In a sign that Mr. McCain was now willing to battle Mr. Giuliani, the former mayor of New York, in the city and state that gave rise to Mr. Giuliani’s political fortunes, Mr. McCain released a list of his New York supporters, among them Kissinger, the former secretary of state, and Peter Peterson, A co-founder of the Blackstone Group and a former secretary of commerce.
Also on the list was Michael Finnegan who was counsel to former Gov. George Pataki of New York. Mr. 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 Richard Nixon and a senior partner at Patterson Belknap Webb & Tyler, Mr. Giuliani’s former law firm, is the chairman of Mr. McCain’s campaign in New York.
Mr. D’Amato had earlier endorsed Fred Thompson, but he switched to Mr. McCain, who is leading nationally in polls and gaining in New York, shortly before Mr. Thompson withdrew from the presidential race on Tuesday.
Mr. D’Amato stood in the St. Regis Library Room with former Senator Phil Gramm of Texas, another McCain supporter, and praised Mr. McCain before the start of the fund-raiser. “He will be, in my opinion, the strongest Republican candidate,” Mr. D’Amato said. “And for those of you who say, ‘Well, I disagree with him on one issue or another,’ if you want to win in November, John McCain, he’s the man.”
Mr. McCain said he was heartened by his frequent mentions on Monday night 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.”
Mr. D’Amato has not had a close relationship with Mr. McCain. When Mr. D’Amato was in the Senate, people close to him said he was not fond of Mr. McCain’s signature causes, reining in campaign spending and pork barrel projects, two areas in which Mr. D’Amato excelled. But Mr. D’Amato has long had a difficult relationship with Mr. Giuliani, who angered him in 1994 when Mr. Giuliani endorsed Mario Cuomo a Democrat, for governor. Mr. D’Amato supported Mr. Pataki that year.
Any impact from Mr. McCain’s announcement that Mr. D’Amato was supporting him was somewhat undercut because the news had been reported Tuesday morning in The New York Post. On his campaign bus in Florida earlier Tuesday, Mr. McCain cast a suspicious eye on his benefactor, who has never been known to scurry out of the limelight.
“Thanks, Al,” Mr. McCain told reporters sardonically on the way to Fort Walton Beach from Pensacola. “That’s Al the Pal.”
Charles Black, Mr. McCain’s senior adviser, chimed in, “Can’t imagine who leaked that.” .
Mr. McCain said he was raising money on Mr. Giuliani’s home base for a simple reason. “It’s the Willie Sutton syndrome,” Mr. McCain said at a news 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.”
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