Former Gov. George Pataki today confirmed — with a laugh — that he isn’t being considered by presumptive Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney as a potential running mate.

Pataki, who endorsed Senate candidate Wendy Long earlier today, was asked by our NY1 Noticias colleague Juan Manuel Benitez whether he expects a call in the next few days from the former Massachusetts governor.

“I’m from New York,” Pataki joked.

Chimed in Long: “We’re going to make New York a swing state.”

Pataki has been doing surrogate work for Romney over the last several weeks and as recently as this morning appeared on the candidate’s behalf to talk welfare reform on Fox News.

The expectation is that Romney will pick a “boring white guy” for vice president and the leading contenders include Ohio Sen. Rob Portman and former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty, though there is a last-minute effort to have either New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie or Wisconsin Rep. Paul Ryan become the runningmate.

Pataki, a famously cautious politician, was cautious as to whether he had a favorite among the short listers.

“No, I like a lot of them,” he said.

Share|