ALBANY – Attorney General Andrew Cuomo yesterday wouldn’t rule out running for governor in 2010, even as he claimed his eyebrow-raising speech at a Conservative Party conference next week has nothing to do with his political ambitions.
Cuomo, speaking on Albany’s Talk1300-AM radio, also refused to say if he thought Gov. Paterson made the right choice in picking upstate Rep. Kirsten Gillibrand to succeed Hillary Rodham Clinton in the Senate.
He repeatedly ducked questions on whether he was disappointed that Paterson hadn’t offered him the Senate job, and laughingly said “no” when asked if he was ever going to answer the question.
Cuomo insisted his planned Monday speech on cost-saving government consolidations to a Conservative Party forum had nothing to do with political ambitions, even though the party had once vilified his father, former Gov. Mario Cuomo, as a spendthrift liberal.
The Post disclosed the planned speech yesterday, and Conservative Chairman Michael Long said he wouldn’t rule out backing Cuomo should he run for governor next year.
While Cuomo insisted during the interview that his only political plans were to seek re-election as AG next year, he refused to say if those plans might change to a race for governor, putting him on a collision course with Paterson for a Democratic primary battle.