Cuomo stuns New York by quitting race for governor

The race for the governorship of New York took an unexpected turn when Andrew Cuomo, until recently the favourite to challenge the popular Republican incumbent, George Pataki, stepped forward and announced he was waving the white flag.

The decision by Mr Cuomo, a longtime prodigy of Bill Clinton and a former member of his cabinet, was a stunning development in a race that culminates in November and is already one of the most important in this election season. Analysts said it was unprecedented in the history of gubernatorial contests.

The shock is profound in part because it came only one week before Mr Cuomo was due to face fellow Democrat Carl McCall in a primary election. The primary will still go ahead, as planned, next Tuesday, but will be reduced to a formality.

It also adds to the almost Shakespearean script that has always been attached to the Cuomo name. Mr Cuomo's father, Mario Cuomo, who lost the governorship to Mr Pataki eight years ago, will always be remembered as the Hamlet figure who so nearly ran for the American presidency, but in the end always retreated from making the commitment.

The writing apparently was on the wall for Mr Cuomo. A new batch of poll numbers on Monday showed him trailing Mr McCall, the New York comptroller, by 20 points. His only option was to go into the last week of his campaign with a barrage of negative advertisement against Mr McCall, which he declined to do.

"We need healing now, maybe more than ever before," he said, announcing his withdrawal and referring to the first anniversary of last year's terrorist attacks. He urged his supporters to fall behind Mr McCall, who is likely to be the first African-American nominated to run as a candidate for New York governor.

Most political observers were long convinced Mr Cuomo would face Mr Pataki in November. He has never run for office, but he owned one of the most politically popular names in New York and had an unblemished record as Housing Secretary under Mr Clinton.

But the Clinton connection, in the end, helped to thwart him. As the race heated up, neither the former president nor Hillary Clinton, now a New York senator, came forward to campaign with him.

Instead, Mrs Clinton made clear she was behind Mr McCall. But Mr Cuomo, whose wife comes from the Kennedy clan and suffers from an uppity, almost young-buck image, made mistakes of his own.

Most damaging was a remark he made in April that during the days after the 11 September attacks, Mr Pataki "held the leader's coat", a reference to Rudolph Giuliani, Mayor of New York at the time. The jab at Mr Pataki was considered tasteless in view of the national feeling of tragedy.

Mr Cuomo further damaged his prospects by deciding against making an appearance this summer at his party's state convention. Thus, he alienated himself from the grass roots.

The abrupt surrender of Mr Cuomo is a blessing for Mr McCall, who can conserve dwindling campaign funds for his run at Mr Pataki, which will now begin in earnest. He faces a steep hill. Polls have recently shown the governor comfortably ahead whether his challenger had been Mr McCall or the chastened Mr Cuomo.

Mr Clinton, who was the one first to urge Mr Cuomo, 44, to step aside in a weekend phone call, appeared at his side at his withdrawal announcement. "Today is a day you should be very, very proud of, Andrew," the former president said, adding that the only politician on the platform without a future was himself.