NY-Sen-B, NY-03: King Won't Challenge Gillibrand

The NY Daily News:

"I'm not trying to kid anyone," King said in a prepared statement. "I wanted to be able to run for the Senate." <...>

"The reality is that a statewide Democratic candidate starts the race with a voter registration edge of almost 3 million. To overcome such a large margin, there would have to be intensive media coverage of the race and I would need to raise at least $30 million."

"That is why I would have run if Caroline Kennedy were the Democratic candidate. Her candidacy would have generated the media coverage and financial contributions necessary for me to run a competitive race. That's all I would have hoped for. Once the race became competitive, it would have been up to me to win it by contrasting my blue collar conservatism with her Manhattan liberalism."

"That race was not to be. Senator Gillibrand generates neither strong support nor opposition. This makes it virtually impossible for me to raise the campaign funds I would need to overcome the built-in Democratic registration advantage and the countless millions of dollars which the Democrats will make available to Senator Gillibrand."

While this is hardly a surprise at all, I can't think of a more mopey, sorry-for-yourself press release in recent history. Good grief.

http://www.swingstateproject.com/diary/5499/nysenb-ny03-king-wont-challenge-gillibrand

:shrug:

...only warm body they've got left...

He tried to run against Hillary -- he dropped out for his prostate cancer...

Nope he is not a warm body. NY is over the 911 vote. They have been for years.

Usually when somebody drops out of a Senate race it's because they know they can't get the job. But generally they come up with some lame ass excuse like "I want to unite the party" or "I want to spend more time with my family" or "I feel it's in the best interest of my constituents to keep serving them in the House". King was at least honest that he can't raise the cash and that voters are generally okay with the status quo which is tough to beat.

Gillibrand is getting stronger against any would-be Republicans. There was some yakking in service of a George Pataki run for the Senate, but I think she'd whip him in the long run.