ANOTHER REASON WHY I♥NY

There is a horse running in the Belmont named "Luv Guv". And if he wins (the odds are 40:1), who's giving out the trophy? Could be Governor Paterson.

BONUS: the New York Times called Eliot Spitzer for comment. That is beautiful.

POLL: PATERSON HAS NO FRIENDS

Pretty much anybody polls better than David Paterson these days.

Maybe not Carl Pavano.

A SHOT IN THE SHORTS

Just...ouch.

FOR HIS NEXT TRICK...

...the governor will make $279 million appear out of thin air:

While Paterson swept some $1 billion in leftover cash from throughout state government to help close the current fiscal year's massive budget deficit, he conspicuously kept the leftover member-item money in place.

It's magic, Albany-style!

LET THE MERRY-GO-ROUND BEGIN

Now that Hillary's off to State, the decision falls to Gov. Paterson as to who's filling that seat. Suffice to say ain't no Moynihans in this crowd:

On the other hand, the New York State chapter of NOW wants a woman to succeed Clinton. That could boost the chance that New York City Council Speaker Christine Quinn could become the first openly lesbian member of the U.S. Senate. And if all that speculation weren't enough, the New York Post reports that Paterson and Senator Chuck Schumer may already have a deal to appoint a relative nobody to the spot. It seems that Schumer's priority is that he get recognized as New York's senior Senator, and Andrew Cuomo would be the only contender for the Senate seat to threaten that status. Schumer apparently wants a less high-profile junior Senator -- someone like Buffalo Representative Brian Higgins, or Congresswoman Kirsten Gillibrand. Whoever ultimately succeeds Clinton, both the successor and Paterson will be up for re-election in 2010. Waiting in the wings are New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg (whose popularity has dipped since he announced his plan to seek a third term), and former Mayor Rudy Giuliani.

A relative nobody? Shoot, I'll apply.

SEN. MARIANO RIVERA (D-NY)

Every time I get thinking it's time to ditch the New York Times for good, they dig up a juicy little news nugget like this one, on what happened forty years ago the last time a New York governor had to appoint a replacement US Senator:

His first choice turned him down. That was John Gardner, a liberal Republican who had just quit as Lyndon Johnson’s Health, Education and Welfare secretary — in part because he considered the cabinet too preoccupied with Vietnam to fulfill the Great Society domestic agenda. Rather than accept Rockefeller’s offer, Gardner remained chairman of the Urban Coalition, a private campaign to transform America’s cities.

Next on the list was Mayor John V. Lindsay, although his appointment to the Senate would return City Hall to Democratic control. The job was widely believed to be his for the asking. But Lindsay was too stubborn — and committed to his own urban agenda — to ask, especially without a firm commitment from Rockefeller. The governor never directly made the offer.

Rockefeller even considered his nephew Jay — a transplant to West Virginia (where he was later elected to the Senate), and a Democrat no less.

Five other names were on a list forwarded by Bobby Douglass, the governor’s counsel: Joseph Wilson, the chief executive of Xerox; Jackie Robinson, the retired Brooklyn Dodger, who was being promoted by Rockefeller’s pollster; former Senator Kenneth Keating, whom Kennedy had defeated; and two congressmen, Ogden Reid of Westchester and Charles Goodell of Jamestown upstate.

And if you're thinking Jackie Robinson? Nah...consider this: how cool would it be to have a senator whose campaign theme song was "Enter Sandman"?

On the other hand, Mo's got at least a couple more good years left. So what's Bernie Williams up to?

SURPRISING ABSOLUTELY NOBODY

New York's budget-cut talks are...wowsers!...stuck.

DOG BITES MAN (AND OTHER NEARBY MEATLIKE SUBSTANCES)

Rudy Giuliani says he's thinking about running for governor in '10.

A lot depends on how Gov. Paterson handles this budget-cut fight, especially with Democrats taking over the whole show in January. If Paterson is perceived as having gotten rolled by Shelly Silver et al., Rudy swoops in as The Guy To Give Albany The Kick In The Teeth They Deserve (Plus A Few Gratuitous Knees To The Groin).

Big-name wise, it's not like there's a whole lot else the state GOP has to choose from - without Rudy they'd be thisclose to rummaging through old rolodexes looking for Pierre Rinfret's phone number only to realize he died two years ago. (They asked 19 people before he said yes? Sheesh, I woulda done it back then just to meet girls, but then I was pretty pathetic in 1990. Not like now, oh no.)

SECRETARY OF STATE CLINTON?

Hmm. She ain't talkin':

“I am not going to speculate or address anything about the president-elect's incoming administration,” she said. “And I'm going to respect his process, and any inquiries should be directed to his transition team."

Does anybody reading this ever remember a public figure actually stopping and giving a scoop to the press gaggle that shouts out the questions they know doggone well aren't going to be answered? What's the point? I've seen her at plenty of these wonky kinds of conferences, and this is where she's locked into full policy-geek mode - I doubt she'd answer these kinds of off-topic questions even if she was Senator Random Democrat who hadn't run in the primaries.

If Clinton were to join the administration, Gov. David Paterson would name a successor.

Nobody north of I-84 need apply. It's not like Pindars Corners is churning out any more Moynihans.

BULLET SNIFFED AT BUT STILL UNBITTEN

Gov. Paterson rolled out his budget-cut ideas today, trying to save two billion bucks without laying anybody off. Good luck with that. Let's see:

Medicaid/health care: Recommends $18 billion in Medicaid and other health care savings over the next two years by reducing reimbursement rates (8 percent in 2008-09, 2 percent in 2009-10) and eliminating "trend factor increases across all sectors." The insurance industry will contribute more in assessed fees. Also, the plan calls for cuts to the $100 million fund that offsets the costs of Timothy's Law, which requires parity for mental health treatment by health insurance companies, by $88 million in 2008-09 and $91 million in 2009-10.

And the Medicaid fraud investigators will continue to stagger along as best they can, meaning we'll get the occasional bust of the most obvious crooks but not the billions in savings that could be realized with simple competent oversight - but on the other hand, most of the legislature is unwilling even to take Paterson's baby steps.

Also making another appearance is the Bigger Better Bottle Bill:

He wants to expand the 5-cent deposit of beer and soda containers to include water and non-carbonated beverages to benefit the Environmental Protection Fund, which would suffer a countervaling $50 million cut.

I'm in favor of this mainly because it would make my sorting job a whole lot less confusing, especially since I'm trying to teach two small kids about recycling. I'd jack the deposit up to a dime and let redeemers keep some of the proceeds if they agree to set up their machines to take containers they didn't sell. It drives a guy nuts to roll into the Hannaford and realize those Stop & Shop bottles are going to have to wait until the next trip. Also, with winter coming it'll make for less stuff to schlep out to the road every Tuesday morning.