Gov. David Paterson’s former fundraiser, Cindy Darrison, has officially signed on with the man widely seen as the governor’s top potential rival in 2010: AG Andrew Cuomo. …
Darrison departed after Spitzer was elected in 2006 and was brought back by Paterson soon after he ascended to the governor’s office last spring in the wake of Spitzer’s prostitution scandal.
Darrison said her firm, Darrison Barrett & Associates, will joining Cuomo’s campaign team as a consultant. Cuomo’s finance chair, Amy Dowell, will continue on in her current role.
This could all just be a bunch of inside baseball, but of course it might also be a signal that Cuomo is gearing up to take on the floundering Paterson in the Dem primary next year. Now, even if he doesn’t, Cuomo would still have to seek re-election to the AG post. But a) surely he has fundraisers from his 2006 campaign ready to work for him again and b) it’s doubtful he’d face serious competition. So this suggests to me he’s at least getting the pieces in place in case he does want to go for the brass ring. (Shoulda named him to the Senate, Guvnah.)
He’s more gutless than his father. And stupid to boot. He’ll never have a better opportunity. A dead-in-the-water primary opponent, and no incubment on the other side. He’ll never get as good a chance again.
but cuomo loses nothing by not announcing soon. no other democrat can come close and paterson sinks every month.
the minute cuomo announces, the NY press is out for his scalp.
I stand by my own dislike of Cuomo (for various reasons). The only reason I’d have for supporting him over Paterson is simply the fact that his prospects in the general election are almost certainly much better than Paterson’s are.
if Cuomo was appointed to the Senate. Most of Paterson’s problems are from the budget and the beating he’s getting concerning healthcare. If Cuomo was appointed to the Senate, there is nothing that prevents him from turning around and saying “I’m standing for Governor in 2010 instead of the Senate”
And, Paterson would still face a strong primary opponent from someone else, say Suozzi or Weiner.
In the end, we might have actually dodged a bullet by keeping Cuomo out of the Senate. Otherwise there would’ve have been a real risk of Paterson facing off against Giuliani and losing. I suspect this is why many Democratic activists I talked to were hesistant to support Cuomo for Senate.