Hillary Clinton's Fundraising Off to a Good Start

Posted on October 14, 2005

The New York Times reports that Hillary Clinton's fundraising efforts are going extremely well. With the New York Senate election more than a year away, Hillary has $13.8 million in her war chest. Her likely opponent, Jeanine F. Pirro, has raised only $400,000 since August, 2005. Luckily for Pirro, Governor George Pataki stepped up to the plate and endorsed her candidacy. Without that endorsement, things would be looking pretty grim for Ms. Pirro.

On a day of rapidly developing events, Mr. Cox, a Manhattan lawyer who is married to President Richard M. Nixon's daughter Tricia, dropped out of the race hours after he met privately with Gov. George E. Pataki, the state's top Republican. Mr. Pataki told him that he would endorse Ms. Pirro and use his influence to rally rank-and-file Republicans behind her candidacy, according to a party official.
Mr. Pataki's endorsement puts an end to weeks of speculation over whether he would come to the aid of Ms. Pirro, the Westchester district attorney whose campaign has been struggling in recent weeks to overcome a series of missteps and an aggressive challenge from Mr. Cox.
Mr. Pataki publicly announced his decision to back Ms. Pirro at a news conference in Midtown, where he described her as a "a fighter" and "a trailblazer" as she stood by his side. The combination of Mr. Pataki's endorsement and Mr. Cox's withdrawal gave Ms. Pirro a lift on a day that would otherwise have been dominated by news of her anemic fund-raising.

It's interesting that Pataki decided to endorse Pirro (who is a terrible public speaker -- remember her disastrous speech where she stuttered and stared into space when she couldn't find part of her notes?) over Cox. Maybe Pataki just couldn't see getting behind a guy whose only claim to fame is that he's Richard Nixon's son-in-law.