Poll: Clinton and Spitzer hold big leads; Golisano top with GOP [View All]

Poll: Clinton and Spitzer hold big leads; Golisano top with GOP

By MARC HUMBERT
AP Political Writer

October 4, 2005, 9:45 AM EDT

ALBANY, N.Y. -- Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton holds a commanding lead in her 2006 bid for re-election while fellow Democrat Eliot Spitzer has even more strength against his potential Republican opponents in next year's race for governor, a statewide poll reported Tuesday.

The poll, from the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute, also found that billionaire businessman B. Thomas Golisano, the three-time losing candidate for governor on the Independence Party line, is the top choice among GOP voters for the party's 2006 gubernatorial nomination even though he is not a Republican _ at least not yet.

Golisano has said he is considering a party switch to the GOP. The deadline for doing that is Oct. 14 if he wants to qualify for a possible Republican primary a year from now without getting special permission from state GOP leaders. That permission might be difficult given Golisano's history of attacking current Republican Gov. George Pataki.

While Pataki is not seeking re-election to a fourth term next year, he still retains considerable influence over party operations and hand-picked the current state GOP chairman, Stephen Minarik.
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http://www.newsday.com/news/local/wire/newyork/ny-bc-ny--clinton-spitzer1004oct04,0,6727408.story?coll=ny-region-apnewyork