US News

Bam cuts Gov on the bias

ALBANY — It was all over after Gov. Paterson played the race card.

Sources familiar with President Obama’s shocking effort to force Paterson out of the 2010 elections told The Post yesterday that the governor’s rant last month about racial bias in the media spurred the move.

“If there’s one thing that sealed the governor’s fate, it was the racial comments, which is just what the president doesn’t need,” said a prominent New York Democrat. “It was a stupid statement. It wasn’t true, it damaged the president, and the governor’s paying the price for it now.”

The White House had grown increasingly concerned that Paterson’s weakness could hurt the party’s majorities in Congress and encourage Republican Rudy Giuliani to pursue the Governor’s Office as a platform for a White House run in 2012, sources told The Post.

Then, in August, Paterson caused a national furor during a rambling radio interview in which he accused a white-dominated media of waging an “orchestrated” campaign to force him and other prominent black Democrats from office.

Sources said the statements convinced Obama’s advisers that the freshman Democratic governor was beyond help and led to Paterson’s getting a visit last Monday from White House political director Patrick Gaspard.

Meanwhile, Paterson yesterday defiantly declared his plans to seek election.

“I have said time and time again that I am running for governor next year,” Paterson said before marching as grand marshal in the African-American Day Parade in Harlem.

“My plans have not changed.”

The governor did not deny reports about his meeting with Gaspard. Paterson only insisted, repeatedly, that he was “not going to discuss confidential conversations.”

Paterson’s defiance could make for an awkward gathering this morning in upstate Troy, where he was expected to host Obama during a visit to a community college. Democratic Attorney General Andrew Cuomo — widely seen as the party favorite for governor in Paterson’s stead — was also slated to attend.

A spokesman for Cuomo declined to comment.

Privately, Democrats rejoiced over a potential end to months of party angst over Paterson’s future.

Democratic operatives predicted that the clear thumbs-down from Obama would hurt Paterson’s ability to raise campaign donations and eliminate his leverage in policy negotiations.

“This is the final nail in the governor’s coffin, and nobody is going to be unhappy about that,” one Senate Democrat said.

“President Obama is only showing Gov. Paterson writing that has been on the wall for some time,” said another Democratic operative. “What you’re hearing now across New York state is a collective sigh of relief. Hopefully, now [Paterson will] get the message.”

Paterson’s job-approval rating has hovered around 20 percent for months. Last week, a Marist poll found that 65 percent of Democrats would prefer he not seek election next year.

Publicly, however, Paterson supporters refused to accept reports that the president wants to push the governor aside, even though the White House by yesterday evening had issued no official denial.

“It’s only a report from reporters,” said US Rep. Charles Rangel (D-Harlem). “There’s absolutely no evidence to substantiate this, but all of a sudden, it’s a news story.”

City Councilman Charles Barron (D-Brooklyn) said: “Obama should mind his own business. He’s got enough to take care of in Washington. We don’t need him to tell us who our governor should be.”

Additional reporting by Fredric U. Dicker, Maggie Haberman and C.J. Sullivan

brendan.scott@nypost.com