Pataki for Prez?

Former New York state Governor George Pataki's decision to head to Iowa to speak against President Obama's healthcare bill has raised speculation in GOP circles that he is considering a run for president in 2012.

Many in the GOP, including the Senate's point man for recruiting candidates, Senator John Cornyn of Texas, hoped George Pataki would run for Kirsten Gillibrand's Senate seat. Much to the chagrin of many in the GOP who think that Gillibrand's seat is there for the taking, Pataki declined the opportunity to run. Back on November 4, 2009, George Stephanopolous said on This Week that "Pataki has told at least one major GOP donor in private that he is not interested in becoming a senator at the age of 64 and would rather run for president in 2012." Interesting. And then earlier this week, Senator John Cornyn gave his take to a reporter for The Hill:

I've been talking to him for a year and a half, and I've been reading the polls. I think there's real opportunity there. But he's decided he's not running for it. My thought is, of course, he's rumored to be a potential candidate for president, and I think he's got his sights set on other offices, maybe including running for president. That'd be my guess.

There are more and more reasons to think that Cornyn and Stephanopolous are right about Pataki. GOP 12 notes that Pataki's behavior over the last year closely mirrors how a man might act if he were preparing to mount a run for the presidency. Pataki has spent time in both Iowa and New Hampshire. He won't give a straight answer to the "Are you going to run for President?" question.  Perhaps most telling: he is also working out like crazy (the obese need not apply for the presidency these days). And now this: the Des Moines Register reports that Pataki is headed to Iowa to make his case against healthcare reform....

Pataki is not without his drawbacks and it is not at all clear that he can beat Barack Obama. That said, if Pataki does in fact mount a bid for the nomination, he is the first bona-fide political heavyweight in the game. Don't be fooled by Spitzer and Paterson: historically, many of New York's governors have gone on to success in national politics. Presidents  Grover Cleveland, Teddy Roosevelt, Franklin Roosevelt, Vice President Nelson Rockefeller, and liberal darling Mario Cuomo all ran New York state. Pataki's economic conservatism, social moderation, and executive experience make him, at the very least, the kind of candidate that could appeal to disgruntled independents. Whether or not he could do so without alienating the far right is, however, another question entirely.