George Pataki: ‘I May Well Be Running’ in 2016

The race for the Republican presidential nomination in 2016 appears at risk of becoming a ‘me too’ contest now as even former New York Governor George Pataki (R) claims to be “very interested” in a run. “I may well be running” said Pataki on MSNBC’s Morning Joe program.

“I’m very interested in this. I talked about it in the past, the campaign laws are such that I can’t say that I’m running, but I would expect that I may well be running. The reason is very simple to me. This is the worst condition I’ve seen the globe in and our government in, certainly since the fall of the Iron Curtain” he added.

Pataki will be 70 in June and hasn’t held office since 2006. He served three consecutive four-year terms as New York’s Governor beginning in 1995.

The National Republican Senatorial Committee and others tried to recruit Pataki to run for the Senate in 2010. He declined and hinted at a run for the White House in 2012.

Former New York Gov. George Pataki (R) is being urged by major Republican donors and the party apparatus in Washington to run against Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D) in 2010. While he has not made a final decision on a Senate run, Pataki has told at least one major GOP donor in private that he is not interested in becoming a senator at the age of 64 and would rather run for president in 2012.

Pataki made one trip to Iowa before 2012, then announced he would not be running in 2012. If he’s been in Iowa since, no one seems to have noticed.