Bombshell: Pataki Considering 2012 Run

Clearly, this is what Americans are aching for.

Sources tell NY1 former Governor George Pataki is strongly considering entering the crowded race for the Republican presidential nomination.

Sources say Pataki, who left office in 2007, could make an announcement as early as next week.

If he were to run, Pataki would face several major obstacles including launching an operation with little campaign cash and facing several opponents who have been meeting voters in Iowa and New Hampshire for months.

Maybe he can fill the void left by the departed Tim Pawlenty.

H/T James Taranto.

Chuckle of the Day: Pataki Still Not Ruling Out Presidential Run

If it weren't for these blind items popping up every few months it's unlikely most people would know George Pataki is still alive.

Former Gov. George Pataki held a secretive lunch with supporters yesterday, fueling speculation that he might make a 2012 run for president. Pataki and five friends met in a private room at restaurant Solo in Midtown. His rep said, "It was not a fund-raiser. He got together with some friends and supporters . . . They did talk about politics, they talked about the future." As for a presidential run? "He's going to look at the field and look at what he's got going on, and make a decision based on those facts. He certainly hasn't ruled it out." But a source said, "His name is really low on the chatter list."

To be really low on the chatter list it would imply at least someone other than Pataki himself is talking about him. Memo to George: There's zero chatter.

Slow News Day: Pataki Mulls Presidential Run

He might have stood a puncher's chance if he ran for the Senate this year in New York, but c'mon, George, you can't possibly think you're presidential material. Can you?

Former New York Gov. George Pataki (R) is weighing a bid for president in 2012, he said in an interview on ABC's "Top Line" on Monday.

The former governor, known as a centrist Republican, served three terms in New York and was governor at the time of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.

Pataki said Monday that he plans on taking a hard look at how the field of Republican hopefuls develops over the next year and that if he doesn't see the right candidate emerging, he could jump into the race.

“What I'm going to be looking at is, do we have the right people out there who have that experience, who have experienced leadership, who have been challenged and who can bring people together — not just Republicans and conservatives, but conservatives [and] Democrats," Pataki said. "And make a decision on who else is out there, and whether or not they have those characteristics we need to be able to win this election and govern successfully.”

Pataki was a rumored presidential contender in 2008, but decided against getting into the race.

I believe he was the one spreading those rumors.

The tedious stories about Chris Christie every day are one thing (have you heard he's not running?), but between Pataki and Michael Bloomberg playing cute about 2012, it's going to be a long couple of years.

More here.

Pataki, like Palin, was a mayor before he was governor.

“It was a challenging job, mayor of Peekskill, let me assure you. Twice the size of Wasilla,” Pataki said.

Pataki said he would support Palin, R-Alaska, should she become the Republican nominee for president, citing his reluctant support for tea party gubernatorial candidate Carl Paladino, R-N.Y., in his home state as evidence that he would fall into line behind her.

Possible New Challenger for Gillibrand?

With both Harold Ford on the Democrat side and Mort Zuckerman on the GOP (or independent) side both bowing out this week as potential challengers to New York Democrat Kirsten Gillibrand, another name has popped up in recent days, although this is the first I've seen of the name Dan Senor.

Dan Senor, the husband of CNN's Campbell Brown and a former Bush administration foreign policy adviser, is eyeing a run as a Republican against Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, The Knickerbocker has learned.

Senor has been meeting with people recent weeks around the state - including "political people and money types," said one source.

Senor has already spoken with state GOP chairman Ed Cox, The Knickerbocker confirmed.

Senor is the founder of Rosemont Capital LLC, and brings to his resume the fact that he was among the civilian officials who served the longest in Iraq as the post-Saddam Hussein government was being established.

"I think he's very interested," said a Republican source. "He's very bright, would be a strong candidate."

The reason I happened across Senor today is the possible conflict of interest his wife would have if he entered the race.

CNN is facing a sticky situation if anchor Campbell Brown's husband -- former Bush White House adviser Dan Senor -- decides to run as a Republican against Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand.

The network will have to decide if Brown can keep hosting her 8 p.m. nightly news show -- or if she would be compromised by the conflict.

Precedents regarding TV news personalities and their politically elected spouses go both ways.

Former "Dateline" anchor Maria Shriver was bounced by NBC in 2004 shortly after her husband, Arnold Schwarzenegger, was elected governor of California.

But Gail Huff, the wife of recently elected Massachusetts Sen. Scott Brown, continues to work as a reporter for Boston TV station WCVB.

CNN yesterday declined to talk about the potential dilemma.

"We don't comment on hypothetical situations," a CNN spokeswoman said yesterday.

But Senor is now being talked about in Republican circles as the front-runner in the race for the Republican nomination after Daily News owner and real estate mogul Mort Zuckerman took himself out of the running Tuesday night.

Honestly I don't think Brown staying on the air would rpesent any problem. For one, there are only about three Republicans still alive that watch CNN and her ratings are so anemic it couldn't possibly make any difference considering Democrats so greatly outnumber Republicans in New York State.

In the past month, it has seen some of the lowest ratings ever on CNN. One night last week, the audience dropped below 350,000 viewers.

The other possible contender on the GOP side is former Governor George Pataki, who spent 12 years in office and didn't exactly leave the best legacy, but he could beat Gillibrand.

In a similar finding to a Marist Poll released Tuesday, Rasmussen Reports has New York's Democratic senator, Kirsten Gillibrand, running neck-and-neck with former Gov. George Pataki.

Gillibrand leads Pataki, who has not announced he would run, by a statistically insignificant 44 percent to 42 percent with 4 percent preferring some other candidate and 9 percent undecided. The margin of error is 4.5 points. The poll was conducted March 1.

Considering the problems Democrats currently face in New York (see Paterson, Rangel, Massa), their brand is lagging and the GOP certainly should be able to capitalize if they get their act together.

Now, if only someone would step up and take on the 800-pound gorilla, namely Chuckie Schumer.

Senate ACORN Defender in Peril

New York's accidental Senator, Kirsten Gillibrand, may want to reconsider her vote to keep your tax money flowing to the criminal gang at ACORN. Considering this poll came before her vote yesterday, things may only get worse.

Long live King George?

Former Republican Gov. George Pataki has leapt ahead of Democrat Kirsten Gillibrand in an hypothetical U.S. Senate match-up, according to a new poll out this morning.

The statewide Marist College survey found voters would narrowly favor the three-term governor - 48 percent to 44 percent - over the freshman senator if the 2010 election were held today. That's an eight-point swing from a similar poll in July, when Pataki trailed Gillibrand 42 percent to 46 percent.

The poll, meanwhile, found nearly seven in 10 New Yorkers would reject a second coming by former Gov. Eliot Spitzer, a Democrat whom The Post recently reported has been mulling a run for comptroller or attorney general.

I suspect even Spitzer wouldn't be dumb enough to defend ACORN, even if they are brought down by a fake hooker.

Needless to say, Gillibrand's decision to support ACORN isn't going over well in some circles.

A group that fights government waste blasted Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand Thursday for voting to continue funding for Acorn, the nationwide nonprofit reeling from a conservative sting operation now showing on YouTube.

Citizens Against Government Waste noted that Sen. Charles Schumer, Ms. Gillibrand's fellow New York representative and political benefactor, had voted Monday to stop the Department of Housing and Urban Development from funding Acorn, while only six senators joined Ms. Gillibrand in opposition. The Senate's vote tally was 83-7.

On Thursday, the House voted to deny all federal funds for Acorn. That vote, on a provision attached to a student aid bill, was 345-75, with Democrats supplying all the "no" votes.

Acorn is under fire because two amateur actors posing as a pimp and a prostitute used an undercover camera to record Acorn employees giving them advice on how to secure housing for a brothel. The pair visited a slew of Acorn offices across the country and found employees in four of them—Brooklyn, Baltimore, Washington, D.C., and San Bernardino, Calif.—who took the bait. After the videos went live on the Internet Monday, Acorn fired the employees and did not defend their actions but said they should not obscure the organization's good work.

But conservative groups have had a field day criticizing the nonprofit, whose name stands for Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now.

“Cutting off funds to Acorn should have been the easiest vote of the year, yet these senators could not bring themselves to do it,” said Tom Schatz, president of Citizens Against Government Waste, in a statement. He went on to call the seven senators “nutty” and named them “porkers of the month.”

“Sen. Gillibrand deserves special opprobrium for her vote, since one of the videos was shot in Brooklyn's Acorn office, and the New York Post had a story on the scandal prior to the vote,” Mr. Schatz said. “Apparently Sen. Schumer reads the local papers, and Sen. Gillibrand does not.”

Dear God, Say It Isn't So: GOP Considers Pataki for New York Senate Run

Please, can't we find some fresh blood? George Pataki was a weak, ineffectual governor and left the New York GOP in shambles when he left office. He was even deluded enough to flirt with a presidential run but got the message when his name was usually coming up with zeros after it in early polling a couple of years ago.

Granted, considering the sorry state of the Republicans in New York, he might actually be a viable option. But really, do we need any more RINOs?

A person who spoke to George Pataki says national Republicans have approached the former New York governor about running for the U.S. Senate in 2010.

The person confirmed Tuesday's meeting in New York City between Pataki and Sen. John Cornyn, a Texas Republican who heads the party's national senate campaign committee. The person spoke on the condition of anonymity because he isn't authorized to comment.

The person says Pataki, now in private law practice, hasn't yet accepted or rejected the idea. The race would be against Kirsten Gillibrand, who was appointed to succeed Hillary Rodham Clinton.