More
HenchPAC NewsLong Island came roaring into the race for senator from New York yesterday,
attacking Hillary Rodham Clinton as a "far-left" candidate who has "no real
rationale for serving here other than as a steppingstone to some other position."
"I think her ambition is the issue," Mr. Lazio declared in an
interview, as he formally announced his candidacy in a race that has been upended by the
decision by Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani to step aside because of health reasons.
Mr. Lazio's remarks came as Republican leaders in New York and Washington lined
up behind the candidacy of the Suffolk County Republican, who had himself suspended his
campaign last year in deference to party leaders who wanted Mr. Giuliani as their
candidate. Mr. Lazio announced a two-day fly-around the state, an aggressive
come-out-of-the-box approach intended to discourage any other Republicans who might be
thinking about challenging him, as well as to push the Conservative Party into falling
behind his candidacy.
The tenor of Mr. Lazio's comments -- he repeatedly criticized Mrs. Clinton's
credentials and ideology -- suggested that the campaign, with the change in candidate, was
going to be harsh and fast-paced. Mrs. Clinton's advisers have already begun to attack Mr.
Lazio as extreme and conservative, noting that he had supported many of the initiatives of
the former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, as they tried to discredit his candidacy before he
has a chance to find his groundings.
Mrs. Clinton's press secretary, Howard Wolfson, responded to Mr. Lazio's
comments yesterday morning by saying: "It sounds like the same old negative attack
politics. He hasn't even formally announced, and already he's on the attack." Mr.
Lazio said he considered himself "a centrist, a mainstream Republican."
"We're conservative, right-of-center on budget and tax issues, national
security issues," he said. "And I think we're realistic on social issues."
He described his new Democratic opponent as "far left," adding:
"She's part of the discredited philosophy that helped lead New York to ruin during
the Cuomo years. I think we've turned the corner and we don't want to go back to those
failed days."
In the interview, Mr. Lazio jumped at almost every opportunity to criticize
Mrs. Clinton. He responded vigorously when asked if he would make an issue out of the fact
that Mrs. Clinton did not live in New York before this year, a subject that Mr. Giuliani
frequently raised.
"I'm the real thing," he said. "I don't have to try to be
someone else. I was born here. I went to school here. I fished in these waters. I clammed
in its bays. I graduated from our schools. My children were born in New York State. I've
lived here my whole life. There will be no question of my commitment to this state."
By contrast, he said, Mrs. Clinton was hurt both by the fact that she had never
lived in the state where she wants to serve, and because of the cloistered life she has
lived as a first lady.
"You don't know New York if you have bodyguards around you all the
time," he said. "You've got to know what it's like to ride the subways, to drive
your own car, to buy your own gas, to buy groceries here."
"I think people can see through who Hillary Clinton is, and they will have
a chance to know Rick Lazio as the real deal," he said.
Mr. Lazio's announcement on Long Island came as his campaign sprang almost
overnight into full life. Workers at his headquarters in Suffolk County answered the phone
"Lazio 2000," early yesterday, and Mr. Lazio's Web site urged voters to
contribute money, addressing what his aides acknowledged yesterday was one of the more
vexing problems he faced in his contest against Mrs. Clinton.
Newly hired staff members flew up from Washington, with a notable
representation from the presidential campaign of Lamar Alexander, the former governor of
Tennessee. That is because that Mr. Lazio's media adviser, Michael Murphy, performed the
same role for Mr. Alexander in 1996. The new Lazio campaign staff struggled through a
chaotic morning, as they grappled with such questions as, in what town was Mr. Lazio's
headquarters located, (Bay Shore) and the area code (631), from an onslaught of news media
that abandoned Mr. Giuliani at City Hall for Mr. Lazio's headquarters on Long Island with
startling speed.
Mr. Lazio's advisers and state Republican leaders, concerned that Mr.
Giuliani's prolonged exit had dealt Mrs. Clinton a strong early advantage, moved to tap
down even the most remote prospect that Mr. Lazio would face any competition for the
party's nomination. "There is no question Lazio will be the candidate," said
Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, chairman of the National Republican Senatorial
Committee. Across New York State, Republican leaders fell in line with Gov. George E.
Pataki and the state Republican chairman, William D. Powers, and proclaimed not only their
support for Mr. Lazio, but also their belief that he would prove to be an extremely
formidable opponent to Mrs. Clinton, notwithstanding the obvious obstacles he faces now.
(Some Republicans went so far as to privately suggest that he was a better candidate than
Mr. Giuliani would have ever been.)
"The race at the end of the day is going to be about who best can serve
New York, and based on his record in Congress, it's clearly going to be him," said
Zenia Mucha, the chief political aide to Mr. Pataki. She said that Mr. Lazio
"understands what it means to be a New Yorker. She's in the process of learning. His
basic philosophy is a smaller role of government for the people. Her basic philosophy is
that government has all the answers."
Representative Peter F. King of Long Island, bowing to this reality, withdrew
from seeking the Republican nomination. He said yesterday morning that he did not want to
cause any division within the Republican party, and mentioned Governor Pataki's
enthusiastic endorsement of Mr. Lazio. Mr. Lazio, after his announcement yesterday, is
planning a two-day fly-around across New York today and Monday, to advance his candidacy.
Although Mr. Lazio's campaign was something of a work-in-progress yesterday,
early campaign themes were clear -- among them that Mr. Lazio would, like Mr. Giuliani,
continue to draw attention to the fact that Mrs. Clinton was running for an office in a
state where she never lived. "Rick Lazio fits New York like a glove," one of Mr.
Lazio's advisers said, in describing what would be his early message.
By contrast, in Mrs. Clinton's circles yesterday, the debate was not over
whether the candidate should attack Mr. Lazio, but when. Unlike Mr. Giuliani, Mr. Lazio is
barely known to most New Yorkers, so the immediate struggle is a race to see which side
succeeds in defining Mr. Lazio first -- both in remarks on the campaign trail, and in
television advertisements -- over the next few weeks. All of this suggests that this
campaign will, in fact, be harsher and more pointed than the Clinton-Giuliani race ever
had a chance to become.
There was definite worry in Republican circles that Mr. Lazio would have been a
stronger candidate had he had an earlier start, which would have allowed him more time to
raise money, and get the experience he needs to run a race, and become better known to New
Yorkers. Republicans, though, emphasized repeatedly that Mr. Lazio would be a formidable
candidate, if only because Mr. Lazio appeared to have a hunger for the job that Mr.
Giuliani never evinced, and also because Mr. Lazio was more closely in tune with
Republican positions on issues.
"Personally speaking, I am a little more comfortable with Rick
Lazio," said Stephen J. Minarik, the Monroe County Republican chairman. "He is
more in line with the party."
Roger Stone, a Republican consultant with ties to New York, suggested that Mr. Giuliani's departure from the race would prove to be an unwelcome development for the Clinton campaign. "I would argue that she now becomes the issue. And there, I would argue that this is her worst nightmare."
HENCH adds: I just hope that, come November 8, we can sing "Ding-dong the witch is (politically) dead."
More
HenchPAC News
[ Home ] [ News ] [ Products ]
To leave HENCH a message,
comment, or link:
CompanyEmail