Maltese Runs a Race About Spitzer

Just because Eliot Spitzer is out of office doesn’t mean Republicans are forgetting about him. In fact, if Republican State Senator Serphin Maltese’s first television ad is any indication, we could be seeing a return of Spitzer in a big way this November.

Maltese, who narrowly reelection in 2006 to his Queens-based seat, is up with a television ad that features Spitzer’s name and image almost as prominently as Maltese’s.

Why?

“Because of what was going on at the time Governor Spitzer - former Governor Spitzer - was in office,” Maltese spokesman Michael Johnson, told me just now. “And the cuts that he himself tried to do. And those were the cuts Senator Maltese was very against and fought against.”

Democrats have already argued, with some degree of success, against this Spitzerization of legislative races. In a special election upstate earlier this year, Darrell Aubertine told supporters, "There’s a lot of people that are going to try to tell you that this race, this race is about the politics in Albany. It’s not. It’s about the issues and concerns that are right in front of us, here on our main streets in Northern New York.”

We’ll see.

UPDATE: A Matlese spokesman says the ad was made by Nelson Warfield, who comes with some hefty presidential experience.