With former Gov. Mitt Romney, R-Mass., announcing on Friday that he will not run for the Republican presidential nomination in 2016, another former governor from the Northeast said he is looking at running: former Gov. George Pataki, R-N.Y.
On Monday morning, Pataki appeared on Fox News and said he was mulling over a presidential bid.
"I'm thinking about it very seriously," Pataki told Fox News about a possible 2016 bid.
Defeating Democratic icon Mario Cuomo in 1994, Pataki served three terms as governor of the Empire State before deciding not to seek office in 2006. Since then, Pataki has formed Revere America, a political organization seeking to repeal President Barack Obama's federal health-care law and Americans for Real Change, a super-PAC that ran ads in New Hampshire, home of the first presidential primary. In recent weeks, Pataki has been sharply critical of Democrats criticisms against law enforcement.
New Hampshire is clearly on Patakis mind and he will be headed to the Granite State later this week.
Pataki has flirted with national politics before. There were whispers of Pataki launching a bid for the presidency in 2000, 2008 and 2012, but he declined to enter the field at any of those times. There was also talk of Pataki being picked for vice president in 1996, 2000 and 2008.
But Pataki faces the same liability that has plagued Republican presidential candidates from New York for decades: his record on some social issues is left of the partys center. While he has generally been supportive of abortion rights, Pataki opposed partial-birth abortion and the morning after pill during his time in Albany. Pataki has opposed same-sex marriage, but also was against the Federal Marriage Amendment and for increased hate-crimes legislation.
While not as well-known, Pataki is not as liberal on social issues as his longtime rival within the New York Republican Party, former Mayor Rudy Giuliani, who endorsed Cuomo over Pataki back in 1994. However, Pataki will face the same problems on social issues and spending that plagued Giuliani who ran for the Republican nomination in 2008, and Nelson Rockefeller and Thomas Dewey in the 20th century.
Reach Kevin Derby at kderby@sunshinestatenews.com or follow him on Twitter: @KevinDerbySSN
