Edward Cox: McCain Can Win New York
by Matt at Jul 2nd, 2008
Business First reports on his prediction:
Despite New York’s political reputation as Democratic stronghold, the head of Sen. John McCain’s Empire State presidential campaign team believes the Arizona Republican can win the state, including Upstate and Western New York.
Edward Cox, a partner in the New York law firm of Patterson Belknap Webb & Tylerand son-in-law of former President Nixon, made that prediction during a meeting at Business First.
Cox was in Buffalo to take part in a fund raiser for Christoper Lee, who is running for the suburban Republican congressional seat currently held by Rep. Tom Reynolds, who is retiring, and to meet with McCain supporters as prelude to the candidate’s scheduled July 21 day-long visit to the region.
Cox said when Sen. Barack Obama became the presumptive Democratic Party nominee in this year’s presidential race, edging out U.S. Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, that changed the race’s dynamics.
“New York is more in play now with Obama than it would have been with Mrs. Clinton,” Cox said. “Obama is much more of a mystery (to Buffalo).”
While many will probably write this off as wishful thinking, the story does note that Obama only has a mere 6-point lead in the polls for New York. The state could very well end up in play this year as voters learn more about Obama and his positions and recognize his total lack of experience and qualifications. Considering Obama’s resume is so thin that he has to embellish his own credentials, I can see things looking significantly better for McCain in November, not just in battleground states, but states normally considered safe for Democrat candidates, like New York.
