N.Y. Republicans set up Faso-Weld primary (vs Spitzer)

[brooklynite]

HEMPSTEAD, N.Y. - State Republicans on Thursday designated former Assembly minority leader John Faso as their candidate for governor but gave enough support to former Massachusetts Gov. Bill Weld for a spot on the primary ballot.

Faso became the party designee by receiving more than 50 percent of the weighted vote after negotiations that went into the early morning and included Gov. George Pataki, said state Republican Chairman Stephen Minarik.

...snip...

Republican leaders, meeting this week in their state convention on Long Island, had been hoping to avoid a primary campaign, which could hamper and divide fundraising at a time Democrat Eliot Spitzer has large leads in early polls.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060601/ap_on_el_gu/new_york_governor_1

Well, this should be fun to watch. If only the NYS Republican Party had any experience in participatory democracy...

[movonne]

1. New York is not important, just ask Homeland Security...

[NYC Liberal]

2. Meanwhile, here're the latest polls:

http://www.quinnipiac.edu/x11373.xml?ReleaseID=914

But both Spitzer and Suozzi have substantial leads over the likely Republican contenders. Spitzer-Republican matchups show:
*66 - 17 percent over William Weld, virtually unchanged from March 29;
*67 - 16 percent over John Faso, also unchanged.

Asked by the independent Quinnipiac (KWIN-uh-pe-ack) University poll which candidate can fix New York State government, voters who agree that it is broken say:
*54 - 27 percent, including 46 - 39 percent among Republicans, that Spitzer can fix it;
*22 - 37 percent, with 41 percent undecided, that Nassau County Executive Thomas Suozzi can fix it;
*13 - 39 percent, with 48 percent undecided, that Republican candidate John Faso can fix it;
*13 - 41 percent, with 46 percent undecided, that Republican William Weld can fix it.