Attorney general Andrew Cuomo has rejected several recent offers from prominent Democrats to endorse him for governor in next year’s election, The Post has learned.
Cuomo told the would-be supporters to wait, that he wants to continue focusing for several more months on cases before his office and not risk having his work overshadowed by the demands of a governor’s race.
“He’s putting people off, telling them to wait, in part because he doesn’t want to get saddled too soon with having to deal with all of the state’s problems,” said a prominent Democrat who has discussed the race with Cuomo.
Cuomo has told associates for over a month that he’ll challenge Gov. Paterson in the Democratic primary next year — a race polls show he would win by 50 percentage points or more — and he’s been aggressively raising funds.
Some close to Paterson say he’ll drop out if his dismal polling numbers don’t improve soon.
*
Bill Thompson, the lame-duck city comptroller and surprisingly close mayoral challenger, is among half a dozen Democrats and Republicans “waiting for Rudy” before deciding whether to run for the US Senate.
“Billy would like to run for the Senate, but he’s waiting to see what Rudy will do,” a longtime Thompson associate said.
Thompson, whose underfinanced run against Mayor Bloomberg came close to becoming an upset, has told friends he’s seriously considering a primary challenge to Democratic Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, whom Paterson picked last January to succeed Hillary Rodham Clinton.
But Thompson, like several lesser-known Democrats and Republicans also considering the Senate race, won’t run if Republican Rudy Giuliani does.
“Rudy will win if he gets in, so the big question now is: Will he?” the associate said.
State GOP Chairman Edward Cox has been urging Giuliani to run.
*
Senate President Malcolm Smith of Queens is sure to raise eyebrows by refusing to say whether he wants Paterson to run next year.
Paterson has “got to answer that question,” Smith told The Post when asked if he thought the governor should run.
Smith was equally noncommittal when pressed on whether he’d support Paterson over Cuomo.
“That’s a question that I’m going to deal with at that time,” Smith replied.