Cuomo quits Governor's Race

[Guest bob_barron]

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Political hopeful Andrew Cuomo, trailing badly in his effort to win the job his father Mario Cuomo held for 12 years, on Tuesday dropped out of the race for governor of New York.

 

Cuomo, 44, who was U.S. secretary of housing and urban development under former President Bill Clinton, said he refused to "go negative" and attack rival Democrat Carl McCall to gain ground ahead of next week's party primary.

 

Such a campaign would help guarantee victory for incumbent Republican Gov. George Pataki, who is seeking a third term, Cuomo said at a news conference, with Clinton at his side.

 

A poll released early on Tuesday showed Cuomo 22 points behind McCall, the state Comptroller.

 

"If we were to now spend $2 million this week on an acrimonious campaign, we would only guarantee a bloody and broke Democratic nominee, whoever won, and the ultimate success for Gov. Pataki in November would be assured," Cuomo said. "Maybe we could win the battle, but we would lose the war.

 

"Today I step back and withdraw from the race," he said.

 

Pataki, a moderate-to-liberal Republican, is heavily favored in the general election and has raised a bigger war chest than either Democrat, according to polls.

 

In an upset, Pataki defeated Cuomo's father in 1994. The elder Cuomo, who became known worldwide during his three terms as governor and often was praised for his eloquence, was seen as a likely Democratic candidate for president but never ran.

 

This was Andrew Cuomo's first bid for public office. He is married to Kerry Kennedy Cuomo, daughter of the late Sen. Robert Kennedy.

 

His high-profile political ties made him a formidable fund-raiser, but critics said he made a number of political missteps and seemed arrogant and overly ambitious.

 

'NEVER RECOVERED'

 

In a remark that sent his standing on a downward slide, Cuomo said after Sept. 11, Pataki, in contrast to former New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani ( news - web sites), merely "held the leader's coat."

 

"Andrew Cuomo's troubles began the minute he engaged in negative personal attacks against Gov. Pataki. And he never recovered," said Adam Stoll, a Pataki campaign spokesman.

 

One top political strategist, who declined to be identified, said Cuomo suffered by working in Washington for eight years while McCall built relationships in New York.

 

"He didn't have the relationships, and his campaign never got any traction," he said. "His negatives were always high, and that was impossible to overcome."

 

Cuomo and Clinton said they would throw their support behind McCall, 66, who, if elected, would be New York's first black governor.

 

Cuomo's move was clearly a boost but McCall, while calling himself "delighted," downplayed its impact at his own news conference.

 

"I always assumed that when ever this came to an end, we would all be together," he said. "Now it has come to an end, and we are altogether."

 

Clinton predicted this was not the end of Cuomo's political career.

 

"There are great virtues of being term-limited out, one of which is that you can commit candor," said Clinton, who left office in January 2001 after serving two terms in the White House, the most allowed by law.

 

"So I will make you a prediction. I am the only person standing on this stage whose political career is over," he said.

 

U.S. Sen. Edward Kennedy, a Massachusetts Democrat, who is the uncle of Cuomo's wife, concurred. "Andrew has always worked to make a positive difference in our society, and I believe that he has a future in public service," he said in a statement.

 

Cuomo said as he fell behind in polls, advisers suggested his best option was negative campaign advertisements.

 

"That is something I don't want to do, and I will not do," he said.

 

McCall campaigned on Monday with New York Sen. Hillary Clinton ( news - web sites), the former first lady, and has been endorsed by the state's other U.S. senator, Charles Schumer.

[Guest danielisthor]

one less left wing tax hawking liberal psycho to worry about for now. Thank god.

[Guest Ozymandias]

But...he's the son of a politician, he HAD to be Governor material!

I'm so disillusioned now

[Guest meanmaisch]

Bob, aren't you in Canada now? Why would you care about the New York governer's race?

[Guest bob_barron]

Yes I'm in Canada now but I still care about what goes in New York and I hated Cuomo.

[Guest meanmaisch]

Fair enough, though there are others who are probably more deserving of your hate.

 

 

 

Like John Cena

[Guest Vern Gagne]

Something I've wondered about New York. Is New York state(not including NYC) more republican or democrat?

[Guest Ozymandias]

Democrat, but since it's such a financial center it's not very liberal. Hence, they go for Republicrats like Hillary and Gore.

[Guest kkktookmybabyaway]

Bye-Bye Cumo. I would have been nice to see Pataki (sp?) bitch slap another turd from that family. (I'm assuming the guy's running for re-election)

[Guest bob_barron]

Something I've wondered about New York. Is New York state(not including NYC) more republican or democrat?

New York is more democrat but there are parts that are very republican. For the first time ever NYC elected two republicans in a row was mayor and Pataki will probably be reelected for a third time.

[Guest Vern Gagne]

Gore and Hillary Clinton Republicrat. You're joking right. If anyone claiming to be a Republican voted for either one of these they should have their party membership taken away.

[Guest Cancer Marney]

Hillary Clinton is a Socialist, pure and simple. She only toned it down a little because it was hurting her in the polls.

[Guest Ozymandias]

V: Most folks in New York aren't so partisan. They elect a Republican Mayor in NYC and a Republican governor while having 2 Democratic Senators. So right there you can tell that the majority of New Yorkers vote for either party depending on the candidate. Whether people are registered Dems or Repubs is really only a formality. But most people there lead to the right on all matters financial so they really only support moderate/fiscally conservative Dems. That's how a majority of the people who while they sometimes vote Rep. would still elect Hillary and Gore.

 

 

M: Socialists don't support the murder penalty. Hillary is out for herself, not the people. Her and her scumbag husband may have had a mid-life crisis that idealized them (to a degree), but those days are LONG gone.

[Guest Cancer Marney]

Hillary is out for herself, not the people

This fits my definition of a socialist perfectly.

[Guest Ozymandias]

But that's YOUR definiton, not the correct one. Heck, by that rational I can call Bush a socialist. Hmmm.....

[Guest Some Guy]

M: Socialists don't support the murder penalty. Hillary is out for herself, not the people. Her and her scumbag husband may have had a mid-life crisis that idealized them (to a degree), but those days are LONG gone.

I agree with Cletus on something! Except for your choice of words for the death penalty that is.

 

NYC elected Rudy and they got lower crime and less homeless after a consistant rise during the various Dem. mayors. Hmmmmmmmmmm....... Seems to me that they might be waking up, but 2006 will tell the story, if Hillary ie reelected thenn I officially give up of the entire state. I've already given up on mine, but electing Mitt Romney, who I could have met tonight if I didn;t have to work ::grumble:: would be good.

[Guest Ozymandias]

I pray to God at night that she'll run for Pres. in 2004. My life won't be complete until I get to vote against that hosebag....

 

Anywho, the crime rate dropped everywhere in the 90's so I won't credit that to Guiliani or blame his Dem. predecessors for letting the city become a hell-hole in the first place, because it was the same story nationwide. After all, Flynn & Menino are both Dems but Boston's crime rate during their respective teerms was a night/day difference. BTW- Wasn't Koch a Republican? For some reason I can't recall.

 

 

P.S. Electing anyone NOT named Tom Birmingham would be good

[Guest Some Guy]

Don;t know about Kotch, but the black guy, who's name escapes me was just alwful.

 

Boston's crime rate did go down and we also created a model of law enforcement, since soemwhat abandoned that has been copied by many cities.

Rudy ran tough and governed tough, he didn;t pussy foot around crime and homelessness, he did something about it.

 

I agree about Birmingham. Every Den in the running makes my skin crawl actually. I don;t trust a single one of them and I'm not necessarilly a Dem bigot.

[Guest Cancer Marney]

by that rational I can call Bush a socialist.

But that's YOUR definition of President Bush, not the correct one. Hmmm...

[Guest bob_barron]

Don;t know about Kotch, but the black guy, who's name escapes me was just alwful.

 

Boston's crime rate did go down and we also created a model of law enforcement, since soemwhat abandoned that has been copied by many cities.  

Rudy ran tough and governed tough, he didn;t pussy foot around crime and homelessness, he did something about it.

 

I agree about Birmingham.  Every Den in the running makes my skin crawl actually.  I don;t trust a single one of them and I'm not necessarilly a Dem bigot.

Koch got involved in some scandal that made him look bad.

 

The black mayor is David Dinkins.

 

Guliani sums him up perfectly-

 

"If I had his record- I'd be afraid to show my face in public"

 

I did campaign for Rick Lazio in 2000- I tried to make it so Hillary wouldn't win.

 

The Clintons used to live one town over from me. Thank god I moved to Canada

[Guest Some Guy]

The Clintons used to live one town over from me. Thank god I moved to Canada

Wrell now I understand the move to Canada. if the Clintons were that close to me I'd move too.

[Guest bob_barron]

See- it all makes sense.

 

More on Dinkins-

All he did was play tennis- He bent over and let the US Open fuck him in the ass.

 

And the Crown Heights riots- thanks Dink!

[Guest kkktookmybabyaway]

To answer an earlier post, I believe Kotch (sp?) was a democrat...

[Guest Ozymandias]

The US Open thing was a good deal for New York. They got the premiere U.S. tennis event in New York each year with a nice new stadium (Arthur Ashe Stadium) without having to pay a dime for it. That's a huge revenue maker for the city. All Dinkins had to do was to promise not to let planes fly over the stadium during games. For all the revenue the US. Open brought in and for New York not having to fork over any tax-payer money in exchange was a pretty sweet fuckin' deal. Sadly the guy (Dinkins) never put that kind of energy into anything else.

 

Of course, years later Guliani deided to just let the planes fly overhead so it'd cause a big stink and he could reinforce his "no-nonsense guy" image while "standing up to the U.S. Open". Typical attention-seeker shit.

 

 

 

I've seen Koch campaigning with Guliani, Al D'Amato, and George Pataki in 1998 so I guess he must be a Republican. I just can't remember ever specifically hearing which party he was from.

[Guest bob_barron]

Koch is a Democrat but he does campaign for both parties.

 

Him and Guliani don't seem to get along.

 

I think having to reroute planes for a fucking tennis tournament is just stupid.

 

Look at the Mets- planes fly over Shea all the time

[Guest danielisthor]

Koch is a Democrat but he does campaign for both parties.

 

Him and Guliani don't seem to get along.

 

I think having to reroute planes for a fucking tennis tournament is just stupid.

 

Look at the Mets- planes fly over Shea all the time

I've been to Shea and Arthur Ashe Stadium is like 2 blocks away. Planes fly overhead Shea almost every 20minutes if not faster. It can't be anymore of a distraction to a tennis player having a soft tennis ball hit back and forth than having a 90mph+ baseball being thrown at you.

[Guest Agent of Oblivion]

Tennis needs an element of danger.

 

I think the net should be electrified. Or else made from barbed wire.