This is one rusty Steamroller.
Eliot Spitzer is running a disorganized, seat-of-his-pants campaign for comptroller that still lacks a Web site or headquarters — and political strategists are questioning whether he’ll even get on the ballot.
Spitzer’s campaign didn’t reach out to political consultants to help collect voter signatures until Sunday night — around the time he announced his 11th-hour bid, sources said.
That means the self- described “steamroller” didn’t have an organized campaign structure in place before going public, an unusual situation for a seasoned vet who ran three successful statewide races, two for attorney general and one for governor.
One political consultant said only a few firms do petition gathering, and one signed up by Spitzer, Red Horse Strategies, was talked out of working for him by teachers-union President Michael Mulgrew, who is backing Scott Stringer for comptroller.
Red Horse’s Doug Forand confirmed that Spitzer’s campaign reached out to him. He insisted he declined only because the firm is involved in a half-dozen other races.
“We are not commenting on the petition process,” a Spitzer spokeswoman said.
Spitzer needs to collect 3,750 signatures from registered Democrats who haven’t previously signed for Stringer. Typically, that wouldn’t be a heavy lift — but Spitzer gave himself only four days for what is typically a monthlong mission.
Spitzer doesn’t have time to use voter lists to do door-to-door canvassing, and will have to rely on less reliable subway stops and other public spots to line up signatures.
“I’m not sure he makes the ballot,” said one strategist.
Insiders said that if Spitzer collects 10,000 or fewer signatures, he could face a challenge from the Stringer campaign.
Election lawyer Martin Connor said only 30 to 40 percent of names collected on the street are usually valid.
In other Spitzer developments:
• He has energized Stringer. “All elections ultimately are about integrity,” Stringer, the Manhattan borough president, said in a swipe at Spitzer’s prostitution scandal, adding, “People are concerned when someone has such personal wealth that they can buy the election.”
• Kristin Davis, who claims to have provided prostitutes to Spitzer, hired an outfit to help her qualify to run against him on the Libertarian Party line.
• Wall Street power brokers are terrified by Spitzer’s comeback, but won’t go on the record. “Why would they take that chance, in the event he is elected to a job that awards a lot of city business to Wall Street firms?” asked Kathryn Wylde of the Partnership for New York City. She criticized Spitzer — known as the “Sheriff of Wall Street” in his days as attorney general, as “anti-business.”
• Upstate Republican Assemblyman Jim Tedisco, whom then-Gov. Spitzer once told he’d “f–king steamroll” him, urged city voters to reject him. He called Spitzer a “a one-man human Chernobyl” and a “hot mess” who destroys “anything that gets in his path.”
• The city has become a national punch line now that Spitzer and serial sexter Anthony Weiner are running for office. “New York has officially entered the Twilight Zone,” said a White House insider.