State GOP Chairman Ed Cox insisted to me yesterday that unnamed backers of the Republican Governors Association will be supporting his preferred candidate for governor, Suffolk County Executive Steve Levy, even if the organization’s chairman, Haley Barbour, has declined to do so.

At the same time, Cox also seemed to call into question Levy’s claim that the RGA indicated it would spend between $8 and $10 million to assist him if he changed his enrollment and jump into the governor’s race. Here’s my exchange with him from yesterday’s “Capital Tonight”:

LB: You say that the momentum is going in Steve Levy’s direction, but actually we see that the republican governor’s association is backing away from from him. He claims that they were very encouraging of him and have even pledged to spend 8 to 10 million. Haley Barber, chairman of that organization, saying he’s not going to get involved.

EC: No, that’s not what was said. I was there at the initial meeting and I have spoken to a lot of the backers of the Republican Governors Association. The people actually put money into the campaigns. I kept encountering from them and I mentioned Rick and they said: ‘We like him, but he can’t win do you have anyone else?’ When they saw Steve Levy, they said: ‘Boy, Steve is good, we’re willing to back him.’

So in the end there is going to be significant backing from the people who are backers of the Republican Governors Association.

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