Message Testing in District 40

Who needs private polls?

Zenobia McNally, the Major Owens-backed challenger to Yvette Clarke, is doing her own test-run of the campaign against Hillary. Outside the Cortelyou Road subway station this morning, she was handing out a flyer that read, in part:

“The challenges facing our district are many, and we cannot allow an Read More

GOP Rift?

When you have as much power as the American Republican Party, all strategy has a touch of palace intrigue. Just look at how Pirro has traded on hints of hints of support from Karl Rove.

And one Republican correspondent notes that the early hiring choices by Pirro, Weld, and Cox seem to reflect a possible Read More

Is Pataki Toast? Polls and Press Whack Governor

“Looks like we’re going to be raising federal money,” Governor George Pataki began telling supporters late last year, his signal to them that he would be running for President.

Less than two months later, however, the only people still putting Mr. Pataki’s name in the same sentence as “2008″ are on the Governor’s payroll. Mr. Read More

Politics

The Pataki Obit

We just couldn’t resist piling on our embattled Governor in this week’s issue, tracing his path from an apparent revival a couple of months ago — when he was telling backers that he was starting to raise “federal money” — to the current mess.

You’ll be glad to learn that the Patakis’ personal economic Read More

Pataki Noses Rudy As Mr. Big Shot Of Own Backyard

The Republican National Convention hasn’t started yet, but Governor George Pataki may already have won a round in his quiet rivalry with former Mayor Rudolph Giuliani.

Sure, Mr. Giuliani landed a coveted speaking role in prime time on the first night of the convention. But Mr. Pataki will be introducing President George W. Bush on Read More

Roger Stones the Race

To the outside observer, it looked as if Roger Stone was merely running Independence Party candidate Tom Golisano’s campaign for Governor. Actually, lots of insiders think Mr. Stone was carrying out a $50 million revenge fantasy against Governor Pataki. Mr. Stone, the former Nixon hand who is the brains behind Mr. Golisano, says that revenge Read More

Bratton Plows Ahead in His Mayoral Quest; Enlists Pataki Buddy

Bill Bratton’s prospective run for Mayor next year has unleashed a monsoon of threats from Mayor Rudolph Giuliani, who has sworn to demolish the former Police Commissioner’s candidacy. County leaders will be called, political allies browbeaten; leftover campaign cash from the Mayor’s aborted Senate run will be poured into efforts to stop Mr. Bratton. And Read More

Her Husband Convicted, Pirro Weighs Quitting as Westchester D.A.

Westchester County District Attorney Jeanine Pirro is seriously considering leaving her post and entering private practice, sources close to the embattled D.A. have told The Observer . The sources say that Mrs. Pirro may wait until the new year to announce a final decision. Though the District Attorney loves her $136,700-a-year job, the sources say, Read More

Pataki Pulled Back From Senate Race, Say G.O.P. Sources

Hillary Clinton, meet the man you nearly had to face in next year’s New York Senate race: Gov. George Pataki.

Just when you thought that nothing more could be said about the Governor’s “major political announcement” on May 24-when he became the 17th governor among Republicans to endorse George W. Bush for President-comes word that Read More