Paterson Letting Everyone Know He's In It to Win It

After months of declining poll numbers and some speculation that he might give in to pressure to step aside in the race for governor next year, Governor Paterson now appears to be bearing down and beginning his push towards 2010. Paterson's even talking with a little swagger now, telling NY1's Dominic Carter, "The fact is, if I run for governor again, I will win the primary. Write that down." The Times reports that Paterson has been reaching out to Democratic leaders, union leaders and donors telling them how he plans to right his course past the tough times his administration has fallen on. The push might be just in time as the paper also says that friends of Paterson were already looking into securing him a position at Columbia. One said, “I don’t think anyone has broached that subject with him, but we are all talking about it with each other. At some point, someone is going to have to broach that with him.” Many political experts believe that Andrew Cuomo is in a precarious position to challenge Paterson in a primary and potentially upsetting black Democrats once again after irking some with his refusal to back down against H. Carl McCall in 2002.