
Pull them out of the mix and you're left with Rick Lazio.
If one or all were to run, victories next year might give the party a shot at rebuilding.
Fundraising, influence, recruiting -- everything gets better when you have someone, anyone in power.
What's more, Democrats would have complete autonomy when it comes to redistricting. They would control the political battlefield for the next decade.
But without those Big Three, it's hard to see who steps in to help hold the line.
Heck even a David Paterson re-election begins to look plausible -- if he can keep Andrew Cuomo from challenging in the primary.
New York's Republican Party has been on the skids for a long time -- and they're poised to take another nasty black eye in the NY-23 special election.
But if the GOP reaches the point when they can't even field solid, plausible candidates, we've reached a new (and by no means a better) era for New York politics.
posted by Brian Mann @ 10/26/2009 12:13:00 PM
16 Comments
16 Comments:
Brian,
The NYS GOP is in tatters and for once I actually agree with you.
The one thing that would get Rudy into the upcoming governor's race will be if Patterson's poll numbers improve enough to push Cuomo out. [This isn't likely]. Rudy doesn't want to run against the most popular Dem in the state (A.Cuomo).
The state GOP isn't in a rebuilding period it's withering and there's little being done about it. Competition among parties is essential to our democracy. Our state politics will soon resemble, more than it already does, what one party southern states looked like for nearly 90 years. One party states aren't ones we should cherish; they become significantly less responsive to voters than when there's "real" competition among the parties. Check out V.O. Key's book "Southern Politics" (1949;ch.14) and his description of one-party factionalism, it's what we have to look forward to.
jpm
Paterson's numbers will never improve becuase a majority of New Yorkers can't even spell his last name correctly.
Annon,
That's a helpful comment. If a majority could spell DP's name correctly then his poll numbers would improve? Wow, that's awesome info. I'll spread the word.
it was a joke. wasn's trying to call you out. Just an observation that Paterson is not even a factor in 2010. The next governor of NYS will be whoever Obama chooses. (another joke)
Brian - Is there a typo on the last sentence of this post? Instead of the second "new" you meant "no"?
Attorney General Cuomo WILL be the candidate on the Democratic ticket for Governor of New York State....Write it down.....And he will be a very strong candidate indeed.
And that is no joke.
Another tax, tax, tax Cuomo is office? Lord I hope not. Am I the only one who remembers Saint Mario the Weasel doing his best to destroy NY State? Do we another NYC Democrat in Albany making jokes about the hicks in the North country? No, I don;t think so.
Wouldn;t it be nice if we could make NYC, Long Island and the 9 lower counties a Federal District or it's own State? Move the Capitol to Syracuse and start over. Darn sure the present system isn't working out.
Well, gotta go split another few cords to pay for my new license plates.....
lol....Interesting post. Don't know how many remember Mario, but a lot remember Pataki, and that is not a good thing either..
8:05, excellent idea. It's this region's only hope.
cuomo was a failure as was pataki, spitzer and paterson. Though you have to keep in mind its hard to be a good governor when you have to deal with the nys legislature.
Brian, you assume the democrats will control redistricting next year which i don't think will happen. A lot of people are fed up with darrel, i think patty ritchie will beat him next year. There other vulnerable dems like brian foley of long island.
I think it would be refreshing for the republicans to nominate upstate candidates for a change, Onondaga county executive joanie mahoney would probably be a great governor. i would never vote for guliani or pataki; there were big supporters of george bush and are downstaters.
I'm not a republican and I always vote for either democrats or 3rd party candidates in national elections. However, voting for democratic legislature is voting against this region's interests. The state dem party is all about nyc and has zero interest in reducing the cost of business in nys.
Brian, you really think things would be better with an unchallenged Deomcratic party? Look where things are going already. It's like a game... "I'm not taxing you, I'm not taxing you!" So what if all the fee increases aren't "taxes" - They still take money out of our pockets. To me that's taxes.
I'll say this, the longer the left is in power nationally and locally the sooner the right (conservatives instead of the current form of republicans) will some back. Spend and borrow until we're bankrupt, no jobs, and a crashing economy will continue to erode support for the Dems and Obama. Things are going to continue to get worse and what happened to the Republicans in '08 will start to happen to the Dems in '10 and especially '12. When my family of 3 owes $1.02 million in national debt ($340,000/person), not to mention my mortgage, that is a huge problem that someone has to be held responsible for.
Anonymous - No, I don't think things would be better under permanent one-party rule.
That's why I closed with this argument:
...if the GOP reaches the point when they can't even field solid, plausible candidates, we've reached a new (and by new means a better) era for New York politics...
-Brian, NCPR
The dems are going to destroy our dollar, which will ultimately force interest rates to go through the roof (which will depress housing prices furthur), destroy our economy, put as many people on social welfare as possible (remove personal responsibility), continue taking money from the people that make our economy run (the dreaded rich) and continue to spend us into oblivion. Yeah, that sounds like a great future, Brian.
did some people forget that the Republican Party has DOMINATED the State Legislature for most of the last 100 years?
It is only recently that the Democrats have had equal footing in making laws and regulating the State and creating budgets......
It was the Republican led legislature that created 99.9999% of all our problems.
You could look it up.....It is fact.
Brian, how else am I to read:
"we've reached a new (and by new means a better) era for New York politics..."
than to believe you think that if it's the Democrats as the one party it will be a "better era"?
Just wondering if my englich language is failing me. :)
Yes, yes -- I see my mistake. George nudged me about this typo yesterday, but I didn't realize that it was the sort of typo that changed the entire meaning of my post. Doh!
Corrected...
-Brian, NCPR
I'm in agreement with those that favor a new conservative legislature. Personally I'm a complete conservative, but I could take a moderate social agenda if the overall legislature was hardcore fiscally conservative. But sine currently both parties seem to be rushing towards liberalism, if not socialism, I vote against them all.
We need a return (??? as if it ever existed) to common sense in Albany and Washington. We can't keep printing worthless money and survive.
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