Yes, George Pataki Is Still Running for President

At a senior center in Quail Hollow, New Hampshire, near Hanover, former New York Governor George Pataki was so happy to see a familiar face that, upon seeing me, he spread out his arms in a wide hug.

The former three-term Republican governor of New York has been trolling New Hampshire in search of a crowd. This one, at a senior center, assembled for a happy hour of wine and cheese, chicken, and baby quiches at 4:45 pm on a dark Friday afternoon. A woman from the center had to repeatedly shush the crowd. George Pataki launched in, at high volume.

"By the waym, Obama, this is radical Islamists engaged in terror against Americans and he should have the courage to use those words!" The crowd nodded and applauded. 

In New York, Pataki was known as a fiscal conservative, but also a man who favored abortion rights, bought large tracts of land for environmental preservation, and even opposed bomb testing on Vieques, an Puerto Rican island.  But for this election, where Republicans like Chris Christie tout their every connection to fighting terrorism, Pataki’s got one 'yuuge' credential.

"I was governor of New York on 9/11 and I led our state efforts to get through that," he told the seniors. "I vowed I would never forget the lesson."  

Even though then-Mayor Rudy Giuliani got all the attention, Pataki was there. And Gov. Chris Christie often repeats having received the call that he was going to be nominated for U.S. Attorney on September 10, 2001.  But Pataki was the governor who presided over a devastated state where hundreds of state employees, some of them personal Pataki friends, died on 9-11. 

As New York governor, Pataki was one of the Republican party’s most effective fundraisers. In New Hampshire, a woman asked how he’ll reduce the influence of big money in politics. Pataki laughed. "Standing here with no money, I couldn’t agree with you more. I mean I’m sure you’re inundated with TV ads, I’m sure you haven’t seen one from me." Pataki noted that he can't raise money because he's not a sitting governor, he's out of politics. "Which is a good thing," he said.

At the last public filing, Pataki hadn’t even raised a million dollars – compared to many tens of millions, or more, for the leading candidates. So to get his message out, he has to sit down with any journalist who shows up. And there aren’t many of us to choose from.

My first question: Why you are doing this?

His answer sounds pat, and slightly off coming from one of the last of a line of Northeast Republicans, fiscally conservative, socially moderate. "It’s very simple I love the country I think we are facing a crisis, we are facing a crisis with the entire nature of our society under attack from radical Islam, on college campuses, where if you express a controversial idea, its more important to silence that than freedom of speech."

Like Chris Christie, Pataki says he has a plan to get the country working again, and says he accomplished something similar as governor of a blue state. "I have a record of having done that as a conservative Republican in a very liberal state," he said, running his words together. "If you don’t fight the fight having an understanding of the very difficult odds, shame on you. The country is too important."

"Just to clarify," I ask, "You’re using the second person, but when you say shame on you, you mean shame on me?"

"Yes, yes," he replied. His lone aide, a traveling security person and press secretary combined, motioned that the interview was over. But the former Governor continued. "I don’t like to talk about myself."

Um, I ask. "Don’t you have to do that if you’re running for president?"

Pataki replied that's hard for him. "I was brought up where humility and working hard should speak for themselves but sadly in the 21st century it seems the sound byte and the outrageous comment are what get you the attention."

He’s not so humble, however, that he thinks he doesn’t have a shot at President of the United States.