Are We Approaching The Last Temptation of Paterson?

With the latest poll showing Governor Paterson now trailing Andrew Cuomo by a margin of over 4:1, state Democrats are continuing to quietly take one more step away from the governor and his election hopes while his attention is elsewhere. When asked if polls were giving him pause, Paterson said, “No, but where there is no pause is [in] the seemingly excessive printing of political polls. If there were one or two, I might have actually thought about it, but because there are 50, I’m finding it curiously odd." A new piece on the state of the campaign in the Observer quotes Democratic leaders saying that Paterson's time limit might be the end of the year before officials begin forcing him aside, possibly even sooner before labor leaders call for him not to run. The Paterson campaign seems to be counting on his continued hard-line stance against an unpopular legislature to give him a boost, but few seem to be giving Paterson good odds at gaining much traction against a headstrong state senate. One Democratic chair upstate says, “I’m going to see what Paterson decides. Things could happen. Maybe Obama will appoint him ambassador or something and he won’t run.”