John McCain is in a New York state of mind.
The Arizona senator’s campaign on Friday held a rally in Midtown to kick off his outreach to Hispanic voters across New Jersey and New York, part of a larger effort from his camp to increase his appeal in both northeastern states.
“We are working hard to reach out to voters in New York; we don’t see it as a lost cause,” a McCain adviser recently told The Post. “We think we can bring it into play.”
But outside experts say McCain doesn’t have cash to waste in big-time blue state New York, even though Barack Obama‘s average lead over McCain in the Empire State recently dropped from 20 points to 16 points, according to Real Clear Politics.
Operatives in McCain’s camp, which has absorbed much of Rudy Giuliani’s primary infrastructure and manpower, say they think they can gain enough traction among the Republican-leaning districts upstate to cause Obama concern.
But McCain has made only three prior campaign appearances in New York – excluding his numerous fund-raising pit stops – and the only TV ads running are those that overlap from New Jersey.
McCain has put in much more ground time in neighboring New Jersey, a state his team is working hard to flip Republican this fall, a senior adviser said.