RSS Feed MenuThe first incremental steps in the New York State Republican Party’s journey back to relevance have been taken. For starters, Edward Cox is poised to become the next chairman of the state GOP after his opponent, Niagara County Chairman Henry F. Wojtaszek, bowed out of the race last week. Cox’s acceptance will be made official at the state GOP convention later this month, and his rise to this position injects much needed confidence to many within the party.
Cox has a long history with the Republican party, most recently as John McCain’s New York state party chairman in 2008. His supporters are eager to put his network of political and financial ties to work in an effort to rebuild a Republican brand that has come dangerously close to all but disappearing in the state. It suffices to say there will be no shortage of work for Cox and his team.
Next, we have former four-term New York Congressman Rick Lazio making a bid for governor, and although he will not formally announce until next week, he is off and running. He has his political consultant, Arthur Finkelstein, the man credited with helping put George Pataki in New York’s governor’s mansion. He’s shoring up his staff, and he has his twitter account. Off to the races, right? Well, he’ll need some cash, of course, and he’ll need support, which is in rather short supply at the moment.
Lazio is probably best known on the national scene for taking on Hillary Clinton for the Senate in 2000. It was a rough ride for the Long Island native. He faced an immensely popular challenger who was receiving gobs of campaign money from all over the country. He had entered the race a mere 5 months before the election to replace Rudy Giuliani, who had withdrawn due to a prostate cancer diagnosis. And then there was the debate incident when Lazio crossed the stage and put an anti-soft money campaign pledge in front of Clinton. He was accused of being a big bully as Clinton’s campaign opportunistically cast her in the light of the delicate flower. The moment was trumped up to be much more than it was, and Lazio later regretted his actions, but it was a blow his campaign never recovered from. This time around he will surely need to be more cautious and more prepared.
Forde // Sep 18, 2009 at 2:03 pm
NY State will continue to a problem for the GOP unless one of three things happens.
1) A really charismatic, well practiced, and hard charging candidates appears. A spitzer type
2) NYC falls into the sea
3) The state party stops running itself like a union where time in grade is the way to move up and adherance to the bosses is the the only way to stay in office*.
For point #1, Lazio isn’t it. NYC isn’t going anywhere. And until party bosses lossen up the reigns interesting candidates are going to continue having a hard time getting into office and the “farm teams” for executive and federal office will continue to be weak.
*See NY state’s crazy incumbent re-election rate
mlindroo // Sep 18, 2009 at 4:30 pm
Regarding Republican support in the Northeast in general, a recent Research2000 poll claims 7%(!) have a positive view of the GOP while 87% have a negative view.
http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/R2K_GOP.png
The popularity ratings are almost as bad in the Midwest and (somewhat surprisingly-) the West while the GOP remains popular in the South.
MARCU$
sinz54 // Sep 18, 2009 at 8:17 pm
mlindroo: The Research 2000 polls tend to be slanted left. They consistently overrate the Dems (compared with Rasmussen, Gallup, ABC/WPost, and just about everybody else), and underrate the GOP. Just what you would expect from DailyKOS. I guess it’s due to their sampling methods.
http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/mood_of_america/generic_congressional_ballot
Having said that, there’s no doubt from any quarter that the GOP has a lot of work to do to rebuild its brand in the Northeast.