Not Over Yet For Conservative Party Candidate Rick Lazio
To view our videos, you need to
enable JavaScript. Learn how.
install Adobe Flash 9 or above. Install now.
Then come back here and refresh the page.
It was a very subdued scene at Rick Lazio's campaign night headquarters following his primary loss, but as NY1’s Erin Billups explains, it's not over yet for the Republican candidate for governor. "Tonight of course, we came up short on the Republican side and that is a disappointment,” said former U.S. Representative Rick Lazio.
Once considered a shoo-in for the Republican nomination for governor, Rick Lazio fell very short of his goal. Instead, he was buried in a landslide by wild-card candidate Carl Paladino.
Republican Party Chairman Ed Cox tried to take a positive spin on the night's outcome, promising to be supportive of Paladino's campaign.
"I'm happy with the energy that this whole process has generated,” said Cox. “I'm happy with the candidates that are coming out of this. If I were Andrew Cuomo now, I'd be very scared."
Still, with a losing roster this primary cycle, many Republicans will likely blame Cox, who early on endorsed Democrat-turned-Republican, Suffolk County Executive Steve Levy, who didn't make it past the state GOP convention. But Cox admits no fault.
"The reason why I've done the things I've done is to give the grass roots, the delegates of the convention and now the grassroots of the party in the primary process, a choice," said Cox.
But it's not all over yet for Rick Lazio. He did manage to win the Conservative line for governor. State Conservative Party Chairman Mike Long says he will stand by his candidate, and says they will be meeting over the next several days to discuss strategy.
"This campaign continues on in terms of the ideas and the spirit and we will not rest until we see the kind of New York that we can all once again be proud of,” said Lazio.