RUDY, YOUR DESTINY IS CALLING:

How to Train a Governor (GAIL COLLINS, 3/28/09, NY Times)

This week, a survey taken by Siena College’s Research Institute found that Gov. David Paterson of New York had a positive job-approval rating of 19 percent. [...]

The most remarkable thing of all is that while Paterson certainly did mess up on that Caroline Kennedy-Senate thing, he achieved this political free fall without help from any big personal scandal. In a state capital where anybody who is anybody is under indictment, he managed to completely alienate the public just by being terrible at his job.

Who knew people were paying that much attention?

Old-timers in Albany say this is the worst legislative session they have ever seen, which is like a prisoner on a chain gang saying he really hates Mondays. Still, things are a mess. Paterson’s aides come and go, his commitments ebb and flow. He hasn’t been able to rescue the downstate mass transit system, and the budget is being put together in darkened rooms by people you would not trust to do your mortgage closing.

Meanwhile, the 32 Democrats who control the State Senate by one vote have discovered that a party with a one-vote majority is exactly as good as its weakest, dumbest and most venal member. This in a group where one guy is about to stand trial for beating up his girlfriend and several others give the impression of being willing to trade their vote for a television someone handed them from the back of a stolen truck.