By Suzanne Dougherty
Congressional Quarterly

Electoral votes: 33

Delegates: 101

Chairman: William Powers

Hotel: The Warwick (215) 735-6000

1996 Election:
Clinton – 60%
Dole – 31%
Perot – 8%

There may not have been a better place than New York for Arizona Sen. John McCain to display the maverick tendencies that made him a populist star in the Republican nominating campaign.

McCain had burnished that image by taking on Gov. George E. Pataki and the rest of the New York Republican establishment - nearly solidly behind favored Texas Gov. George W. Bush - and embarrassing them into waiving the state's byzantine ballot access requirements for the March 7 primary.

Those rules, if enforced, would have crippled McCain's campaign in the state and virtually guaranteed victory to the campaign's front-runner - as they did in 1996, when former Kansas Sen. Bob Dole claimed all of New York's delegates.

Even though more than a dozen other states held primaries March 7, McCain focused most of his effort on New York, hoping that the moderate leanings of many of the state Republicans would allow him to score at least one big campaign-altering victory.

But it didn't happen. While McCain ran better in New York than in some other states, Bush held on to dominate the primary.

How popular Bush was relative to McCain in the overall vote was impossible to measure. There was no presidential preference tally in the New York primary, as voters chose among delegates pledged to the presidential candidates rather than between the candidates themselves.

The end result, though, was a clear Bush victory, as he claimed 68 delegates to 25 for McCain. The remaining eight at-large delegates were chosen at the May 30 Republican state convention, with seven slots going to Bush supporters and one to a McCain backer.

The makeup of the 101-member delegation conveys the early coalescence of the party establishment behind Bush and McCain's reliance on grass-roots activists.

Leading the charge for Bush in New York was Pataki, who unseated three-term Democratic Gov. Mario M. Cuomo in 1994 and was re-elected in a 1998 landslide. One of the earliest and most vocal supporters of Bush, Pataki was on the early long list of Bush's potential vice presidential choices.

The New York delegation is chaired by state Republican Party Chairman William Powers, another Bush supporter.

The Bush delegate roster also includes Lt. Gov. Mary O. Donohue; Republican National Committeeman Joseph Mondello, longtime chairman of the Nassau County Republican Party; four-term Rep. Rick A. Lazio, who burst onto the national scene in May when he jumped into the Senate race against the Democratic contender, first lady Hillary Rodham Clinton; New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani, whose decision to end his Senate bid opened the way for Lazio; and state Senate Majority Leader Joseph L. Bruno.

The 25 McCain delegates are short on high-profile names. The one notable exception is Guy V. Molinari, Staten Island borough president and U.S. representative from 1981 to 1990. Though he initially endorsed Bush, he switched his support to McCain because he thought that Bush was moving too far to the right during the nominating campaign.

However, Molinari has decided not to attend the convention for family reasons.

McCain ran best in suburban Long Island, picking up 12 of the 15 delegates at stake, and in parts of New York City.

Delegates interviewed by Congressional Quarterly professed that there is little lingering animosity between Bush and McCain supporters. McCain's ballot access battle resulted in a change in state law easing access requirements, and Bruno called it "ancient history." He added, "On a policy level and on an organizational level, we are a united group."

While not all of the McCain delegates are relinquishing their support for the Arizona senator, it is not expected to be a divisive issue. "I am duty-bound to McCain and I will support him until he tells us not to," said state Rep. Thomas Kirwan, one of the few McCain delegates from the Upstate region.

If restoring Republican control of the White House and carrying New York's electoral votes for the first time since 1984 were not enough to focus their attention, the state Republican delegation has a cause célèbre to promote in its bid to "stop Hillary."

Senate candidate Lazio undoubtedly will be showcased at the convention: Though polls show he is already competitive with Clinton's controversial campaign, his late start has him still trying to introduce himself to many New York voters.

One New Yorker, though, is gone from the center stage she occupied at the 1996 Republican convention. Susan Molinari, daughter of Guy V. Molinari, was a U.S. House member and Republican rising star when she gave the keynote address in San Diego four years ago. But in 1997, Molinari abruptly resigned from the House to pursue a career in broadcasting.

NEW YORK NOTABLES: Gov. George E. Pataki; state Republican Chairman William Powers, the delegation chairman; Lt. Gov. Mary O. Donohue; Republican National Committeeman Joseph Mondello, the longtime chairman of the Nassau County Republican Party; four-term Rep. Rick A. Lazio, the Republican Senate nominee against first lady Hillary Rodham Clinton; New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani; and state Senate Majority Leader Joseph L. Bruno.