Ed Cox is out. The Manhattan lawyer and a son-in-law of President Richard M. Nixon has decided (for now) that he will not run for the Senate this year. Recent reports had several prominent state Republicans courting him to run against Hillary this November. Cox said in a statement that "after careful consideration of the circumstances and conditions as they exist surrounding the race, including the now shortened time frame available to run an aggressive and effective campaign, I will not seek my party's nomination."
If Cox had decided to officially enter the race, he would have had nearly four more months to campaign than Mrs. Clinton's last Senate opponent, Rick Lazio, who was nominated by the party in the last week of May 2000, just after Rudy Giuliani dropped out. Cox's withdrawal from the race dashes the hopes of those who wanted to see relatives of disgraced former presidents square off, and leaves only former Yonkers mayor John Spencer as the GOP's likely nominee, as state Republican Chairman Stephen J. Minarik III confirmed: "[I]t looks to be that we're headed to John Spencer being the candidate."
Meanwhile, the state Democrats - classy as always - mockingly called Spencer the "eighth choice" and patronizingly added, "Note to the New York State Republican Party: Don't despair, you may not have to settle for John Spencer just yet. There are still about a dozen registered Republicans left in New York who you haven't asked yet."
Spencer's campaign remains determined, as his campaign manager paraphrased Gandhi: "First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you beat them." Of course, the last time Hillary referenced Gandhi, it was to claim that he "ran a gas station down in St. Louis." Guess there aren't many Indian voters in New York.
