NY Governor's Race Now Cuomo's to Lose

With David Paterson announcing today he will not seek election in his own right as Governor of New York this fall the gubernatorial election in the Empire State is Andrew Cuomo's to lose despite the fact he has not announced his candidacy.

Cuomo is currently New York's Attorney General. That helped Eliot Spitzer get into office but it didn't help him stay there. However, the Cuomo name still does have some cache amongst New Yorkers who elected his father Mario governor thrice before losing to George Pataki in 1994.

Assuming Cuomo does run he will likely do so against former Congressman Rick Lazio who is best known for being the GOP consolation prize in the 2000 New York Senate race against Hillary Clinton after Rudy Giuliani withdrew because of prostate cancer. Believe me when I was in New York City ten years ago everyone wanted to see Hillary vs. Rudy. In 2008 not so much.

Lazio got trounced by Hillary and at this point it would appear that he would get trounced by Cuomo even in a fall election that doesn't look good for Democrats. A Sienna College poll has Lazio polling at 26% compared to a whopping 63% for Cuomo. But the election is more than eight months from now. Only fifteen days before the miracle in Massachusetts, a Rasmussen poll had Martha Coakley leading Scott Brown by 19 points. Lazio does have the luxury of time. On the other hand, I'm not sure Rick Lazio is Scott Brown.