Paterson Hires Campaign Manager for 2010 N.Y. Governor's Race

http://blogs.cqpolitics.com/eyeon2010/2009/09/new-yorkpaterson-hires-campaig.html

Despite basement-level approval ratings and calls for him to step aside in 2010, New York Gov. David A. Paterson is moving forward with his election campaign.

Paterson, the former lieutenant governor who ascended to the top post after Eliot Spitzer resigned in 2008, named a campaign manager for his 2010 race on Thursday. Richard Fife, president of RJF Communications Inc. and a senior New York adviser to Barack Obama's 2008 presidential campaign, will take the helm of the listing Paterson ship.

Fife also managed New York Rep. Carolyn Maloney's aborted Senate run against Kirsten Gillibrand, whom Paterson appointed earlier this year to succeed Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton.

Paterson also has a campaign spokeswoman, Tracy Sefl.

Paterson pushes ahead even as a poll released Wednesday by the Marist Institute of Public Opinion shows that just 27 percent of New York voters think the Democratic incumbent should run for a full term as governor in 2010. By contrast, 67 percent of voters want Paterson's potential primary rival, Attorney General Andrew Cuomo, to run for the seat.

There is no other reason for him to run.

They don't care if they hand the seat over to a Republican.

How many politicians actually decline to run when it appears they'll lose? I'm guessing only a handful.

It's an ego boost, for sure.