Posted by At a meeting in Kingston, N.Y., last week, several Democratic county leaders, including some who are allies of Mr. Cuomo, pointedly refused to commit to endorsing Mr. Paterson, the titular head of their party.
And while in public, Mr. Cuomo says it is too early to think about his political future, in private, he has begun to embrace the possibility of a run for governor.
“He says he’s considering it, no question about that,” said Peter S. Kalikow, the former Metropolitan Transportation Authority chairman and a Republican who has a long association with the Cuomo family. “He doesn’t tell me how serious the consideration is, but I like to hope it’s very serious.”
Wary of reigniting the racial resentment that he stirred up in 2002 when he challenged a black candidate to be the Democratic nominee for governor, Mr. Cuomo and his aides are proceeding delicately, and do not want to publicly diminish Mr. Paterson, the state’s first black governor. But they have left little doubt that Mr. Cuomo would be interested in running for governor should Mr. Paterson choose — or be prodded — to withdraw.
