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There are rumors that former Massachusetts Governor William Weld is considering to run for NY State Governor on the Republican ticket, since it seems like Governor George Pataki is on his way out, with bigger political ambitions in mind and a state that really hates him. Weld is an interesting Republican, as he believes drugs like marijuana should be legalized (that stance basically killed his attempt to be Ambassador to Mexico), is pro-choice and has relatively more liberal views. That could make him interesting and compelling matchup against Attorney General Eliot Spitzer, who is the frontrunner for the Democratic nomination. Gothamist imagines that the attack on Weld would be that he's a carpetbagger politician, just trying to shore up the Republican party's hold on governorships. Weld has been working in a NYC law firm since his resignation as Governor in 1997, so he's not a total carpetbagger, but still, Gothamist wonderes if this phenomenon will continue of well-known politicians retrenching in areas they haven't really lived before in order to help the party (think any number of Senators, such as Hillary Clinton or even Elizabeth Dole who did return to her homestate).
Here's a Weld profile and a Newsweek article he wrote about debating John Kerry back in 1996.
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He's technically not a carpetbagger at all, he's originally from New York.
Which means he was a carpetbagger when he ran in MA. :-)
Anyway, big deal. When Hillary ran in New York she was prominent in national politics and popular in the state; Weld is just going to inspire a shrug from most voters. Not a threat to Spitzer in the slightest.
I wouldn't write Weld off. He's really smart and has a way of making the media chuckle -- the Boston media was really much kinder to him than they would have with otherwise been.