Daniels Backs Faso for Governor

The Republican Party Convention is scheduled for May 30-June 1 and John Faso and Bill Weld are still battling for the GOP nomination. Even though John Faso is a former paid lobbyist, Randy Daniels thinks he is the better candidate for the Republican Party, and Daniels is now backing his candidacy. Bill Weld has a liberal viewpoint on gay marriage and abortion, and it is expected that he will receive the Libertarian Party’s nomination during its convention in Albany. This will not sit too well with the Republicans.

Right now Faso is focusing on the current issues of gas prices and immigration. Although it seems all candidates are jumping on the bandwagon for cutting taxes at the pump from the end of May through September. Faso is also trying to get out the Hispanic vote. His position on immigration is that hardworking immigrants should be able to stay in the U.S. These two issues alone are stirring up a lot of emotion from Democrats and Republicans alike. Unfortunately, I don’t think that there will be a quick solution for either one of them.

According to the latest polls it is still an uphill battle for both of the Republican candidates. They are trailing by more than 50 points behind Democrat Eliot Spitzer and over 40 points behind Tom Suozzi. Faso will probably win the GOP nomination, but I highly doubt he can turn the election around when he is this far down in the polls. It looks like the Democrats will move into the Governor’s mansion.

http://www.theithacajournal.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060424/NEWS01/60424001/1002

Daniels Quits, Backs Faso

On April 10th Randy Daniels withdrew as a candidate for governor of the state of New York. One of his main reasons for dropping out of the race was fund raising. This proved to be a very difficult task for the former Secretary of State. He is now pledging his support to John Faso, former Assembly Minority Leader. In a recent interview Daniels said, “Based on the single proposition that John Faso and I, both good candidates, would not be able to compete competitively if we continued to drain support for each other.” In addition to worries about his dwindling campaign coffers, Daniels feared he and Faso would split votes at the May 31st Republican convention. Daniels is hoping that his withdrawal from the race will get Faso the votes he needs (25%) at the party’s convention to force a primary election with Bill Weld. Faso has already been endorsed by the state Conservative Party and according to Daniels, with his supporters getting behind Faso, his winning the primary will be inevitable. The main concern for Daniels right now is to help the Republican Party keep the Governor’s Mansion.

Daniels Falling Behind in Polls

Randy Daniels’ chances in the Republican primary are rather dismal at this point. His campaign is not generating any press coverage. The only articles I could find in the past couple of weeks were editorials written by Daniels himself. According to the latest polls, Daniels is trailing behind the two other Republican candidates with Weld getting 16% of the vote, Faso 22% and Daniels a mere 8%. But more than half of Republican voters declined to make a choice at this time. I don’t think it hurts Randy Daniels to be a conservative in this race because John Faso and Bill Weld are also conservative to differing degrees. I do think the entire Republican Party is in danger of losing the governor’s mansion. None of the Republican candidates have aligned themselves with current governor Pataki. But all have criticized the direction in which Albany is going, that Albany is in sad shape, and that is really a criticism of the current governor without actually naming names. After 12 years with a Republican in office, maybe the state of New York is just looking for a complete change of viewpoint, and that is why Eliot Spitzer is able to maintain a 66% lead in the polls over any of the three Republican candidates.

Daniels, Is he able to bridge gap?

With elections just a little more than seven months away, there is still no clear gubernatorial candidate for the Republican Party. So how can they devise a platform and campaign strategy to beat the Democratic Candidate? They need to make a decision if they are to have any hope of winning this election. The Republican Party is endorsing Bill Weld; the Conservative Party wants John Faso. If things continue this way, it will be the first time in 16 years that each party will endorse separate candidates. This does not seem to be a good thing for the Republicans since they have not been able to win a statewide election without the backing of the Conservative Party since 1974. So where does that leave Randy Daniels? Can he be the compromising choice for both parties and breathe new life into his campaign? Randy Daniels is looking to position himself as the “consensus candidate” for both parties. He could be the choice that both Republicans and Conservatives could get behind. His views could satisfy the conservative base as well as the moderates in the Republican Party. All three candidates trail Spitzer by approximately the same margin as Daniels states “Every time you do a head-to-head match-up with Spitzer and any of us," he said, "there's literally no difference." A decision needs to be made to unify both parties if the Republicans are to have any chance in retaining the governor’s office in November.


http://www.nysun.com/article/29396 By JACOB GERSHMAN - Staff Reporter of the Sun

Review of Republican Campaign

In the New York Governor’s race, Republicans are now down to three candidates; former Secretary of State, Randy Daniels, ex-Massachusetts Governor, Bill Weld, and former Assembly Minority Leader, John Faso. Earlier this month, Patrick Manning gave up his bid for governor. Rumors that Faso was going to divulge information regarding Manning’s pending divorce were denied by Faso’s camp. Manning’s supporters say that he felt the best way to help the Republican Party was to focus on getting re-elected to his state assemblyman’s seat.
Ever since billionaire Tom Golisano has decided against running for governor, he is trying to decide which candidate is going to get his endorsement, as well as a large campaign contribution. Golisano previously ran for governor of New York three times as a member of the Independence party, which he help found, but now he is officially a member of the Republican Party.
At this point, it seems that many Republicans are worried that Bill Weld and John Faso will split party support, with Weld getting GOP support and Faso being the Conservative candidate choice. There does not seem to be any real concern regarding Randy Daniels’ effect on this issue. In recent polls, Democratic candidate, Eliot Spitzer is showing a lead of more than 60% over any of the Republicans if the election were held today. It will be very difficult for the Republican Party to compete against Spitzer with support split between candidates. It is important that they come to terms with which candidate will draw the most Republican votes if they hope to have any chance of keeping a Republican in the governor’s mansion.

Daniels as Guest Speaker

Randy Daniels was a guest speaker at the Fulton County Republican Club’s 46th Annual Lincoln Day Dinner. During his speech Daniels hit on several talking points related to campaign issues. They included his philosophy that New York State government needs to be smaller and more efficient. And if he is elected he would like to restructure the executive branch and be able to provide New Yorkers with the safer streets and affordable health insurance that they deserve. Daniels also believes that the government should live within its means and not increase the budget deficit for future generations of New Yorkers to be responsible to pay. He also played up the fact that his political ideas are similar to that of Ronald Reagan and that if elected, “You are going to get Ronald Reagan again, a 21st Century version of him, and this time you are going to get it in living color.”
Daniels is one of four remaining candidates, and the Republican primary is not until September. He has been able to pick up some support this month, but his money is dwindling fast. Even press coverage for Daniels near the end of February has been very limited. The press seems to be focusing on John Faso and Bill Weld. Even though a lot of the coverage surrounding Faso and Weld seems to stem from controversy, it still leads one to believe that Daniels is definitely a long shot for the governor’s seat.

Candidate for Governor Speaks at Event for Republicans, Christina Chamberlain
The Leader-Herald 2/14/06

County Chairmen back Daniels

Daniels for governor of New York

The county chairmen of New York want their Republican party to back Randy Daniels as their candidate for governor. They believe that Daniels will be the most effective candidate against presumed Democratic nominee, Eliot Spitzer. Daniels wants to “…get back to the core principles of the Republican Party. We are the party that fought for civil rights. It was the Democrats that were opposed the Emancipation Proclamation They fought to re-enslave the blacks. In 1964, Dixiecrats like Al Gore Sr., Robert Byrd, and Fritz Hollings fought against the Civil Rights Act. How did we let the Democrats steal what our party has always stood for? It's time for us to stop being Democrat-lite.” Getting back to the basics is what many local leaders seem to agree that the party needs for a grassroots campaign. But party officials are afraid that he won’t receive the necessary support from white upstate communities. Even though Republicans are out numbered in New York, Daniels is a Reaganite politician who is capable of winning over democrats just as Ronald Reagan did. That is part of the reason that he is receiving overwhelming support from those communities with his conservative views. Daniels is determined not to drop out of the race despite the fact that he has yet to receive support from party leaders. His biggest problem, if he does get the nomination, will be money. Daniels has spent 93% of his cash on hand since July 2005. This leaves him with a little over $24k in his warchest. While Democratic candidate Spitzer has over $19 million in his campaign fund. Still, Daniels is confident that he will win the election in November.