Some rival Dems are smelling blood in the water for stalwart power player Roberto Ramirez, a former state assemblyman and Bronx party chief who was Freddy Ferrer’s campaign mastermind, because he didn’t keep enough Latino voters from voting for Mike Bloomberg. “If 34 percent of his universe, the Latinos, vote for a Jewish billionaire who lives on the Upper East Side, that is not a success,” taunts one consultant. Ferrer “won two-thirds of Latinos against a man who spent $100 million! How do you think he resonated, hmmm?” scoffs Ramirez in response. The big question among his competitors is what role Ramirez will play in Eliot Spitzer’s ’06 gubernatorial run. Another consultant, Norman Adler, says, “You know someone in the Spitzer campaign is saying, ‘If Roberto couldn’t deliver the Latino vote for a Latino, then how can he deliver the Latino vote for a non-Latino?’ ” But Spitzer staffers say it would be unlikely for their boss to cut Ramirez loose; the pair’s ties go back to Spitzer’s ’98 nail-biter against Dennis Vacco (when Ramirez delivered). Says Ramirez, “I challenge anyone to beat my record.”

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