John McCain scooped up $1 million for his presidential campaign on Tuesday night in the epicentre of Rudolph W Giuliani’s political turf, the St Regis Hotel in midtown Manhattan, and announced the support of former Senator Alfonse M D’Amato and a swath of the New York Republican establishment.In a sign that McCain was now willing to battle Giuliani in the city and state that gave rise to Giuliani’s political fortunes, McCain released a list of his New York supporters, among them Henry A Kissinger, the former secretary of state, and Peter G Peterson, a co-founder of the Blackstone Group and a former secretary of commerce. Also on the list was Michael C Finnegan, who was counsel to former Governor George E Pataki of New York. Pataki has not endorsed a candidate for President, and it is not clear that he will. Edward F Cox, a son-in-law of President Nixon and a senior partner at Patterson, Belknap, Webb & Tyler, Giuliani’s former law firm, is the chairman of McCain’s campaign in New York.Giuliani continues to have the support of much of the state’s Republican political hierarchy. D’Amato stood in the St Regis Library Room with former Senator Phil Gramm of Texas, another McCain supporter, and praised McCain before the start of the fundraiser. “He will be, in my opinion, the strongest Republican candidate,” D’Amato said. McCain said he was heartened by his frequent mentions on Monday by the Democratic presidential candidates at a debate in South Carolina. “It’s pretty clear that they view me as their most formidable opponent,” he said, “and I agree with them.” D’Amato had earlier endorsed Fred D Thompson, but he switched to McCain.D’Amato has not had a close relationship with McCain. When D’Amato was in the Senate, people close to him said he was not fond of McCain’s signature causes, reigning in campaign spending and pork barrel projects, two areas in which D’Amato excelled.But D’Amato has long had a difficult relationship with Giuliani, who angered him in 1994 when Giuliani endorsed Mario M Cuomo, a Democrat, for Governor. D’Amato supported Pataki that year.Any impact from McCain’s announcement that D’Amato was supporting him was somewhat undercut because the news had been reported on Tuesday morning in The New York Post. “Thanks, Al,” McCain told reporters sardonically on the way to Fort Walton Beach from Pensacola. “That’s Al the Pal.” “Can’t imagine who leaked that,” chimed in Charles Black, McCain’s senior advisor.McCain said he was raising money on Giuliani’s home base for a simple reason. “It’s the Willie Sutton syndrome,” He said at a press conference in Pensacola, referring to the bank robber of the 1930s. “They asked him why he robbed banks, and he said it’s because that’s where the money is.” California Republican raceThe Republican race is as scrambled in delegate-rich California as everywhere else, lacking a single candidate who can unite party factions, meaning California is still anybody’s game. Democratic raceA new field poll of likely California Democrats and non-partisan voters gave Hillary Clinton a solid 39 to 27 per cent lead over Barack Obama
