NYT Magazine: Spitzerism

[Pirate Smile]

If recent history is any guide, Eliot Spitzer's chances of becoming governor of New York next year are greatly enhanced by the presence of the words "attorney general" on his résumé. Since 2002, Democrats nationwide have won 18 open seats for governor or senator. Six of the winners had served either as state attorney general or United States attorney. Two others were prosecutors before entering politics. Not even mayors or congressmen were as well represented.


Eliot Spitzer.

Prosecutors are in a natural position to project toughness, which helps Democratic candidates counter the soft-on-crime reputation that their party, rightly or not, bears. Moreover, middle-class white voters tend to desert Democrats when they seem beholden to organized groups like teachers' unions or trial lawyers. These same voters tend to equate prosecutorial experience with independence from special interests, according to Celinda Lake, a pollster for Gov. Janet Napolitano of Arizona. Lake says this helps explain how Napolitano, a former U.S. attorney and Democratic attorney general, fared unusually well among white men en route to winning the governor's mansion in 2002.

To see that Spitzer could benefit from a similar dynamic next year, you need only consider the polling data. The Democrats' perceived lack of toughness is one reason they typically fare significantly better among women than men. But perceptions of Spitzer, the archetypal enforcer, differ starkly from those of other New York Democrats, even popular ones like Senators Hillary Rodham Clinton and Charles E. Schumer. All three politicians have approval ratings in the neighborhood of 60 percent among the state's voters. But where Schumer and Clinton poll anywhere from 2 to 30 points better among women than among men, Spitzer routinely posts a 4- to 14-point gap in the other direction.

Spitzer, of course, isn't simply the beneficiary of this prosecutorial model; he helped create it. The attention surrounding his investigations of Wall Street revealed a popular hunger for taking on corporate fraud. Perhaps more important, the investigations highlighted the appeal of standing up for the ordinary investor - the middle-class person saving for retirement or for a child's education - against entrenched business interests. And so, not surprisingly, Spitzer has been imitated by other attorneys general. Thomas F. Reilly of Massachusetts and Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut, who are leading contenders to become governor of their respective states, are conducting their own investigations of insurance brokerages, an industry Spitzer has embarrassed with revelations of wrongdoing. While serving as Colorado's attorney general, Ken Salazar joined Spitzer in an investigation of Janus Capital Group, the Denver-based mutual fund. He went on to win a U.S. Senate seat in a state that George W. Bush carried.

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/10/02/magazine/02spitzer.html?8hpib

[Skink]

1. All he needs is Secret Service services.

And he shold look forward to a promotion in 08.

[Ignacio Upton]

2. I can't wait to having Spitzer as my governor!

NY will actually have someone who is not Pataki or Giuliani.

[Larkspur]

3. Lieberman was attorney general before Blumenthal and Lieberman does not

appear tough, except when he's attacking Howard Dean or progressives.