Lazio drops out of NY governor's race

Rick Lazio formally ended his run for governor Monday, announcing that he's dropping off the Conservative Party line nearly two weeks after losing the GOP primary to Buffalo businessman Carl Paladino.

Lazio, the former Brightwaters congressman, said continuing on the Conservative line would guarantee a general election victory for Democratic Attorney General Andrew Cuomo.

A candidate can be removed from office only if he dies, moves out of state or is nominated for a judgeship. Various reports Monday indicated Lazio would be the Republican nominee for a Bronx judgeship, but Lazio declined to offer specifics about his immediate future other than to say he is not moving and "the death thing is out."

Conservative Party chairman Mike Long did not immediately return a phone call.

While Lazio said he seeks to prevent a Cuomo victory, he spent much of his 15-minute midtown Manhattan news conference directly addressing the perceived faults of Paladino, who beat him by 25 points in the Sept. 14 GOP primary.

"I remain unconvinced that Carl Paladino will bring the improvements that New Yorkers need and want," Lazio said. "Nobody's going to have a job because of a slur or because somebody is called a name. New York is not going to feel any more confident with a lot of mudslinging on both sides."

Lazio won his initial place as the GOP's favored candidate during the May party convention in which he successfully kept Suffolk County Executive Steve Levy from winning a place on the primary ballot. Levy had campaigned on a platform that Lazio did not have enough money or spark to galvanize Republican voters during the general election.

Asked if the party would have been better off choosing Levy, Lazio said, "I'm not going to answer that," adding that "I think there's going to be a lot of soul-searching in the Republican Party . . . and their basic leadership. There will be lots of people talking about this in the weeks and months to come."