NY governor's race heats up with party switch

By Ellen Wulfhorst

NEW YORK (Reuters) - The race for New York governor heated up on Friday when a local Democratic official joined the campaign and switched parties, saying his views mesh best with Republicans and whose primary election is seen easier to win.

Steve Levy, chief executive of Suffolk County, said he was becoming a Republican based on his political views but experts said his switch was a mix of ideology and expediency.

The troubles of the Obama administration and the recent surprise election of Republican Scott Brown to the Senate from Massachusetts were likely factors that played in his decision to join the Republicans, they said.

"The outlook for the Democratic Party has darkened in the last 12 months because the Obama administration and the Democrats on Capitol Hill are suffering falling confidence and support," said Roger Davidson, visiting professor of political science at the University of California at Santa Barbara.

Declaring his candidacy, Levy said: "Republican leaders reached out for me when they saw there was a need for dramatic change in this state. They liked what they saw."

"My philosophy of fiscal constraint fits perfectly with the message that is espoused by the people behind me," he said, flanked on stage by several state Republicans.

As a Republican, Levy faces former Representative Rick Lazio for the party's nomination. Lazio ran for Senate in 2000, when he was defeated by Hillary Clinton.

Had Levy remained a Democrat, his likely rival for the nomination would have been state Attorney General Andrew Cuomo, the son of former Governor Mario Cuomo. The younger Cuomo has not announced his plans but has amassed a large campaign war chest and is seen as the Democratic front-runner .

Incumbent Governor Democrat David Paterson has pulled out of the race, enmeshed in scandal and under investigation.

Levy defended his campaign against several questions from reporters as to whether his move was one of opportunism.

"There are some who would try to make the case that this is opportunism. I don't think that dog hunts in this particular case," Levy said.

The Lazio campaign issued a statement calling Levy a liberal and a supporter of President Barack Obama.

New York has a tradition of party-switching, said John Berg, an expert in political parties at Suffolk University. Mayor Michael Bloomberg left the Democratic Party to run as a Republican and the late John Lindsay switched from Republican to Democrat while mayor of New York.

"It may be that New York voters, because of that tradition, don't pay as much attention to it," Berg said.

(Editing by Mark Egan and Bill Trott)