Governor Pataki Next to Drop Out of the Race?
“He was running for President?” – America, probably
Tuesday evening, Republican Presidential candidate and former Governor of New York, George Pataki alluded to an exit from the Republican presidential primary race.
Friends and supporters outside of NH, SC and Iowa – please check back here or on Facebook for my special message during @NBCChicagoMed
— George E. Pataki (@GovernorPataki) December 29, 2015
Shortly thereafter, citing Pataki backers, the Associated Press reported the former Governor would be bowing out:
Former New York Gov. George Pataki is telling supporters he’s ready to drop his bid for the Republican presidential nomination.
He’s also alerting supporters and reporters to tune into a “special announcement” on television Tuesday night.
A centrist Republican who led New York through the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, Pataki has failed to gain traction in a crowded field of candidates.
Pataki announced his bid by video in May. He has acknowledged being the longshot against better-known — and more bombastic — competitors.
Pataki had hung his hopes on doing well in early-voting New Hampshire but has barely registered in state or national polls.
The former governor also never made it onto a main debate stage and has had trouble raising funds.
It’s ok, I forgot he was running too.
UPDATE: He’s out
While tonight I suspend my campaign for president, I am confident we can elect the right person. https://t.co/mr4UunWASs
— George E. Pataki (@GovernorPataki) December 30, 2015
Follow Kemberlee on Twitter @kemberleekaye
DONATE
Donations tax deductible
to the full extent allowed by law.
Comments
“Centrist governor” it says. He was (for New York) very conservative his first term. Then he moved farther and farther left until no one could stand him.
My only regret about Pataki dropping out of the race is that I won’t get to see him lose in a cosmic sized land slide.
Nobody from the NE can win a national election.
Heh…!!!
I did not know George was even running? 🙂
There’s another… uh… 0.0% of the GOP primary vote up for grabs, according to the Realclearpolitics average. Ummm… wow.
The base is in no mood for another establishment pansy, and they’re certainly in no mood for a second-string establishment pansy.
How is it that a successful Republican governor is all of a “sudden a second-string establishment pansy”? Especially when the actual RINO in the race is in the lead?
It’s now official. Pataki is out.
I wonder who will get his three supporters?
He has three? That’s two more than O’Malley, so at least he’s not the biggest loser around.
Pataki surprised me in the last undercard debate. He had just about the right position about terrorism. He was very strong against Trump, and islationism, but also for metadata collection and targeting the imams who preach violence and talked knowledgably about all of that, or at least as knowledgebly as candidates get.
I had wondered why Pataki was still in the race, and thought maybe he thought he could get some delegates in upstate New York, which would be useful in a deadlocked convention.
Not for himself, really, but in choosing the nominee. I had thought he had long ago realized where he was, but the candidate, it seems, is the last to realize that – he gets fooled by the audiences he can draw to his speeches, and doesn’t realize how small a fraction of the electorate that is.
George who?
Whatever money Pataki raised is now safely in his campaign account. A presidential candidate cannot use the money for personal use, but I’m sure some of them manage to get around that. I mean, geez, there were (are) candidates who had zero chance of winning, so being in it had a different purpose.
The Republican field needs to narrow and others with marginal support should follow Pataki out of the race. Trump would not be so far in the lead in a much smaller field. The large field means that the majority of Republicans who have not chosen Trump divide their vote among so many of them that they magnify Trump’s margin. Those that have virtually no chance of emerging as the GOP nominee should withdraw and narrow the field down. The problem for the Republican Party is the amount of sheer talent they have at each debate. Compare that with the Democrats and their lack of talent.
Only hardcore campaign watchers, Pataki’s family and friends even knew he was in. Of those, his supporters would be family and friends only. I suspect only we NY’ers even know who he is, for the most part.
” Trump would not be so far in the lead in a much smaller field.”
Not necessarily. Trump is is the third favorite second choice candidate of R voters polling only slightly behind Rubio as a second choice candidate though polling well behind Cruz as a second choice. In other words, Trump still has some room to grow. This idea that he is somehow uniquely toxic beyond his current base of support needs better support than the spinning of establishment consultants (who fear losing a payday if he wins).
I happen to think a lot of Trump supporters and soon to be supporters recognize the truth of Eric Hoffer’s maxim that “Every great cause begins as a movement, becomes a business, and eventually degenerates into a racket.” That’s where we are right now in the historical arch of the conservative movement launched in the 60s, it has become a racket and needs to be reformed to shed itself of the consultant and, to some degree, donor class parasites that have latched on and run things more or less. Trump may be an imperfect vessel for such change, but he can help bring it about and should be given a chance. If the coalition needs to change by becoming more attractive to working class struggling Americans and less attractive to globalist cheap labor business interests, than so be it. Not such a bad trade off.
Who?