ALBANY – Hapless Republican Senate candidate Jeanine Pirro has moved up her timetable and will switch to the attorney general’s race tomorrow or Friday, sources close to her campaign said last night.
Westchester County District Attorney Pirro is expected to hold a short press conference to make the announcement, and then say she’ll officially kick off her new campaign early next year, the sources said.
State GOP leaders called on Pirro last week to abandon her effort to challenge Democratic incumbent Hillary Rodham Clinton in the wake of a string of campaign missteps and the inability to raise substantial amounts of cash.
They were also motivated by a realization that the state’s small but influential Conservative Party was unwilling to endorse Pirro for Senate because of her liberal social views on issues such as abortion and gay rights.
But the Conservatives are open to endorsing her for attorney general.
One of those calling for her to switch to the attorney general’s contest was Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno (R-Rensselaer), who gave Albany radio station WROW-AM yesterday the first hint that Pirro was close to making an announcement by saying he expected her to switch in the next few days.
While Pirro had been expected to make the announcement in early January – right after she gives up the district attorney’s office – she decided to move up her timetable because of family obligations including caring for her ailing mother, sources said.
“A number of things have come together that have made her decide that this is the right time,” said a source.
Gov. Pataki and even Pirro’s own husband, Albert, have also been involved in trying to convince her to run for attorney general – fearful that she would suffer a humiliating defeat if she stayed in the Senate race.
While a Quinnipiac poll last week showed Pirro running a stronger race for attorney general then she could run for U.S. Senate, she’s now widely viewed in Republican ranks as damaged goods with a greatly reduced chance of defeating whoever is the Democratic attorney general candidate.
Other potential Republican attorney general candidates include Sen. Michael Balboni of Nassau County and state Criminal Justice Coordinator Chauncey Parker, a top Pataki aide.
Former Yonkers Mayor John Spencer, who was also seeking the GOP nomination for Senate, is considered the favorite to replace Pirro as Clinton’s likely challenger.