Tom Golisano Says No - Cue the Violins

Billionaire entrepreneur and all around political upstart Tom Golisano has decided against chasing after the Republican, Conservative, and Independence party endorsements for NY State Governor in 2006. He ran against George Pataki in '94, '98, and '02, all the while slinging as much mud as he could toward our Governor and the Republican Party.

When Golisano announced back in October that he was considering pursuing the Republican line for Gov, there were many Empire State pachyderms, myself included, who felt that such a move was ill-suited at best. The guy did nothing but trash-mouth Republicans up and down the boards, and then he wants to be taken in by the very same party? People say a lot of things in politics, this is true. But there are ways to do things and ways not to do things.

However, in New York State, nothin' says lovin' like the words "self-financed campaign." So, Golisano was given more attention and respect than he quite frankly deserved. Sure, he has a fat wallet, but it's only half the size of his ego, and a hundred times larger than his political instinct.

But now that he has bowed out, we have nothing to worry about. Well, almost nothing. There's still that Eliot Spitzer guy out there. But we'll work something out.