THE UNINVITED

Every one of us used to or still has that friend. The guy who goes to the bar, gets a few drinks in him, and tries to pick up every girl he sees. And, time after time, those ladies want nothing to do with him. It's all harmless fun. Your friend doesn't try to attack any of the girls, he's always polite, and once they say no to him he moves on to other pastures. Sometimes it can be funny, but most of the time you just look on in embarrassment while he tries to get a woman-any woman-to take him seriously as a suitor.

New York State Republicans have that friend these days, and his name is George Pataki. For months now, Republicans have watched Pataki court voters across the country, specifically in New Hampshire and Iowa, as he tries to convince them that he can be the standard bearer for the Republican Party.

Though he has made nothing official just yet, Pataki is very obviously running for president in 2008. He has spent considerable time in the two states that hold the first primaries and has attempted to look more conservative by making moves to cut so-called "pork barrel" spending in New York State. Pataki has even used his own state's budget to bolster his chances in the farm belt, proposing to make New York more dependent on ethanol than gasoline and to construct ethanol refineries throughout the state.

"Let's act this year to make New York state the energy independence capital of America," Pataki said when making the announcement in his final State of the State address earlier this year. The Governor failed to mention that ethanol is made of corn, and Iowa just happens to be a major corn producing state.

What's driving Pataki? It's not necessarily his record on the issues but rather his electoral record that is pushing him to run for the nation's top office. Pataki is the longest serving governor in the country, and has been elected three times as a Republican in a state with a clear Democratic majority. If Mitt Romney, Massachusetts' own Republican governor, can think about the presidency after just one term, then why can't Pataki do the same after three?

Unlike Pataki, Romney has real conservative credentials. A devout Mormon, Romney has outlined both a fiscally and socially conservative agenda for his own blue state. In a Republican presidential primary, that is what voters like to see. Pataki is liberal on important social issues in a Republican primary, such as abortion, and has captained a major increase in state spending during this last twelve years. A conservative he ain't.

But aside from the potential policy problems, Pataki has another major obstacle to overcome: his own stature. A Quinnipiac University poll released last week shows that not only is Pataki a long shot to win the presidency nationwide, where he would face heavyweights like Romney, Arizona Senator John McCain and others, he probably would not even win a Republican primary in his own state.

And who's standing in his way? Why it's former mayor Rudy Giuliani, of course. The Quinnipiac poll showed that while 86 percent of New York Republicans felt that Giuliani would make either a "great" or "good" president, only 38 percent could say the same for Pataki. Both were in office when the terrorist attacks of 9/11 took place. Yet, while Giuliani has been able to hold strong the reputation that he earned in the days and weeks following-that of the strong leader who shepherded a city through its darkest hour-Pataki will instead be remembered as the man who bungled the rebuilding of the former World Trade Center site.

Democratic Senator Hillary Clinton, always mentioned as a potential presidential candidate in 2008, did worse among Republicans than Pataki, with 23 percent giving her a "great" or "good" rating. But that's not a terrible number for her within the opposition party, especially considering that she has served as the right-wing's personal boogeyman since 1992.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg's name has been dropped in recent weeks as a potential presidential candidate in 2008, possibly as an independent. Forty percent of state Republicans would imagine him to be a "great" or "good" president should he be elected. While those numbers are just a notch above Pataki, they're not terrible for Bloomberg, considering that upstate Republicans are essentially unfamiliar with his leadership style.

But voters across the state are very familiar with Pataki, and they have overwhelmingly weighed in against a presidential run for their governor. If success begins at home, Pataki is setting himself up for a nationwide failure. But still he trudges on like the guy who asks girl after girl if they would like a drink, ignoring their refusals while his friends watch uncomfortably.