New York Governor George Pataki was the keynote speaker at last night’s Iowa Republican Party fundraiser in Des Moines. Pataki is in his 10th year as New York’s Governor, and during an interview with Radio Iowa Pataki downplayed any talk that he might follow the paths of famous former New York Governors like Teddy Roosevelt and Franklin Delano Roosevelt who ended up in the White House. Pataki says he was in Iowa to help the party raise money so President Bush can carry the state in the 2004 election. Pataki isn’t willing to discuss whether he might be eyeing a presidential bid in 2008. Pataki says his immediate goals are to serve out the remaining three years of his term as New York’s Governor and to help President Bush get re-elected. During his speech, Pataki praised the way President Bush is prosecuting the war on terrorism. Pataki says winning war against terror is winning the war for our children’s freedom so we can live with confidence in the 21st century. And Pataki criticized the Democratic presidential candidates for criticizing Bush Pataki says former Vermont Governor Howard Dean recently called President Bush the enemy. Pataki says Bush isn’t the enemy, he’s the President and Dean shouldn’t look “to gain political advantage by ‘partisan-izing’ the efforts to protect us against terror.”
