Lazio blazes Senate campaign trail in upstate New York

By Phil Hirschkorn and Frank Buckley/CNN

May 22, 2000
Web posted at: 6:36 p.m. EDT (2236 GMT)

ALBANY, New York (CNN) -- Rick Lazio began his run for the U.S. Senate on Monday with a sprint across upstate New York, touching down in eight cities in his first 48 hours on the campaign trail and receiving the full endorsement of state Republican leaders.

Rep. Rick Lazio

The four-term congressman, who formally entered the race with an announcement speech Saturday in his native Long Island, visited the state's four largest upstate cities -- Buffalo, Rochester, Syracuse and the capital of Albany -- on Sunday and Monday.

He also dropped in at Elmira, Binghamton, Watertown, and Utica.

"I will run hard, I will fight fair, I will stand on the issues and I mean to win," Lazio told supporters at a rally in Albany.

"New York is my home, not a stepping stone," the 42-year-old former local prosecutor said. "This is community I have served with pride, and I, ladies and gentleman, I am one of you."

Lazio is replacing New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani as the expected Republican nominee. Giuliani, citing his fight against prostate cancer, dropped out of the race Friday.

Monday, Lazio campaign organizers met with top Giuliani operatives at Giuliani's still-open Manhattan campaign headquarters.

In a sign of party unity, Lazio appeared in Albany flanked by the state's top two Republicans, Gov. George Pataki and state GOP Chairman Bill Powers.

The state GOP nominating convention is scheduled for May 30.

"This is a man who doesn't need to have a script to tell him what New York needs. This is a man who doesn't have to spend six years learning about this state because he's from this state," Pataki said of Lazio.

First lady Hillary Rodham Clinton became an official candidate in February and gained the state Democratic senate nomination last Tuesday.

"Do we want someone has a national agenda of what she will achieve for the people of Arkansas and Illinois in the U.S. Senate, or do we want someone who is one of us, a native New Yorker who understands this state, who has fought for this state, who has represented this state in Washington, who shares our philosophy?" Pataki asked, in a pointed reference to Clinton.

Criticizing Clinton for having become a New York resident only this year is an early theme of the Republican campaign.

Lazio said New Yorkers "want someone who speaks from the center for common-sense New Yorkers, not for the left wing of the Democratic party."

Lazio will pick up the endorsement of New York's Conservative Party, party Chairman Michael Long said Monday. Clinton will get the endorsement of New York's Liberal Party, said party Chairman Ray Harding.

The Conservative party is larger, with more than 170,000 registered voters, and no Republican has won statewide office since 1974 in New York without also carrying the Conservative line.

The Liberal Party has 84,000 voters and usually backs the Democratic candidate.

"Clinton goes in with an advantage over Lazio," said pollster Lee Miringoff of the Marist Institute. "He gets the anti-Hillary vote, but that doesn't get him the kinds of numbers he ultimately needs."

"They can call me the underdog but you know what, New Yorkers love underdogs," Lazio said. "Just ask George Pataki."

Pataki was an relatively unknown state senator when he challenged three-term incumbent Democrat Mario Cuomo, a national celebrity, in 1994 and beat him.