He's not (yet) a registered member of the party nor a declared candidate for governor but B. Thomas Golisano is a favorite of Republican voters.

Support for the owner of the Buffalo Sabres is revealed in a poll released Tuesday by Quinnipiac University.

Golisano, a billionaire businessman who has unsuccessfully run for the state's top elected job three times as an independent, is favored by 33 percent of registered GOP voters. That dwarfs support for three other candidates -- John Faso (8 percent), Randy Daniels (7 percent), and William Weld (6 percent).

The bad news for Golisano in the poll is he still comes up well short against Democrat and state Attorney General Eliot Spitzer. According to Quinnipiac, Spitzer would easily defeat Golisano, 56 - 22 percent.

"Golisano earned name recognition by running against the Republican Party, but name recognition counts," said Maurice Carroll, director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute. "He leads the Republican quartet for governor with the best showing against Spitzer, but he still loses more than 2 - 1."

New York Democratic Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton also holds a commanding lead over two potential GOP Candidates. Clinton leads Edward Cox, 62 - 30 percent, and Westchester County District Attorney Jeanine Pirro, 61 - 30 percent. Pirro, however, is favored among GOP voters, 40 -25 percent.

The poll of more than 1,200 state voters has a margin of error of +/- 2.8 percentage points

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