The People vs. David Paterson

Here’s an irony:

Despite abysmal poll numbers the last year or so, the last few weeks David Paterson has drawn strength from the public.

A poll conducted March 3rd found that 61% of New Yorkers wanted him to finish his term. In Albany these days that looks sort of like a mandate.

Albany and the media had given up on him, but it seemed that scandal-weary rank-and-file voters just wanted some business to get done.

But now the same polling firm, Quinnipiac, finds that just 46% of voters still want him to stay in office.

What a difference a couple of days make.

That means Paterson lost a percentage point of popularity every three hours.

Yikes.

At this rate, he’ll be at zero by supper time.

So here’s the question that’s coming into clear focus:

Will the governor pull a Mark Sanford and insist on muscling through until next January, even as chunks of his administration go zinging off?

Or will he finally pull the rip chord?

One cool thing is that he can always go recuperate at Charlie Rangel’s tax-free pad down in the Dominican Republic…

Tags: election10