Ever since beloved saxophonist Clarence Clemons died last month, we've had a hard time picturing Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band on stage blasting through another sweaty, epic version of "Jungleland." So could this be the time for The Boss to finally consider running for office in New Jersey? Based on a new poll by Public Policy Polling, it sure is: Springsteen would start off any race tied at 42 percent with current Governor Chris Christie, but with room to grow among Democratic voters, and with better favorability numbers. And considering that Christie is a huge Springsteen fan (who has seen him more than 120 times live), he might be tempted to follow Springsteen on the campaign trail. more ›

Last week, five-year-old Jesse Koczon was in tears over the fact that no matter how much he wanted it, he was "too little" to be the governor of New Jersey (video below). But become a YouTube sensation and ye shall receive! At 3:30 this afternoon, New Jersey Governor Chris Christie will appoint Koczon honorary governor of the day. Spokesman Kevin Roberts said, "We thought it would be a nice thing to do to bring them in. It sends a good signal to kids around the state who are public service-minded to keep their dreams alive." Or to just whine until they get what they want! more ›

Governor David Paterson is beginning to feel anxious about life without the snazzy perks of public office. Like people doing things for you! Granted, Paterson actually does need the help. The legally blind governor needs assistance in everything from climbing the stairs to reading his mail, especially since he never learned Braille. more ›

Gov. Paterson has been in office for nearly 34 tumultuous months since he took over from hooker-aficionado Eliot Spitzer in March 2008. Between the almost-scandals, the actual-scandals, and the SNL-parodies, it was in his own words, "very challenging, very difficult, very painful at times." Now that he'll be handing the gubernatorial baton off to Andrew Cuomo in January, he and the media have started the process of excavating his short term in office. And he's already given an exit interview with New York Now. more ›

Our favorite baseball bat-wielding, bestiality-forwarding, unrepentantly-inappropriate former gubernatorial candidate, Carl Paladino, spent at least $7.7 million of his own money on his failed campaign to defeat Andrew Cuomo and his legendary prowess. Now, over a month removed from the histrionics of that campaign, he and his aides are taking stock of why Paladino's candidacy fell so short. And their answer seems to lie directly at the feet of Paladino: "I do believe Carl fell in love with the kerplunk of the turd in the punchbowl," said former campaign manager Michael Caputo. more ›

While Buffalo developer Carl Paladino promised to spend $10 million of his own money on his bid to be the next governor of New York, it turns out he spent less that. The Daily Politics reports, "The latest campaign finance disclosure form filed by Paladino with the state today shows that the Tea Party darling loaned his campaign $3.6 million in the final weeks of the campaign. That brought his total personal commitment to just over $7.7 million." more ›

We're less than a month away from the NY gubernatorial election, and it seems as though Republican candidate Carl Paladino has money foremost on his mind. The multi-millionaire, worth an estimated $150 million, has been scrambling to raise more funds to compete with Andrew Cuomo through money bombs; according to his website, he's raised approximately $72,000 this past week, roughly 36 percent of what he is aiming for (he raised another $100,000 in the weeks prior). Paladino has already pledged to use $10 million of his own money as well, but many Republicans are getting nervous that he hasn't dipped into that cash yet: "Obviously, they're at a crossroads. Certainly, Mr. Paladino has represented he's going to spend at least $10 million of his own money, so I don't know why he'd wait for funds to come in unless he's not going to meet that commitment," John Jay LaValle, chairman of the Suffolk County Republican Party told BuffaloNews. more ›

Andrew Cuomo enjoyed the afterglow of his successful investigation of former NY State Comptroller Alan Hevesi, who pleaded guilty to a felony charge related to his part in a pay-to-play kickback scheme this week. But guess who wasn't too impressed? Carl Paladino, who instead criticized the "failed" Attorney General for not going after more politicians, calling him a "selective prosecutor:" "Andrew Cuomo has shown a disturbing pattern of letting Democratic bigwigs like [Carl] McCall and [Steve] Rattner off the hook." more ›

Carl Paladino's gubernatorial campaign had hit some serious publicity snafus in the past couple weeks. So he sought to press the reset button, and readjust his campaign's focus toward issues instead of love children. It was supposed to show critics that Carl was paying attention and able to tone down the baseball bat rhetoric (which many of his supporters are questioning). But in his televised address yesterday, he skipped the mea culpa entirely to justify why his anger gets the better of him: "What I meant to express in my anger was simply this—does the media ask Andrew such questions? Andrew's prowess is legendary." more ›

Like you, dear readers, we've spent all day glued to our computer screens, waiting and anticipating Carl Paladino's mysterious television news bomb which he promised to drop on us at the end of the work day. Would it live up to his crazier antics, or would it turn out to be another boring campaign stump speech? Well, it turned out to be...(see the video below!) more ›

The seconds drag and the hours jerk as NY state holds its breath in anticipation of Carl Paladino's mysterious geriatric prime-time (5 pm-ish) TV message this evening. While we were twiddling our fingers and watching cute cell phone movies, we started to browse Paladino's interactive campaign website (now with pop-up Paladino!) for any clues as to tonight's speech. And we found these sweet new photo-shopped campaign posters, including "Mario" Cuomo and Cuomo's (emasculated) chihuahua. more ›

After a week where everything in the gubernatorial race between Carl Paladino and Andrew Cuomo took a turn for the batshit-crazy, there's a palpable sense that everyone wants to leave the nuttiness behind, and get back to talking about some issues. Well, actually, maybe just Howie Hawkins wants to do that. "He's a straight and utter nut job. At some point, he'll accuse all of us of being from Mars," Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr. said of Paladino. more ›

It's been a long 24 hours for Carl Paladino, who was getting into a pointed verbal argument with Post reporter Fred Dicker around this time yesterday. Since then, he and his team of advisers have spit-balled back and forth with the Post about who's at fault, who deserves to be sued, and whose love child has been poked in the face with a camera. It's all so confusing! So hard to keep track of! Thankfully, the Atlantic has broken it down to the original argument between Paladino and Dicker which started it all, and re-animated it in cuddly teddy bear form. Animated bear recreations really are the true opiates for the masses. more ›

Carl Paladino warned a couple days ago that the gubernatorial race between himself and Andrew Cuomo was "going to get nastier." And lo and behold, a couple adulterous claims and journalist altercations later, we now have ourselves a regular Nostradamadino. But despite his own forewarnings, last night's incident with Post reporter Fred Dicker seems to have riled up the already riled up candidate. In a ranty statement defending Paladino today, official campaign bull dog Michael Caputo tore into Dicker and the Post. And in the aftermath of the incident, Paladino may file trespassing charges against a team of Post photographers who took "close-range" shots of his love child. more ›

Last night, Carl Paladino got into an intense altercation with Post reporter Fred Dicker, which resulted in Paladino threatening Dicker, and campaign manager Michael Caputo promising to cut Dicker out of the loop. And thankfully, the whole mish-mosh was captured on video! Dicker appeared on Fox News this morning to defend himself and explain what happened and why Paladino got so mad. more ›

It seems that the more voters get to know pay attention to Carl Paladino, the less they like what they find: a new Marist/Daily News poll found that over 60 percent of voters find Paladino to be unelectable after being told of his antics, including his incessant rants, bestiality emails and nutty policies. "People don't find this style to be attractive," Marist Poll director Lee Miringoff deadpaned. But just because people are actually noticing Paladino's nuttiness doesn't mean his gubernatorial opponent Andrew Cuomo is looking that much better. Jeez, are we all turning into Rick Lazio's? more ›

There are two people who seem to be guiding forces behind Carl Paladino's gubernatorial campaign—one is Michael Caputo, Paladino's ruthless, attack dog-like campaign manager, who failed to pay nearly $53,000 in federal taxes over the last few years. And the other is Rus Thompson, a Tea Party true-believer with a complicated past and a tether to Paladino's future. more ›

With his new CNN hosting gig about to begin, and some controversial pull quotes getting quite a bit of attention, former Governor Eliot Spitzer has seemed to be everywhere lately. And soon he'll even be on the big screen, when Client 9: The Rise and Fall of Eliot Spitzer finally comes to movie theaters in November (and pay-per-view/iTunes in October). The documentary, directed by Alex Gibney, was previewed back in April, and has been getting extremely positive buzz, and may even be an Oscar contender. Will this be the another step toward the vindication that Spitzer so desperately wants? Along with the recent increase in his public profile, could a Mayoral run be that unlikely in the future? You can see the full trailer below. more ›

This past week, former Governor Eliot Spitzer made headlines when he called Democratic gubernatorial nominee Andrew Cuomo "the dirtiest, nastiest political player out there," and implied that he was a bully and thug behind his "Rose Garden" veneer. Cuomo was asked about the quote in Rochester yesterday (you can see video below), and he gleefully responded, "Well that's saying something from Eliot Spitzer, huh?" (For what it's worth, the Post shares his sentiments) It was a rare glimpse of the real Cuomo slipping out, and you can see him stiffen afterwards, and quickly correct it by following up with his party-line, echoing the words of his spokesman yesterday. It feels unlikely that we'll see many more similar, candid moments from the stoic candidate for the rest of the campaign, not with Carl Paladino on his heels. more ›

While Andrew Cuomo called him a "welfare king" in a new attack ad, Republican gubernatorial candidate Carl Paladino released a new attack poster portraying Cuomo as PinocchiCuomo, in reference to Cuomo saying he had voted for Bloomberg when he hadn't. What, Paladino's campaign couldn't come up with a "pants on fire" graphic? more ›

Andrew Cuomo must hate proving Eliot Spitzer right, but he did today: Cuomo released his first TV attack ad of the gubernatorial race against Republican Carl Paladino. In the ad (which you can see below), Cuomo calls Paladino an Albany-insider with shady business dealings, and a "welfare king"! more ›

Everybody's got an opinion about those kooky gubernatorial candidates, Carl mad-as-hell Paladino and Andrew no-comment Cuomo. Especially former Governor and current CNN host Eliot Spitzer, who talked at length about old sparring partner Cuomo on CNN's "American Morning" today (you can see the video below). He discussed how NY is really three states and the power of Paladino's populist rage, but mostly he said some harsh things about Cuomo, who he's had a complicated history with. more ›

A hot-off-the-presses new Siena poll shows Andrew Cuomo leading Carl Paladino in the upcoming gubernatorial race by a whopping 33 points. But wait a minute—yesterday's Quinnipiac poll told us that Paladino was only 6 points behind. This is completely contradictory! Maybe Camus was right: only once we accept that the world is devoid of any fundamental absolutes can we truly be free. more ›

Earlier today, Mayor Bloomberg gave his endorsement for governor to Andrew Cuomo, leaving mad-as-hell Republican candidate Carl Paladino very sad indeed. But instead of letting that sadness boil over and ferment into the frothy brew of rage and photoshopping skills that it usually does, Paladino was on his best behavior the last couple days during a visit to NYC. more ›

Mayor Bloomberg officially endorsed Attorney General Andrew Cuomo for governor today. In the Mayor's statement, which was released to the public, he praises his integrity, his record of public work, and his bi-partisan efforts, while throwing in a slight dig at his opponent Carl Paladino: "We need a governor who knows that the partisan politics of the past cannot be the way of the future. Andrew Cuomo has made the focus of his campaign to build a coalition for reform that transcends party labels and brings together Democrats, Republicans and independents together behind his agenda and I am proud to stand with him in that effort." more ›

Well it looks like the Gubernatorial race is kicking off to a civilized start, with Republican candidate Carl Paladino saying Andrew Cuomo has "No Cojones" and won't "be a man" and debate (even though Cuomo's rep said he's very much open to a debate whenever Paladino wants to bring it). Now, the Democratic candidate is really firing back at Paladino's antics, reportedly saying in a talk to his team, "If a guy says you have no cojones, how do you punch him back, call him an a--hole?" It's on! more ›

Oh sure, it's pretty obvious that Carl Paladino can talk the talk, violent threats, wit and wisdom all included. But did you know that he has mad Photoshop skills? Continuing in his quest to be noticed by ruffle Andrew Cuomo's calm exterior, Paladino sent out a new flyer to reporters yesterday showing Cuomo in the shower, with special interests and labor parties clinging to him like grime. Also, the Democrat has a gold necklace...because he's Italian-American...but it's not a stereotype, he swears! more ›