De Gobernador de NY a Presidente

Ante la que parece inminente entrada del Gobernador George Pataki en la carrera presidencial, Your News Now repasa la historia de los Gobernadores de Nueva York en elecciones presidenciales. Cuatro llegaron a Presidente cuando el estado era de largo el más poblado de la Unión, pero desde que perdió esa condición en favor de estados como California y Texas los políticos de NY han casi desaparecido de las campañas nacionales.

If recent history is any guide, former Governor Pataki probably won't become the 45th President of the United States. New Yorker's haven't fared well in presidential runs since Franklin Delano Roosevelt was in the White House in the 40s.

As former Governor George Pataki prepares for a possible presidential campaign, he could join an exclusive list of governors who moved from Albany's Eagle Street to D.C.'s Pennsylvania Avenue. There's Roosevelts Teddy and Franklin, Grover Cleveland and Martin Van Buren.

"We have a long history that says anyone who moves into Eagle Street, whether he or she likes it or not, and we're yet to have a she, they are immediately considered to be potentially the next president or vice president of the United States. It's a rich tradition," Assemblyman Jack McEneny said.

But then there's another, longer list of New York governors who made White House runs and failed. Charles Evans Hughes lost to Woodrow Wilson. Al Smith lost to Herbert Hoover. William Seward lost to Abraham Lincoln.

And no, Governor Tom Dewey did not defeat Harry Truman. Nelson Rockefeller ran three times for the Republican nomination to no avail. He was later appointed vice president by Gerald Ford.

Rockefeller is the last New York governor to actually launch a presidential campaign. In fact, the Hall of Governors here in the Capitol could be considered a Hall of Also-Rans. Nearly every governor elected in the last century has at least thought of running for president. Averill Harriman considered it, as did Hugh Carey. Mario Cuomo was famously called Hamlet on the Hudson for wavering on whether to launch a campaign. He ultimately declined. New York hasn't seen a governor nominated by a major party since 1948, coinciding with the state's loss of clout on the national level.

"The population has shifted. We invented air conditioning. We sent it down South. People began to look at Texas and Florida. Now they're up there with the top states and you watched the shift of power and industry follow the air conditioning to the South," McEneny said. (...)