Cuomo Crushing Clueless Paterson

Maybe those secret pay raises weren't such a good idea. Well, it's much more than that, as the bumbling New York Governor David Paterson is finding out. The accidental governor, in office less than a year, is facing a possible wipeout next year if he winds up being challenged in the Democratic primary by Attorney General Andrew 'Evil Eyes' Cuomo.

Gov. Paterson was on the ropes yesterday after a stunning new poll showed Attorney General Andrew Cuomo clobbering him by 32 points in a primary matchup.

Cuomo - who sources say is eyeing a run for governor - defeats fellow Democrat Paterson by 55-23 percent, the Quinnipiac University survey found.

Those numbers were widely viewed as surprisingly low for the governor, whose popularity has nose-dived in the wake of the calamity surrounding his pick for US Senate to replace Hillary Rodham Clinton - and the drubbing onetime front-runner Caroline Kennedy took from people close to Paterson after she withdrew from consideration.

And his administration and campaign staff have been derided as rudderless - while he has little but bad budget news to deliver in coming months.

Cuomo has been mum on his intentions and has said he is focussed on his re-election for attorney general.

"The appropriate thing for Andrew Cuomo to be doing is to run for re-election," said Democratic consultant Hank Sheinkopf, who added that Paterson's poll numbers suggest down-ballot Democratic seats - such as the state Senate majority, the state comptroller and new members of Congress - could be at risk.

"The Democrats very well at this point may ask the governor not to run," Sheinkopf said. "The governor's got to save himself."

As I surmised the other day, one wonders whether he'll even bother running again.

The GOP probably shouldn't see any silver lining here as Cuomo also defeats Rudy Giulianin in a potential matchup.

Against potential GOP challenger Rudy Giuliani, Paterson - who governs a state with a strong majority of Democrat-registered voters - runs even at 43 percent, the survey shows.

But Cuomo thumps Giuliani by 51-37 percent, the poll shows.

Naturally, Paterson lashed out at the media, as if they made him hand out secret pay hikes.

At a press conference yesterday, Paterson said he still plans to run in 2010, and blamed the media for the poor poll results.

"I will run," he said. "I'm not focused on the 2010 campaign and I should be focused on the budget."

He insisted that the "kind of treatment" he's getting in the press is contributing to his low rating, adding, "20 percent of voters in the hypothetical primary race were undecided."

It never fails to amaze how Democrats, who largely get favorable press compared to Republicans, always whine about media treatment. They should take a cue from the George W. Bushes of the world and take it like a man.

It's not just the media hammering Paterson.

GOV. Paterson was being described as a dead man walking yesterday by even some of his closest advisers, who said the devastatingly low ratings in a new Quinnipiac University poll - reflecting a broad sense of an administration in meltdown - are too great to overcome.

"It looks like it'll be Gov. Cuomo," sighed a longtime Paterson loyalist

Words like "unprecedented" and "unbelievable" were being used to describe Paterson's collapse in popularity - but many on the inside said they weren't all that surprised.

Those who've known Paterson well for decades say he's always been unfocused, self-centered, often lazy - and, at times, clownish and immature. More often than not, these traits have resulted in his having a disorganized and dysfunctional staff as a senator, Senate minority leader and now as governor.

Paterson, who spent 20 years as a part-time legislator, was also long known for his delight in extra-office activities including late-night partying, the excesses of which account for the bouts of dizziness and exhaustion that have dogged him for so long.

"He's a lifestyle politician: He loves the trappings, the planes, the Mansion, the bodyguards, the travel, the national TV time - not the work," said a Democratic activist who has known him well.

As I said the other day, he sounds like a perfect fit for the Obama administration.

Makes you wonder if he even plans on running again next year by being so reckless. Perhaps he just intends to live large and reward his own people before moving on, probably to a position in the Obama administration.