After flirting with a possible presidential candidacy for several months, former New York Gov. George E. Pataki said yesterday that he won’t seek the Republican presidential nomination next year.
Pataki, 66, informed his closest advisors on Thursday that he wouldn’t be a candidate. Believing that he was preparing to throw his hat into the ring, the former governor’s political consultants had set up a prototype of a “George Pataki for President” website that appeared briefly online earlier this week.
Pataki, who chairs a group called No American Debt, an organization focusing on reducing the nation‘s $14.7 trillion national debt, had positioned himself as a “fiscal hawk” and made several forays into the early caucus and primary states of Iowa and New Hampshire, fueling speculation that the former three-term governor was preparing to mount a candidacy for the party’s 2012 nomination.
Since leaving office in January 2007, Pataki — who has long been rumored to have his eye on the White House — has been working as a lawyer and energy consultant.
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