John McCain vowed yesterday that he would carry New York against either Hillary Rodham Clinton or Barack Obama in the fall.
“I will compete and win in New York state in November as the nominee of my party,” McCain said after receiving the endorsement of former Gov. George Pataki at Grand Central Terminal.
“I can match up against either Sen. Obama or Sen. Clinton very well and compete with them in every state in the USA,” he said.
Front-runner McCain expressed confidence he will do well in today’s GOP contests in 22 states. He never mentioned Mitt Romney, his chief rival.
Pataki said McCain is the best candidate “to win the war against terror” and wean the US off foreign oil.
“As a Republican in New York, we know you win elections, yes, by having the Republicans and the conservatives united behind you. But by also having intelligent independents and some enlightened Democrats vote for you,” Pataki said.
Meanwhile, Rudy Giuliani loyalists are now campaigning hard for McCain – among them former aide Vinny Lapadula, who was at the Grand Central event with the ex-mayor.