I am told reliably, but have not yet confirmed, that Governor George Pataki endorsed Doug Hoffman tonight at a Conservative Party event.

As Matt Drudge would say: Developing . . .

If this is so, this is huge. Pataki routinely won NY-23 by huge margins. He remains quite popular up there.

UPDATE: IT IS CONFIRMED. Gov. George Pataki has endorsed Doug Hoffman for the United States Congress.

Pataki’s statement:

Statement from Governor George E. Pataki

As someone personally engaged in the way of life in the Adirondacks and Northern New York, I’m deeply concerned about the course of our nation and the outcome of the election in the 23rd Congressional District.

Simply put, we cannot afford to give another vote to Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid we cannot afford another vote for higher taxes, we cannot afford another vote for government run health care and we absolutely cannot afford another vote to take away from hard working men and women the right to secret ballot.

That is why tonight, I’m proud to endorse Doug Hoffman, a Republican, running on the Conservative line for Congress in the 23rd Congressional District.

Doug Hoffman will stand up to Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid. He will fight for all the residents of northern New York. He will fight for our proud servicemen and women at Fort Drum, our dairy farmers in Lowville and our manufacturers in Plattsburgh.

As a businessman, and as a life-long resident of the North Country Doug Hoffman understands the need to lower taxes on working families, the need to stand tall against terror and he won’t back phony stimulus programs that fail to create the jobs we need and leaves a mountain of debt to our children.

When elected to Congress Doug will work to reduce our taxes, he will stand tall against those who despise our freedoms and he will be a vigilant stalwart against those who would substitute government programs for individual initiative.

And Doug Hoffman can win.

I urge all the voters of the 23rd Congressional District – Republican Democrat, Independent and Conservative to come out and vote for Doug Hoffman for Congress.

George Pataki and Al D’Amato in particular, but both and Rudy too were helped by New York’s Conservative Party.

George Pataki would not have been elected Governor the first time without the Conservative Party’s assistance.

They are not just local names. All three have national names. They are connected to the Republican Party and, to a degree, they are connected to the fall of the Republicans in New York.

All three, though, have been supported by Republicans and by conservatives. Some may not have always agreed with them on positions, but I think the overwhelming majority of conservatives always recognized them to be good men who were with us a heck of a lot more than they were against us.

Why are they remaining silent?

Doug Hoffman’s victory in NY-23 will serve as a repudiation to the New York Republican Party, which, after D’Amato, Pataki, and Guiliani, largely grew fat, happy, and corrupt — riding on the victories of those three men without the party itself doing anything.

George Pataki, Al D’Amato, and Rudy Guiliani could help rebuild the brand and rebuild a movement for positive change in New York. Ironically, to do it, they would have to come out strongly for Doug Hoffman instead of the woman who nominally has the “R” next to her name.

But they can and they should. I hope they will.

Take this one with all the usual caveats - the election is far away, who knows if this is a good sample, Gillibrand has months to improve her name ID, etc. Still, Carolyn Maloney has the ability to raise lots of money and there is no doubt that her views are more in line with the extreme leftist views of New York Democrat primary voters. Given those facts, Gillibrand ought to be extremely concerned that she already trails Maloney in a trial heat for the 2010 Senate nomination:

The 2010 Democratic primary for U.S. Senator remains in play as 27 percent back U.S. Rep. Carolyn Maloney and 23 percent back U.S. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, with 4 percent for Jonathan Tasini and 44 percent undecided…

Voters know little about the possible Senate candidates: 63 percent don’t know enough about Gillibrand to form an opinion; 67 percent don’t know enough about Maloney and 66 percent don’t know enough about King.

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New York is a deep blue state, with a populace that says the nation is on the right track, and which gives Barack Obama high marks. That should be the perfect setting for Democratic incumbents to cruise to re-election, right?

Not so much:

…If a Democratic primary for Governor were held today, [incumbent Dem Governor David] Paterson would lose to Attorney General Andrew Cuomo by nearly four-to-one, and Paterson would be easily beaten in a general election by former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani…

In a hypothetical 2010 Democratic primary for Governor, Cuomo leads Paterson 67-17 percent, up from last month?s 53-27 percent. In December Paterson led 49-26 percent. In a potential general election matchup, Giuliani beats Paterson 56-33 percent, up from 51-36 percent last month. Paterson led 51-38 percent in December. Cuomo leads Giuliani 51-41 percent, similar to last month?s 51-38 percent…

“New Yorkers, who give the President a 70-23 percent favorable rating, believe the country is headed on the right track, however, they say the Empire State is headed in the wrong direction,” Greenberg said…

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