What did Rick Lazio do wrong?

For a while, he's been the only constant in the governor's race. The downstate Republican declared early, and he has rolled out a steady stream of endorsements. (Among his backers is Monroe County Executive Maggie Brooks, who some speculate is a possible lieutenant governor candidate.)

Lazio has weighed in regularly on topics of state interest. He's opposed Governor David Paterson's budget proposal as well as Congressional health-care legislation. (He's said little, though, about what he'd do as governor, short of platitudes about fiscal restraint.)

But now he's facing a potential primary challenge from Suffolk County Executive Steve Levy, a Democrat who's changing his registration to Republican. Levy already has some support from state Republican leaders, including party chair Ed Cox.

"I welcome Steve Levy into our party and, with his outstanding record of fiscal conservatism and detailed plan to save New York, I endorse his run for governor," Cox said in a statement released early this afternoon. Cox also said seven of nine regional vice chairs came to the same conclusion.

Cox asked Levy and Lazio to follow the 11th Commandment - Ronald Regan's rule that Republicans not drag each other through the mud. But Lazio's already started attacking Levy, calling him a "liberal Democrat."