State Senate Majority Leader Pedro Espada Jr. is having a bad week, one filled with storm offs, criminal charges and angry screeds, and it seems like everything and everyone he's been coming into contact with lately is screwed. So when you want to know why Attorney General Andrew Cuomo didn't announce his candidacy for Governor this week, just look in Espada's direction.

Cuomo, who Espada lovingly nicknamed the "Prince of Darkness," had been planning on officially announcing his candidacy for Governor later this week at a Democratic conference at the Waldorf-Astoria, but shelved those plans due to the high profile criminal and civil investigation of Espada. According to political reporter Frederic Dicker, Cuomo will now announce it "'right before' the Democratic nominating convention that begins May 25."

But for once, it's not all Espada's fault. Cuomo is highly aware of the frustration he's causing reporters by delaying the announcement as long as he can, despite already being considered the frontrunner: "What a shock that they're grumbling...I do press conferences all the time all over the state. I'm in newspapers and on TV with tremendous frequency. I don't talk to them about what they want to talk about, however. The political guys want to talk politics. I understand what they want -- but I don't want to do it," he was quoted as saying in the Washington Post.

Bob Hardt, political director of NY1, says it's "kind of depressing" Cuomo hasn't granted them an interview in years, and goes on: "Over the years he's recognized he can be his own worst enemy. By curtailing his press availabilities, he limits the ability to damage himself.... A lot of people regard Andrew Cuomo as a governor-in-waiting, and we don't know what his positions are on key issues."