The Attorney General released a video today, announcing what everyone has known for a while — that he will seek the governor's office this year. It contained, according to the NYT "New Yorkers of ethnic groups praising Mr. Cuomo." [NYT]

Andrew Cuomo, currently running for governor of our hearts (and, unofficially, for governor of the state of New York), has filed suit against New York State Senator Pedro Espada Jr. for being incredibly corrupt.

Reporters are tired of the Attorney General's late night, off the record phone calls, and want some face time. Cuomo doesn't seem to care what they think. So what are these reporters going to do about it?

David Paterson put Andrew Cuomo in charge of the investigation into whether or not Paterson abused his power. "The attorney general's done his job, I think, extraordinarily well over the last four years," Paterson told the press today. O, rly?

This is the depressing state of affairs in New York, in 2010. The various monsters and morons currently running-without-running for statewide office include Andrew Cuomo, Harold Ford, Mort Zuckerman, and, yes, Larry Kudlow.

You'd have to pry the job from his cold, dead hands, but what if Paterson's latest scandal caused New York to lose its second governor in so many years? Meet Richard Ravitch, the 76-year-old Manhattanite waiting in the wings.

A juror in the Astor trial has recanted her verdict, giving the defense grounds for appeal. But what was Judi DeMarco—whose "close...personal friendship" with convicted pol Joe Bruno has raised eyebrows—doing on the jury to begin with?

While the Post led with "fat man flips bird," the New York Daily News tried news (and Beyonce) on the front page: David Paterson has $620k to spend on a primary campaign. That is not as much as Andrew Cuomo.

Things aren't exactly looking up for Gov. David Paterson. Over the weekend, the Post reported that a state trooper discovered Paterson "snuggling" with a woman in a utility closet at the governor's mansion a couple of months ago. ("The trooper opened the door and the first thing he saw was the governor and a woman inside and the two of them snuggling together, embracing. There was nothing more than that, snuggling, and they had their clothes on.") Today comes word that Paterson only has $620,000 remaining in his campaign coffers, which is about 20 times less than what his presumed opponent, Andrew Cuomo, has amassed in contributions thus far. Don't count Paterson out just yet, though. He huddled with some of his supporters yesterday to hash out his "winning strategy" against Cuomo, so expect Paterson to turn everything around over the next few weeks. [NYP, NYDN]

Very little has gone right for Gov. David Paterson in recent weeks. Embarrassingly, his son was detained by the NYPD after he was spotted playing dice and found to be in possession of someone else's credit card; a week later, the Post reported he had an "intimate" lunch at a New Jersey steakhouse with a "sexy mom" woman who wasn't his wife, a charge he denied; and he's fallen far behind of Andrew Cuomo on the fundraising front—Cuomo has nearly five times as much cash in his coffers—which certainly doesn't bode well. Maybe it's time for the governor to pursue a new campaign strategy? It looks like he's going to get the chance to do so, whether he likes it or not: Tracy Sefl, Paterson's "most visible" campaign strategist and his chief spokesperson quit her job today. [NYP, NYT]

Hah, Andrew Cuomo is going to inadvertently kill the Harold Ford "campaign."

Things are looking up for Gov. David Paterson. According to a new Quinnipiac poll, "only" 49 percent of registered voters disapprove of his job performance. That's a nice bump from a couple of months ago when the figure stood at 57 percent (and a huge jump from his 19 percent approval rating back in May), not that anyone should take this as an indication Paterson actually has any chance of beating Andrew Cuomo if they go head to head in the Democratic primary next year. [NYT, NYP]

Author/socialite Plum Sykes and her twin sister, fashion designer/socialite Lucy Sykes Rellie are turning 40 today. Jay-Z is celebrating his 40th birthday, too. Tyra Banks turns 36. Marisa Tomei is turning 45. Saturday Night Live's Fred Armisen is 43. Actor Jeff Bridges is 60. Ugly Betty's Kevin Sussman is 39. Former porn star Nikki Tyler is 37. And former game show host Wink Martindale turns 75 today. A handful of weekend birthdays are below.

Meeting that special someone on the World Wide Web just got .00001% less skeevy! Attorney General Andrew Cuomo reports that as part of a new state law enacted last year, some 3,500 sex offenders have been booted off of Facebook and MySpace, including 659 people who live in New York City. [NBC]

According to the New York Times' Danny Hakim, Rudolph Giuliani has decided not to run for governor of New York next year, despite publicly flirting with the idea for months. Is a shoe somewhere about to drop?

So much for those TV commercials that Gov. David Paterson was hoping would boost his popularity (and which he spent half a million dollars on): According to a new poll, Paterson now trails Andrew Cuomo by a staggering 59 points in a potential primary next year. [NYP]

It looks like Gov. David Paterson's campaign to remake his public image by changing up his facial hair has yet to pay off, unfortunately. A new poll by Siena College indicates Andrew Cuomo would beat Paterson 70% to 20% in a potential Democratic primary, and 72% of New Yorkers would prefer to see someone else elected governor. But it's not all bad news: Paterson's job approval rating now stands at 19%, which is up a whole percentage point from last month. [NYDN]

This week's issue of New York has come up with a list of the 12 most powerful people in town. (Well, the 11 most powerful behind Michael Bloomberg, that is.) They are (in no particular order): Al Sharpton, Howard Rubenstein, Sheldon Silver, Stephen Ross, Jamie Dimon, Herb Pardes, Anna Wintour, Andrew Cuomo, Mike Fishman, Chuck Schumer, and Rupert Murdoch. [NYM]

Oh, Rahm. Why must you meddle? Emanuel and White House political director Patrick Gaspard tried to force New York governor David Paterson out of the 2010 election to make room for Andrew Cuomo and they just made everything worse.

Damn! New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo's assault on potentially corrupt banks continues in earnest: he has subpoenaed five Bank of America directors. And this is just the beginning...