Republican Leaders Tell Pirro to End Senate Bid

NY Times ^ | December 13, 2005 | MICHAEL COOPER and PATRICK D. HEALY

[neverdem]

ALBANY, Dec. 12 - After weeks of messy public squabbling, leaders of the New York Republican Party met in a smoke-free back room here on Monday and reversed course, urging Jeanine F. Pirro to quit her bid to unseat Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton and run for state attorney general next year.

Ms. Pirro, the district attorney of Westchester County, immediately issued a statement rejecting the suggestion, saying, "I remain a candidate for U.S. Senate, but I greatly respect the opinion of the county chairs and their confidence in my abilities as a statewide candidate."

The shift by the party came just six months after many of the same Republican leaders recruited her for the bid, and it signaled the mounting disarray of a state party that finds itself in danger of losing the governor's mansion and its majority in the State Senate in 2006. Should Ms. Pirro ultimately pull out, as many party leaders expect, Republicans will be left without a high-profile challenger to Mrs. Clinton as she seeks a commanding re-election victory in advance of a possible presidential bid in 2008.

State and county Republican officials, meeting privately in Colonie, also voted to recommend William F. Weld as their choice to run for governor in 2006. But it was far from a clear victory for Mr. Weld, the former governor of Massachusetts, who was born in New York and lives here now. While he won a plurality of the weighted vote of county leaders, an even larger portion of the vote was represented by leaders who abstained or stayed away from the meeting, with the leaders of traditional Republican strongholds like Nassau and Suffolk Counties conspicuously absent.

The vote for Mr. Weld was something of a surprise even to some in the room, because some prominent Republicans in Albany...

[neverdem]

This is one of the rare stories in which there's mention of the only other argument for Pirro other than she would be Hillary's opponent. With the pubbies controlling Congress, it would be nice to have a RINO in the Senate.

[Behind Liberal Lines]

Before the Republicans convened in Colonie, Mr. Weld faced questions from reporters at a news conference about his leadership of Decker College, a vocational school in Kentucky that has since filed for bankruptcy and come under investigation by the state and federal agencies. He said prosecutors told him that he was not a target of the investigation. "I was proud of the program," he said.

Funny. In all the articles I've read about Weld until now, this tidbit wasn't mentioned. I guess the NY Slimes was waiting until he was the likely endorsed candidate to bring out the smear machine.

[fieldmarshaldj]

Mad Cow Disease for Senate ! AIDS for Governor !

[TomGuy]

Sounds like a sell-out---that some of the party leaders don't want a serious challenger to Hillary Clinton.

hmmmmm.

Wonder why not?

[Williams]

How can a Senate campaign be in dissaray when there is no race yet and absolutely nothing has happened? They aren't going to beat Hilary with any of these people, and they are wasting their time trying to get their own candidate to quit the race? And I doubt that billionaire can win for governor, either. The republicans sure know how to commit political suicide. I note the article does not mention a single terrible gaffe by Pirro. What's the big deal?

[Congressman Billybob]

Pirro has husband baggage like Hillary. Lady Macbeth's husband is objectively far worse. But Pirro's husband has more actual convictions. She is NOT a strong candidate.

Congressman Billybob

Latest column: "My Friend, Gene McCarthy, 1916-2005"

[neverdem]

Act now, Albany - The News demands: Get tough on hoodlums who shoot at cops (NY Daily News) That was the front page of today's Daily News.

Hard Times: New Yorker punches out Pinch (NYT Times Chair) *snicker*

FReepmail me if you want on or off my New York ping list.

[The Mayor]

I have been posting a ton of these stories in my site.
http://www.rusthompson.com/

The republicans in this state are imploding fast.
I wish I could leave....

[Unam Sanctam]

Why should she withdraw? Speaking as a voter who had no choice on the ballot as an alternative to Senator Kennedy and Kerry, it is nice to have a choice in an election.

[dwntmpo]

I'm sorry.. I couldn't get passed the first line..

a "smoke-free backroom" kinda takes the imagery out of it..

[neverdem]

Thanks for the link.

[Darksheare]

I'm kinda guilty of just wanting to see a NY catfight.

But I would hope a strong candidate could be found to oppose Hillary.

Unfortunately, that may not be possible at this time though.

[neverdem]

Why should she withdraw?

RINO with slim to no chance of winning the Senate race. AG is still a possibility. The Conservative Party chairman will endorse her for that race.

[stocksthatgoup]

why take Hillary Lite when you can keep the real one?

[Unam Sanctam]

But wouldn't it be nice if the Republican Party could offer a choice against Hillary?

[Extremely Extreme Extremist]

You're joking right?

Pirro is a virtual twin of Clinton. She probably even wears the same pants suit as Hillary too.

Nobody is going to vote for her - for her to even entertain the idea of running for Senate, she must have been smoking something.

[conservative in nyc]

The Republicans will run someone against Hillary!. Both John Spencer, the former mayor of Yonkers, and Sullivan County tax Attorney William Brenner are also in the race. And President Nixon's son-in-law, Ed Cox, might get back in the race if Pirro backs out.

Pirro can beat the odious Mark Green if she runs for Attorney General. She's better off running for that. I think Hillary! will win regardless of her opponent. I'd love to see her run against someone who's willing to rough her up a bit.

[neverdem]

But wouldn't it be nice if the Republican Party could offer a choice against Hillary?

Cox, Pirro and former Yonkers Mayor John Spencer are the key Republicans vying for the party's nomination in 2006 to take on Clinton, who sports a high approval rating from New Yorkers.

The ranks aint that thin.

[Soul Seeker]

The "Republican" Party in N.Y., as well as the "Conservative" Party in N.Y., deserve to lose.

The Republican Party picked Pirro. You stick by the candidate you choose, you don't sabotage the candidate.

The Conservatives had ample time to find a challenger, lay the ground work, and they did NOTHING. They only got uppity when Pirro was chosen. Tell me...how much fuss did they raise over Bloomberg? A true DEMOCRAT running as a Republican?

I recall little if any at all.

I don't respect the GOP appartus in that state and I don't respect the "conservative" apparatus in that state.

The only thing clear to me that they all seem determined to sabotage Pirro instead of Hillary. I'd like to know why. And I can't shake the feeling it's because they've been corrupted by Hillary/Dems operatives.

[conservative in nyc]

The Conservative Party is a non-entity in NYC. Nobody wants their support because it tends to turn off NYC's ultra-liberal voters. But the Conservative Party did not endorse Bloomberg - they ran their own candidates for mayor in 2001 and 2005. They even ran their own mayoral candidate in 1993 against Giuliani. I don't remember whether they did in 1997. To say the Conservative Party didn't raise a fuss about Bloomberg is incorrect - they did the only thing they could do - endorse someone else.

The Republican Party didn't pick Pirro. Some Republicans, like Pataki, thought it would be a good idea if she ran. But the party didn't speak as a whole about it until today. And we'll all get to vote next September.