As Spitzer did a cycle ago, Cuomo tries to take NY

ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) — As New Yorkers watch their Democratic attorney general, Andrew Cuomo, rev up his campaign for governor, it’s hard not to recall the same race four years ago.

That’s when Eliot Spitzer, also a Democratic attorney general at the time, ran for and won the same seat. He soon resigned after a prostitution scandal.

Many New York voters still want a champion and hope to find it this time in Cuomo.

Both whipped Wall Street and corporate boardrooms to become the most popular politician in New York. And both have pledged to clean up and revive the state.

Both stress street smarts that they attribute to growing up in the outer boroughs of New York City and working in the famed Manhattan district attorney’s office.

And both see public service not as a job, but a quest.