Spitzer is this campaign cycle's Howard Dean.
While the GOP may "crow," in the next election they will be eating crow since the nation is very likely to dump on the GOP because of the huge deficit that went from a surplus, from the Iraq war, based on WMD and which has shattered our military, and on and on...it is going to take lots of gaffes such as the one cited before the GOP begins to return to power.
Politicians who succeed to office only because their opponents shot themselves in the head rarely govern successfully because they lack a mandate for their policies. They often find themselves equally unpopular because people voted for them based on who the weren't rather than based on the policies they advocated. When they try to implement those unpopular policies the electorate turns on them as well.
If the state GOP weren't no-hopers, they'd introduce the bill themselves in the NY State Senate, "as a courtesy to the Governor" and give the Democrats an opportunity to vote on the matter before the next election.
I don't know if anything that's disfavored by a mere 43% to 47%, with the trend moving toward it over the last few years, can be counted on to lead to wholesale losses among its backers.
I do think that Eliot Spitzer being about as sanctimonious and bullying as one could expect from a first-year governor, could. Of course, you can't beat somebody with nobody, or even with an empty suit.
Commenting by HaloScan
