New Scandal Snares Democratic Governor

A scandal broke late Monday ensnaring New York State Governor Eliot Spitzer, a Democrat.

Governor Spitzer, a former Attorney General in New York, was caught on tape soliciting the services of a prostitute. When the story broke in New York, the governor called a news conference where he apologized but stopped short of resigning.

Before becoming governor, Eliot Spitzer was an attorney general and political analysts were saying today his "hard charging" style as attorney general made him few friends. Apparently, they say, he continued that behavior while governor and now has few political allies to help him. The term "self-righteous" has surfaced quite a bit in the press among both critics and supporters.

Several top political officials in New York are calling for his resignation. As Attorney General, Gov. Spitzer was in charge of enforcing laws against prostitution rings and he did so; so this looks especially bad. He is calling it a "private matter" but as Attorney General in 2004, his prosecution of two prostitution rings resulted in several arrests and statements about high-level and high stakes operations that were in the end, as he put it, "prostitution rings".

Gov. Spitzer may have played a key role in the presidential campaign when his plan for awarding drivers licenses to illegal immigrants in New York came up in an Oct. 30, 2007, debate among Democratic Party candidates. When asked point blank if she supported Gov. Spitzer's plan, Senator Clinton hummed and hawed and refused to give a yes-or-no answer. The media jumped on the prevarication and in subsequent interviews, she still did not give a definitive statement on whether or not she supported the governor's plan.

Days later, in another debate, she finally said she would not, but by then, the damage had been done, and you can look at that debate back in October as the time that Sen. Barack Obama's candidacy began to take off.

Gov. Spitzer has endorsed Senator Clinton for the presidency but no one is expecting the governor's troubles to reflect on the Clinton campaign. But it doesn't help either. If he does resign, he may lose his status as super delegate, but that is probably the least of his troubles.

While not exactly a presidential campaign issue, it nevertheless is driving political coverage in Washington and the nation and there is a tie to the campaign. BTW, after the debates, Gov. Spitzer dropped the idea after days of negative responses to his proposal.

In campaign news, more water thrown on the idea promulgated from Sen. Clinton that she and Senator Obama would be a "dream ticket," one that former President Bill Clinton called an "unstoppable force."

Very expertly, Sen. Obama argued that if Senator Clinton is saying he is not ready to be president and lacks the experience for the job, how can she promote him as the vice president, a heartbeat away from the Oval Office?

Great response. Even though there are some who think he will be pressured into taking the number two slot, I really don't see it. Some others agree with me that it's not in the cards. There is a long way to go before we are at that point and Sen. Obama has said over and over, he is running for the presidency. I believe him.