Poll: Pataki Running Even With Cuomo (3/24/97)
Poll: New Yorkers Strongly Support Pataki (2/7/97)
New York Prepares To Battle Over Welfare (11/25/96)
George E. Pataki's 1997 State of the State Address
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Pataki Will Run For President In 2000, Ally Predicts
N.Y. governor calls the talk 'ridiculously premature'
ALBANY, N.Y. (AllPolitics, March 31) -- Republican state Senate leader Joseph Bruno says he thinks Gov. George Pataki will win re-election next year and then run for president in 2000.
"I believe he will be re-elected next year, and I would bet on him going forward to seek the Republican nomination after that," Bruno told The New York Post.
"He will be the leading contender for president," Bruno said.
Pataki tried to brush off the speculation. "I always thought Senator Bruno was strongly opposed to gambling," Pataki joked at a news conference. Pataki added, "It's just ridiculously premature in early 1997 to talk about candidacies for the year 2000."
The GOP governor balances economic conservatism and tough anti-crime credentials, with a "big tent" philosophy. Last year, he was one of several Republican governors who suggested the party move away from the call for an anti-abortion "human life amendment" in the GOP platform.