1010 News

It's Official: Clinton, Spitzer, Cuomo Have Primaries

ALBANY (1010 WINS) -- The state Board of Elections, as expected, officially declared on Monday that Democratic front-runners Hillary Rodham Clinton, Eliot Spitzer and Andrew Cuomo will all face Sept. 12 primary challenges.

The action came as state election officials certified the state's primary ballot.

Clinton will face anti-Iraq war activist Jonathan Tasini as she seeks a second Senate term. Attorney General Spitzer will face Nassau County Executive Tom Suozzi as both try to replace lame-duck Republican George Pataki as governor. Polls have shown Clinton and Spitzer with big leads over the party challengers.

Cuomo, a federal housing secretary under President Clinton and the elder son of former New York Gov. Mario Cuomo, will face former New York City Public Advocate Mark Green, former Clinton administration housing official Charlie King and former Clinton White House aide Sean Patrick Maloney in the race for the Democratic nomination to replace Spitzer as attorney general. Polls show Cuomo leading in that four-way race.

Clinton, Spitzer and Cuomo were the choices of the state Democratic convention delegates. The others circulated petitions statewide and each collected the signatures of more than 15,000 Democrats to get spots on the primary ballot.

Republicans have no statewide primaries for governor or attorney general. The GOP candidates are, respectively, former state Assembly Minority Leader John Faso and former Westchester County District Attorney Jeanine Pirro.

There is a Sept. 12 primary between former Yonkers Mayor John Spencer and Reagan-era Pentagon official Kathleen Troia ``KT'' McFarland for the U.S. Senate nomination.