The Nineties craze that dominated Super Bowl advertising — there was even a spoof of The Cable Guy — shows signs of bleeding into New York State politics: Some desperate Republicans who think this fall’s gubernatorial election is winnable are pleading with George Pataki to run again. Hey, he’s three years younger than Joe Biden. And the state party nominating convention meets next Monday and Tuesday.

Pataki, the only Republican elected governor of New York since Nelson Rockefeller, served three terms after being elected in 1994, when his major issue was restoring capital punishment when incumbent Mario Cuomo was seen as soft on crime. Pataki did indeed restore capital punishment, but not a single person was executed in New York before the state’s high court declared it unconstitutional in 2004, largely to shrugs from voters.

Pataki was probably as conservative a Republican as could hope to be elected statewide in New York (which is to say, not very conservative) but the state party is itching to make a flamboyant gesture by nominating Long Island congressman Lee Zeldin, who is both too conservative and (more important) far too tainted by his cheerleading for Donald Trump to win this fall. (Democratic gerrymandering will probably make it impossible for Zeldin to remain in Congress.) Accidental governor Kathy Hochul has largely gotten her party behind her after some initial hints that she’d have a hard time securing the nomination, but she isn’t well established in New York, she isn’t particularly good at politics, and a strong (moderate) Republican could give her a run for her money. I think the party would be wise to nominate former Westchester County executive Rob Astorino to compete against Hochul. (Rudy Giuliani’s son Andrew is also running for the GOP nod.) If Zeldin is the nominee, the attack ads will write themselves, the election will be a referendum on Donald Trump, and Zeldin will get wiped out. As for Pataki, he didn’t completely dismiss the idea of running again when contacted by the New York Post, but he didn’t sound like he was eager to get back in the game either.