Just days before the annual Harvard-Yale football match, a conspicuous Eli will enter enemy territory. New York Republican Governor George E. Pataki, who graduated from Yale in 1967, will deliver the Albert H. Gordon Lecture on Finance and Public Policy here on Nov. 14, the Institute of Politics (IOP) announced yesterday.

Several prominent figures who delivered past Gordon lectures at Harvard have been—or have gone on to be—heads of state. The list includes President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf of Liberia this year; then-President Joaquim Chissano of Mozambique in 2004; President Festus G. Mogae of Botswana in 2000; former British Prime Minister John Major in 1999; and former President George H.W. Bush in 1998. And it appears that Pataki aspires to the title of president as well. While he has not officially announced a bid for his party’s nomination in 2008, his political action committee has opened campaign offices in Iowa and New Hampshire, two states that are early stops on the road to the White House.

Pataki has said he will not seek a fourth term as governor.
The Gordon lectures, established in 1987, honor the 105-year-old investor Albert H. Gordon ‘23.

IOP Forum Director Bill H. White said that the institute’s lecturer selection committee was particularly interested in Pataki because of his high profile and rumored presidential aspirations.

The topic of Pataki’s speech has not yet been decided, according to Kennedy School spokesman Doug Gavel.

Pataki, the nation’s longest-serving governor, isn’t the only potential 2008 White House hopeful to make an appearance at Harvard recently: Democrats Evan Bayh, John Edwards, John Kerry, and Barack Obama have all spoken on campus since the last presidential race—as have Republicans Bill Frist and Newt Gingrich.

And during the 2004 race, eight Democratic presidential candidates participated in IOP forums that were televised nationally on MSNBC’s “Hardball.”

The president of the Harvard College Democrats, Eric P. Lesser said that Harvard’s proximity to New Hampshire and its resources--including professors’ advice and student volunteers--draw candidates to Harvard.

Pataki’s office did not return requests for comment.

Pataki, who says he supports abortion rights, would likely be at odds with more conservative members of his own party in a presidential race.

In a poll published this month by the University of New Hampshire and WMUR-TV, 1 percent of likely Republican primary voters in the Granite State said they would choose Pataki.