Just semi-announced during a "debate" with Carl McCall (no Pataki) on WNBC. Formal announcement tomorrow at 6:30 pm. Golisano will back McCall. Considering that Golisano + McCall = Pataki in the polls (right around 46-47%), it could make the next couple of days interesting. But it's more likely that some of the Golisano voters will move to Pataki or just not vote, it probably will not be enough to make McCall governor.
Golisano is a scumbag who had no chance of being Governor. A lot of his attacks were straight out lies and when he got caught he whined about it. Pataki has it easy with Golisano out of the picture, McCall has no real chance. Upstate will actually help decide this outcome for a change, and McCall has NO chance of winning Upstate. According to McCall Upstate gets more than it deserves.
Golisano just announced he is staying in. A reporter on NY1 (the local cable news station) is conjecturing that the Golisano campaign was the source of the rumors, in order to attact attention to the campaign.
Pataki must love to hear that hes not dropping out. Should be an easy win for him from what I've heard.
Better yet, if Golisano comes in second, the NY Democratic Party will be relegated to the third line of the ballot in the next election. In other words, they will be a minor party and lose a lot of privileges they currently receive.
Golisano has no chance of beating McCall and if he does that it will be a HUGE upset and an even bigger surprise. Pataki is going to win no matter what, whether Golisano remains or not. McCall doesn't have the pull to overthrow Pataki.
My favorite Golisano ad was the one that ends with, "Carl McCall is a good man, but he can't defeat George Pataki." By implication, New Yorkers should vote for Golisano, who is getting 18%, instead of McCall, who is getting 35%. Brilliant.
The big issue would be that the Independence Party replaces the Democrats as the co-chair on every county board of elections. That's a big deal. This literally could throw NY elections into turmoil for the next four years. By state law, each election district must have 2 members of parties on Line A (currently Republicans) and Line B (currently Democrats) supervising the polls on election day as official workers. Other parties may have poll watchers, but they have no official status, they can watch, they can complain, but they have no power other than filing a complaint after the fact. There are not enough registered Independence Party members to fill every election district AND it would make it more difficult for the Democrats to protect their interests on election day. In 1990, the Conservative Party, running its own candidate almost past the Republicans, who were running an idiot. But the Conservatives are so closely aligned to the GOP that the Conservatives back then promised to keep most of the GOP election workers (and county board of elections staff), just to change the chairs of the county boards.
Actually, the folks really concerned right now are the Liberal Party. Theior share of the vote has been dropping for years. They need 50,000 votes in the governors race to remain an official party, and their candidate for governor is Andrew Cuomo. The Liberals are now running ads basically saying "Vote Liberal for JFK" Their real problem is that they have outlived their usefulness. They were formed so Republicans, reform Democrats, and anti-Communist socialists could appear on the same ballot line, in an era of straight ticket voting and many New Yorkers not having English as a first language (for example, Yiddish or Italian). The party candidates for national office supporting Roosevelt and local candidiates supporting LaGuardia or Rockefeller to appear on the same line. Lindsay and later Giuliani used the line to build a "fusion" movement of Republicans and democrats. Now, the party exists solely to get patronage in return for political cover. The real liberals have found a home in the Working Families Party, while republicans seeking cover can get the Indpendence line. Even though Golisano is running to the right of Pataki on economic issues, the Indpendence Party still has no real consitent policies. In my Council district last year, Independence cross endorsed the Green candidate. There was no Republican candidate, so the Green was sending cards to the registered republicans asking for our vote on the Independence line
Yeah! How come they can't be happy with one party that has two slightly different wings like the rest of the country? Damn uppity New Yorkers think they're special or something.
New York currently has 8 "official" parties. You are granted official status by getting 50,000 votes, and your ballot position is detemrined by the number of votes received in the governor's race. The official parties are: Republican Democratic Independence Conservative Liberal Right to Life Green Working Families Other parties exist. But if you are not an official party, it is more difficult to get on the ballot. The Libertarians and Marijuana Reform parties have also candidates running for Governor. The Liberatruians tried 8 years ago to get official status by nominating Howard Stern for governor, but he balked at the disclosure forms. You are allowed to cross endorse, so Pataki is running as a Republican-Conservative and McCall as a Democrat-Working Families
There are a lot of parties in New York, political ones too Here are just a few that will be fielding candidates in New York for different positions. Republican Democrat Liberal Independent Party Working Families Party Marijuana Reform Party Conservative Party Veterans Party Green Party Natural Law Party Reform Party Libertarian Party Socialists Party Christian Alliance Party Communist Party Labor Party Constitution Party New Party Socialist Labor Party Americanist Party Right to Life Party I know there are a couple I'm missing as well.
The reason for the multiple parties is historical and is a throwback to the days of straight ticket voting. In New York City, the demnocrats always have been the majority, so the fight was between Tammany Democrats and Reform Democrats. The Reform Democrats would lose the party elections, but then support the Republican candidate on a "fushion" ticket. And deal with it Joe, your beliefs are anathema to most Americans and would never win.
wow that would be huge. they don't have that in Illinois. If you get 5% in a race then the following election no matter what party you are you only need 5,000 signatures to get on the ballot. Right now its 25,000 signatures if you didn't get 5% of the votes in the previous election. If Ralph Nader runs in 2 years for president again he should see if Golisano wants to be his running mate as he could use his billions and probably get 5% easily.