ALBANY, N.Y. — Gov. David Paterson is blaming people connected to his potential rival, Attorney General Andrew Cuomo, for this week’s leak of reports that President Barack Obama wants him to drop out of the 2010 race for governor.
Paterson says Wednesday he doesn’t know if Cuomo, a Democrat long considered a strong candidate for governor, played any role himself.
An official close to Cuomo says the attorney general and his staff knew nothing of the report until they saw it online Saturday night. The official spoke on the condition of anonymity because he wasn’t authorized to speak for Cuomo and because of the sensitivity of the Democratic conflict.
On Monday, Obama’s staff wouldn’t deny that the president sent a message through New York congressmen that Paterson, low in the polls, should drop out.