Pataki Decides to Forgo a 4th Term as Governor of New York

From the New York Times:

ALBANY, July 27 - Gov. George E. Pataki confirmed today that he would not seek a fourth term as governor, saying that he was seeking "new paths, new challenges" but was grateful for his time in office.

Reminiscing about his father's work as a "postman, farmer and family man," Mr. Pataki told a cheering crowd at the Capitol, "In New York, there's no better opportunity to serve than as your governor.

"You've given me that opportunity three times over," he added. "I thank you for that honor and I thank you for that privilege."

Mr. Pataki's announcement came as polls showed him trailing Attorney General Eliot Spitzer, the Democrat who hopes to succeed him as governor. But it sets the stage for Mr. Pataki to explore a possible run for president in 2008.

Expect to see Pataki spending a lot of time in Iowa for the next two years.

Pataki is going to have a problem with a presidential run. He is a moderate Republican running in a party whose platform is controlled by the religious right. And there is no way the religious right will allow a pro-choice candidate to be the Republican Party's choice for president. The Times claims:

Some conservatives have been very dismissive of the possibility of Mr. Pataki running for president, saying he would be too liberal to win in a Republican primary, and noting that another liberal Republican widely mentioned as a possible candidate, Rudolph W. Giuliani, could make it hard for him to compete for votes from moderate Republicans.

The moderate Republicans of Pataki, Guiliani, McCain, and even Schwarzenegger, are simply pretty faces, to be propped up as window dressing for a party whose platform is intolerant towards dissenting views. There is no way any of them could make it on a national ticket for the Oval Office (Schwarzenegger is foreign born, so he is ineligible to run for president). As the Republican Party continues to be controlled by the right-wingnuts, you can expect more hard-lined conservative candidates to run for president, alientating the moderates and centrists. The question now is when will the moderates and centrist Republicans defect from the party to an independent status?