Cahill shapes strategy in whether to seek attorney general spot

John P. Cahill, ex-Gov. George Pataki’s former chief of staff and current law partner, weighs a run for attorney general against incumbent Eric T. Schneiderman, a source close to the maybe-candidate said Cahill would have to get the GOP nomination without a primary.

“The only way John goes is if there’s a clear field,” the ally said. “He does not need to be dragged to the right [by a rival]. The only way to play this year is to stay on theme from start to finish.”

Those around Cahill, who was also Pataki’s environmental commissioner, see Schneiderman as beatable and relatively unknown by voters, unlike his predecessor, Andrew M. Cuomo, now governor.

In 2010 Schneiderman, then a state senator, emerged from a Democratic primary race to beat Staten Island District Attorney Dan Donovan in the election, 55 to 44 percent. Donovan had both the Republican and Conservative nominations, unchallenged.