"After weeks of messy public squabbling, leaders of the New York Republican Party met in a smoke-free back room... and reversed course, urging Jeanine Pirro to quit her bid to unseat Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-NY) and run for state attorney general next year," the New York Times reports.
"The shift by the party came just six months after many of the same Republican leaders recruited her for the bid, and it signaled the mounting disarray of a state party that finds itself in danger of losing the governor's mansion and its majority in the State Senate in 2006. Should Ms. Pirro ultimately pull out, as many party leaders expect, Republicans will be left without a high-profile challenger to Mrs. Clinton as she seeks a commanding re-election victory in advance of a possible presidential bid in 2008."
The Albany Times-Union notes Pirro issued a "terse statement" indicating she wasn't budging, but aides "have not ruled out her abandoning the race."