By Pamela Gentry, Senior Poltical Producer

Posted March 12, 2008 – With today’s resignation of New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer (D), the Empire State will swear in its first African-American governor to fill the top executive spot and lead one of the country’s largest state governments.

Spitzer, told a packed room of reporters, “I’m deeply sorry I did not live up to what was expected of me, to every New Yorker and to those who believed in what I stand for, I apologies.”

David Paterson, from Harlem, is a seasoned politician who is well liked and respected among his peers.  Emile Milan, in Rep. Charles Rangel’s office told me, “He can bring people together and he’s got a great sense of humor.”

Paterson, 53, was born legally blind, he first made history in 2006 as the state’s first African-American lieutenant governor.

Pressure for Spitzer’s resignation had been mounting since the first reports of his alledged involvement in an exclusive prostitution ring.  Yesterday Spitzer and Paterson staffers started holding transition meetings.  Spitzer said today, at Paterson’s request for an “orderly transition” his resignation would not take affective until Monday, March 17. 

Paterson is no stranger to the state capitol. He follows his father Basil Paterson, a longtime political leader in state and New York City politics.

Paterson’s father was a trailblazer in New York’s political history. He served in the 1960’s as a state senator; ran in 1970 for lieutenant governor with former U.S. Supreme Court Justice Arthur Goldberg (the ticket lost to Gov. Nelson Rockefeller); and in1978 was appointed as a Deputy Mayor of New York City by Mayor Ed Koch, a post he left  to serve as New York’s Secretary of State.

Now some 30 years later, his son David, will make this historic move.  Following Spitzer’s brief press conference, Paterson released a statement saying, “Like all New Yorkers I am sadden by what we have learned over the past several days.”  

“My heart goes out to him and to his family at this difficult and painful time. Its now time for Albany to get back to work as the people of this state expect from us,” he wrote.

State senate minority leader, Malcomb Smith, spoke with Paterson this morning.  Smith told CNN, “We talked about what going forward looked like - he’s prepared.” 

Paterson is married to Michelle and the father of two children, Ashley and Alex. 

By Pamela Gentry, Senior Political Producer

 Posted March 11, 2008 – Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) wins the Mississippi primary and regains his frontrunner status in the Democratic race for president.

Obama was favored to win the Magnolia state, but Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.) held out hope and campaigned in the state with hopes of earning enough votes to secure more delegates. Last weekend former President Bill Clinton made several appearances on her behalf around the state in small venues and town hall meetings.

But in the end, Obama won a decisive victory with 90  percent of precincts reporting in Mississippi, Obama led Clinton 60 percent to 37 percent.  The win in Mississippi will give the Illinois senator most of the 33 delegates at stake.  

Exit polling showed Obama won close to 90 percent of the Black vote, which make up more than half of the Dems in the state, scored big among young voters, but only received a third of the White vote.

Clinton was able to keep her base of older voters, but did poorly among African American in the state.  Earlier this week I asked Clinton’s campaign manager, Ann Lewis, if they were giving up on the Black vote.  “We’re going to continue to work for those votes,” she insisted.

Lewis pointed to the outreach done in Ohio and Texas with Black lawmakers Rep. Stephanie Tubbs-Jones (D-Ohio) and Rep. Shelia Jackson Lee (D-Texas). Both surrogates worked hard on her behalf in those states. “Every vote counts,” Lewis said.    

Obama campaigned in Mississippi early Tuesday and returned to Chicago to wait for the results. He thanked the folks in Mississippi for their support during an interview on CNN.   “What we have tried to do is steadily make sure that in each state we are making the case about the need for change in this country, and obviously the people of Mississippi responded,” Obama said.

Clinton didn’t make a public statement, but her campaign manager, Maggie Williams released a statement saying, “We congratulate Senator Obama for his win in Mississippi and thank our supporters and volunteers there for their support, hard work, and long hours.  Now we look forward to campaigning in Pennsylvania and around the country as this campaign continues.”

That statement is a clear sign that the Clinton camp is turning their attention to the Pennsylvania primary on April 22.  The large industrial state has 158 delegates, the largest pool of delegates left in the remaining contest. Obama has also set their sights on the delegate rich state.

When asked if he would consider Clinton as his running mate, Obama said, it was “premature to talk about,” adding he’s sure Clinton would be on any “short list” of candidates for the number two spot.

Now both camps are waiting to see what remedy the Democratic National Committee (DNC)  will decide upon regarding the Michigan and Florida’s delegates. 

 Obama told CNN, he would agree to any process sanctioned by the DNC if it; doesn’t advantage any one candidate; respects the rules; is fair; and votes can be properly counted.

Whew! That might be a tall order to fill.  We’ll just have to wait and see.

8:30 PM

Posted March 11, 2008 – Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) is the projected winner in Mississippi’s primary tonight,  re-establishing his frontrunner status in the Democratic race for president. 

Obama has also officialy won the Texas Caucus.  These two wins, in addition to the Wyoming caucus on Saturday give him three straight victories.  Tonight’s win in Mississippi will give him most of the 33 delegates at stake.