An earthquake of Presidential proportions in the 2010 New York Governor’s race:
WASHINGTON — President Obama has sent a request to Gov. David A. Paterson that he withdraw from the New York governor’s race, fearing that Mr. Paterson cannot recover from his dismal political standing, according to two senior administration officials and a New York Democratic operative with direct knowledge of the situation.
The decision to ask Mr. Paterson to step aside was proposed by political advisers to Mr. Obama, but approved by the president himself, one of the administration officials said.
“Is there concern about the situation in New York? Absolutely,” the second administration official said Saturday evening. “Has that concern been conveyed to the governor? Yes.”
The administration officials and the Democratic operative spoke on condition of anonymity because the discussions with the governor were intended to be confidential.
The president’s request was conveyed to the Mr. Paterson by Representative Gregory W. Meeks, a Queens Democrat, who has developed a strong relationship with the Obama administration, they said.
The move against a sitting Democratic governor represents an extraordinary intervention into a state political race by the president, and is a delicate one, given that Mr. Paterson is one of only two African-American governors in the nation.
But Mr. Obama’s political team and other party leaders have grown increasingly worried that the governor’s unpopularity could drag down Democratic members of Congress in New York, as well as the Democratic-controlled Legislature, in next fall’s election.
Mr. Paterson and his aides did not respond to repeated requests for comment Saturday. Mr. Paterson arrived on Long Island Saturday evening to attend a dinner, but walked hurriedly past a reporter who tried to ask him about the White House request.
An aide to Mr. Meeks said the congressman could not be reached Saturday.
“The message the White House wanted to send — that it wants Paterson to step aside — was delivered,” said the Democratic operative,, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the discussions were intended to be confidential. “He is resistant.”
Of course, if he resists long enough, the other half of the President’s message is emphatically clear — if Paterson does run for re-election, not only will he have a challenger for the nomination, most likely Andrew Cuomo, but that challenger will have the support of the national party.
Whether he likes it or not, Paterson is out.
Please spell my name correctly. Thank you.
–Governor Paterson
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[...] Doug Mataconis: Of course, if he resists long enough, the other half of the President’s message is emphatically clear — if Patterson does run for re-election, not only will he have a challenger for the nomination, most likely Andrew Cuomo, but that challenger will have the support of the national party. [...]
President Obama attempts to hang on to New York’s governors seat for the Democratic party, by asking Governor Patterson not to run. With NY having a huge fiscal problem one can only wonder how much money was spent by our states governor to enact some of the toughest ballast dumping regulations in the country, in order to protect our states water. It is a shame this money could not have been used as economic stimulus instead. Unfortunately the money spent would not have been necessary, had the Senate passed ballast legislation H.R.2830 (house passed 395-10) during the 110th congress while all of the major presidential candidates were Senators instead of considering American water pollution from possible terrorist and foreign sea captains a states rights issue.
Sincerely,
Don Mitchel