http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/20/nyregion/20paterson.html?_r=1&hp
Obama Said to Request That Paterson Drop Campaign
Published: September 19, 2009
WASHINGTON — President Obama has sent
a request to Gov. David A. Paterson
that he withdraw from the New York governor’s race, fearing that Mr.
Paterson cannot recover from his dismal political standing, according
to two senior administration officials and a New York Democratic
operative with direct knowledge of the situation.
The
decision to ask Mr. Paterson to step aside was proposed by political
advisers to Mr. Obama, but approved by the president himself, one of
the administration officials said.
“Is there concern about the
situation in New York? Absolutely,” the second administration official
said Saturday evening. “Has that concern been conveyed to the governor?
Yes.”
The administration officials and the Democratic operative
spoke on condition of anonymity because the discussions with the
governor were intended to be confidential.
The president’s request was conveyed to the Mr. Paterson by
Representative Gregory W. Meeks, a
Queens Democrat, who has developed a strong relationship with the Obama
administration, they said.
The
move against a sitting Democratic governor represents an extraordinary
intervention into a state political race by the president, and is a
delicate one, given that Mr. Paterson is one of only two
African-American governors in the nation.
But Mr. Obama’s
political team and other party leaders have grown increasingly worried
that the governor’s unpopularity could drag down Democratic members of
Congress in New York, as well as the Democratic-controlled Legislature,
in next fall’s election.
Mr. Paterson and his aides did not
respond to repeated requests for comment Saturday. Mr. Paterson arrived
on Long Island Saturday evening to attend a dinner, but walked
hurriedly past a reporter who tried to ask him about the White House
request.
An aide to Mr. Meeks said the congressman could not be reached
Saturday.
“The
message the White House wanted to send — that it wants Paterson to step
aside — was delivered,” said the Democratic operative,, who spoke on
condition of anonymity because the discussions were intended to be
confidential. “He is resistant.”
The general election is more
than a year away, but Mr. Obama and his political team are moving now
in part because of signals from Rudolph W. Giuliani,
the former New York City mayor, that he may
run for governor,
according to Democrats who have spoken with White House officials. Many
Democratic leaders believe that Mr. Giuliani’s presence at the top of
the Republican ticket could spark enthusiasm among his party’s voters,
who might otherwise have little desire to go to the polls.
Leading
Democrats in the state have expressed deep concern about Mr. Paterson’s
ability to hold on to the office. But most have been wary of openly
suggesting he step aside.
The White House move could give them cover to abandon Mr. Paterson
and endorse another candidate, most likely Attorney General Andrew M. Cuomo, who
has been debating for months whether to
take on Mr. Paterson in a primary.
Mr. Paterson, who was elevated to governor from lieutenant governor
in March 2008, in the wake of Gov. Eliot Spitzer’s
resignation after a prostitution scandal, announced in October that he would seek a
full term.
But in the intervening months, White House officials have watched
the
deteriorating political fortunes of Mr. Paterson with growing alarm, as
his
popularity plunged and he committed a series of missteps that
raised questions about his ability to govern.
In
addition, the relationship between Mr. Obama and Mr. Paterson has been
shaky, dating to the governor’s selection of a replacement for Hillary Rodham
Clinton,
who resigned from the Senate to become secretary of state. White House
officials had received assurances from Mr. Paterson that he would not
pick Kirsten E. Gillibrand,
then a little-known Democratic congresswoman from a heavily Republican
district outside of Albany, according to a prominent Democrat who
discussed the matter with a senior White House official.
The
White House and Democratic House leaders were concerned that her sudden
departure from the House would give Republicans a prime opportunity to
reclaim the seat. Aides to the president conveyed those concerns to the
governor, according to Democrats who have discussed the matter with Mr.
Obama’s aides.
In the end, Mr. Paterson selected
Ms. Gillibrand anyway,
infuriating White House officials and Democratic leaders in Washington.
Making matters worse, the governor also publicly snubbed Caroline
Kennedy,
a close personal friend and ally of Mr. Obama’s, who announced in
December her wish to be chosen as Mrs. Clinton’s replacement, but then withdrew her
name from consideration in January, citing personal reasons.
The
concerns of Obama aides deepened last month, when the governor,
speaking on a radio talk show in New York, suggested that criticism of
him was racially motivated
and that Mr. Obama would soon suffer similar attacks. Mr. Obama’s
advisers, who have long sought to defuse the issue of race, found the
comments inflammatory and expressed their displeasure directly to the
Paterson camp.
The move by the White House will probably bring
new attention to Mr. Cuomo, now the most popular Democratic figure in
the state. While only 30 percent of voters in a Quinnipiac poll last
month approved of the job that Mr. Paterson was doing, 74 percent
approved of Mr. Cuomo’s job performance.
The situation between Mr. Cuomo and Mr. Paterson has been a
complicated one. Mr. Cuomo is still haunted by the fierce
backlash he stirred in 2002 when he decided to run in the
Democratic primary for governor against H. Carl McCall, the
first serious black candidate for governor.
Now,
Mr. Cuomo effectively has the blessing of the nation’s first black
president to run against New York’s first black governor. That will
probably neutralize any criticism he may face among the governor’s
prominent black allies, including Representative Charles B. Rangel
of Harlem, who warned this year that the party would become racially
polarized if Mr. Cuomo took on Mr. Paterson.
Angela Macropoulos contributed reporting in New York.
