TOP-SECRET polling has convinced key Democrats that Gov. Pataki can’t be beaten in the November election by either Carl McCall or Andrew Cuomo, The Post has learned.
The polls, now circulating at the highest levels of state and national Democratic Party politics, found Pataki leading both potential Democratic opponents by more than 30 percentage points in bellwether suburban counties.
“Pataki walks on water in many districts in New York,” said one of the state’s best-known Democratic political operatives, who has first-hand knowledge of the polling. “It’s inexplicable but true; people just like this guy, it’s amazing.
“Pataki’s strength in key suburban areas make him all but unbeatable. Frankly, his numbers are off the charts.
“In Suffolk County, Pataki is ahead of McCall and Cuomo by 30-plus percentage points.
“A Democrat can lose Suffolk County, but he can’t afford to lose by that much,” said the operative – whose opinions carry enormous weight in Democratic circles.
Other key Democrats, including those loyal to state Comptroller McCall and former federal Housing Secretary Cuomo, conceded the accuracy of the private polling data, which is consistent with several recent public polls.
“For whatever reason, none of the issues being pressed by McCall or Cuomo is taking hold with the public. There’s just no traction,” confessed one of the state’s most important Democrats.
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A newly formed New York political action committee has quietly begun subsidizing the paycheck of Howard Wolfson, the $150,000-a-year executive director of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee and one-time campaign spokesman for Hillary Rodham Clinton’s successful Senate campaign, The Post has learned.
The tiny, Washington-based “Committee for Leadership and Progress – NY” raised $160,000 between January and July 15, and paid Wolfson $25,000 for “consulting” services in April and June, state Board of Election Records show.
The committee is being bankrolled by some of the nation’s biggest Democratic Party donors, including Chicago businessman Fred Eychaner, $25,000, hedge fund industry powerhouse S. Donald Sussman, $25,000, and Clinton White House overnight guest and major Hillary Clinton fund-raiser S. Daniel Abraham, $25,000.
Manhattan megabuilder Donald Trump also kicked in $5,000.
Among other recent recipients of the Committee’s largesse: the Democratic Assembly Campaign Committee, $125,000; the state Democratic Party, $5,000; and the Village of Larchmont Democratic Committee, $3,000.