The moment David Paterson ended his campaign for another term as governor, Attorney General Andrew Cuomo, for all intents and purposes, became the governor-elect. (In reality, Paterson was never going to win, so Cuomo was the governor-elect long before that, but let’s be nice to Paterson and just pretend that’s not the case.) Unless Derek Jeter or Jesus Christ decide to jump into the race, Cuomo shouldn’t get much trouble from his only competitor to date, former Republican congressman Rick Lazio. (Steve Levy, Suffolk County’s Republican–Democrat–Conservative–Working Families–tea party executive is also mulling a run.) As Chris Smith writes in the magazine this week, “[A]s the current Paterson frenzy fades, all eyes, particularly those of the media, will turn to him.” Except that Cuomo isn’t ready to declare his candidacy yet. And he won’t, apparently, until his investigations of Pedro Espada and Governor Paterson are completed, which could take a month or longer. Conveniently, this allows him to avoid dealing with New York’s many unique headaches until he absolutely has to. Wait, why does he want to be governor again?
Cuomo can’t get governor’s race in gear until Paterson, Espada probes wrap up [NYDN]
