NY: Third Partisanship and Political Strategy on the Right in the Empire State

At Think 3 Sam Wilson takes a look at the disarray in the Republican and Conservative parties in New York and sees a potential opening for the Constitution Party in the race for governor:
If the nominee of the Republican and Conservative parties ends up insufficiently conservative for some people, what is to be done? This would seem like the moment for the Constitution Party to raise its public profile by running to the right of both ostensibly conservative parties. The party already has a gubernatorial candidate, Jan Johnson . . . In theory, there should be no better time for the Constitution ticket to present itself as a vigorous alternative to Lazio, whom many find an uninspiring candidate. Whether they have the resources or the creativity to do so is another story.
Sam isn't the only one who's thinking along these lines. Maggie Haberman writes at her Politico On New York blog:
GOP county chairmen just broke from a preconvention meeting with state chairman Ed Cox, who, I hear from sources, said he's looking at creating a third-party line, apparently to compete with the Conservative Party, which backed a slate last week that may look very different than the GOP's . . . The idea would be to siphon votes from Long's party [i.e. the Conservative Party] — and, presumably, help certain candidates Cox supports, such as Steve Levy [i.e. against Lazio].

1 comment:

Samuel Wilson said...

New York's conservatives are in danger of being collateral damage in the power struggle between Cox and Long, who seem more interested in being the kingmaker than in advancing any particular agenda. I don't feel that sorry for them all, but this feud will probably delay the emergence of a truly representative and constructive conservative movement with which the rest of us in NY can deal.

 
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