N.Y. GOP Sizes Up Lazio as Its Best Shot in Senate Fight With First Lady

As Republicans scramble to find a successor to Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani in the U.S. Senate race, all eyes are turning toward Rick Lazio, an up-and-coming but little-known Long Island congressman who appears to be the solid favorite of Gov. George Pataki and other GOP leaders to carry on the fight against Hillary Rodham Clinton.

While others have also indicated they may try to win the nomination, the early betting line is that Lazio, a 43-year-old moderate-to-conservative politician, will become the candidate as long as the governor wills it.

Besides Lazio, possible candidates are Reps. Peter T. King of Long Island, Vito Fossella of Staten Island and Jack Quinn of Buffalo, along with Lt. Gov. Mary O. Donohue. Most political professionals believe Pataki would be the strongest candidate to take on Clinton, yet the governor has repeatedly ruled out any possibility he would seek to enter the Senate race.

“The reality is that Pataki holds all the cards in this, and he seems to be leaning solidly toward Rick,” King said. “That’s how things work in New York; the governor controls the delegates to the nominating convention. And I’ll support the party’s eventual nominee.”

Lazio, who indicated he will formally enter the race today, said in a statement that he wishes Giuliani well and considers himself “the Republican who is best able to unite our party and defeat Hillary Clinton in November.”

Republicans are determined to reach a consensus in the 10 days left before their convention in Buffalo, but across New York one political question dominated: Who exactly is Rick Lazio?

The boyish-looking congressman, who grew up in a Roman Catholic, working-class home in suburban Suffolk County, has been a staunchly loyal party member during his four terms in Congress. Yet he has taken maverick positions on key issues that set him apart from the GOP’s conservative mainstream.

Lazio, for example, is generally in favor of abortion rights, even though he has voted against late-term abortions. He favors strong gun control legislation. He has a pro-environment voting record. He has been an advocate for expanded public housing funding, and he has supported family leave legislation.

He has also supported the death penalty and voted for fiscally conservative Republican budgets. He supported former House Speaker Newt Gingrich’s “contract with America” legislation 94% of the time, according to a study by Congressional Quarterly. Overall, Lazio presents “a strong suit on key issues facing New York . . . and it would be very tough for Hillary Clinton to attack him on any of these positions,” said Joseph Mercurio, a veteran GOP political consultant who backed Giuliani.

The congressman’s key problem, experts agree, is that he is virtually unknown outside his Long Island district. Although he suggested several years ago that he hoped to seek the GOP Senate nomination, Pataki and other party elders persuaded him to put his ambitions on hold as long as Giuliani remained the prohibitive favorite.

A personable legislator who works well with Democrats, Lazio was courted by the White House in 1998 as a potential vote against impeachment, even though he voted against Clinton. First elected in 1992, he went to Vassar College and got a law degree from American University. He and his wife, Patricia, live in Brightwaters with their two children.

“He’s been a very able legislator, and he has quite a strong backing within the Republican Party,” said John Mollenkopf, director of the Urban Research Center at the State University of New York Graduate School. “Lazio has a good background in urban affairs, and she [Clinton] would be foolish to get overconfident at this time.”

The first lady would probably be favored to win a November matchup against Lazio, especially since she has been campaigning effectively upstate and in other heavily Republican areas, according to former Democratic Gov. Mario M. Cuomo.

“I have told her: ‘Rudy can’t beat you, only you can beat you,’ ” Cuomo said. “If you are able to make the case for yourself strongly enough, if you’re honest and direct, nobody--neither the mayor or Rick Lazio--will stop you.”