Weld Flashback

On January 5, 2000, the day he officially took up residency in New York, Bill Weld gave this interview to Matt Lauer:

LAUER: What--what's the timing of this? Obviously, in this state there's a law that you have to live here for five years before you could become governor. So that would put you in about a year before the 2006 elections.

Mr. WELD: Right.

LAUER: Is that what's on your mind?

Mr. WELD: Well, what's on my mind is helping my law firm in the New York office. But coincidentally, it would satisfy the five-year residency requirement. Not that I'm a carpetbagger. I was a carpetbagger up in Massachusetts. But I'm a New York native. So I'm...

LAUER: You were born down here.

Mr. WELD: I'm--I'm a native of Smithtown, which is the suburbs. I live in Manhattan and I've always had a place in upstate New York. So I'll be--I'll be indomitable in 2006, Matt.

LAUER: Do you...

Mr. WELD: You heard it here first.

LAUER: Do you want to be governor?

Mr. WELD: Well, I've been a governor. I know how to be...

LAUER: Do you want to be governor of this state?

Mr. WELD: I think it's the great state and it's the only job that I can think of that would affect me in public life. I wouldn't run against Pataki or Giuliani. They were here first. They're both pals of mine. But 2006 is a long way away. They could both have moved on by then.