Another Billionaire in the Race

Donald Trump appears to be the mystery candidate, according to Republican sources, as Joe Mahoney of the Daily News reported this morning, but some of these sources tend to be the same people predicting that George Pataki is going to be President of the United States.

They should make a reality tv show about Albany's nonsense -- a year on the campaign trail with Donald Trump.

Memo To Mr. Trump:

Joe Bruno can deliver you 25 percent of the weighted vote at the Republican Convention, so congratulations on entering the Republican Primary.  With the presence of another billionaire in the race, Mr. Golisano, and a millionaire, Mr. Weld, expect to spend between $75-100 million of your own money.

The State Senate is very grateful that you will be subsidizing political operations and the pensions of several political consultants.  These are hard-working ladies and gentleman who can be relied upon to promote the show.

Republican donors are extremely grateful that you're footing the entire bill in 2006.  They all promise to show up to vote on Election Day, though we might have a problem with those who show up to vote for Tom Golisano or Patrick Manning.

It adds to the intrique of the show.  Consider them plot twists.  Also, you're going to be a little sleep deprived for eleven months but this should be great for your ratings.

Of course, the media is overjoyed that you're a candidate.  They expect your outlay of money for television commercials, radio sound bytes and full page ads in newspapers will make the stockholders of their parent companies very happy indeed.

Your best reception should be from the working press, who never had it so good.  Suddenly, politics is sexy in New York and we hear many reporters have already queried publishers about writing books about 2006.  The more scandals, the better.

The networks are very pleased at the idea of a statewide candidate being followed around by cameras -- and you're a real sport about the loss of privacy, the background checks, the ongoing investigations and all those photographs of you milking a cow.

Don't worry about that guy Pataki.  He will be fairly distracted next year trying to raise his name i.d. in Iowa and New Hampshire.  We don't expect the few hundred million he intends to raise from New York donors will be a liability for a billionaire like you.