Cindy Darrison

Former Eliot Spitzer fund-raiser Cindy Darrison, who recently was hired to help David Paterson, is working with another candidate in a potentially high-profile race for Manhattan district attorney.

If the seemingly unstoppable 89-year-old Robert Morgenthau decides not to run for reelection, Cyrus Vance, a Manhattan attorney, might.  read more »

Here’s an invitation for tomorrow’s Democratic National Committee fund-raiser at 52 Thompson Street, featuring Eliot Spitzer, whose political stock ticked upwards last night.

Also featured on the invitation are DNC chair Howard Dean, Spitzer fund-raiser Cindy Darrison, and Nassau County Democratic chair Jay Jacobs.

Something you don't see every day:

Cindy Darrison, the woman who helped turn Eliot Spitzer from a self-funded candidate into a fund-raising machine, is teaching a course on the subject of soliciting contributions later this month at NYU. The course, I’m told, will feature “fund-raising professionals, a candidate and a major contributor.”

Successful students even get a certificate at the end.

Serious question, which a lot of you will be in a better position to answer than I am: how important would a certification like this be for an elected official or campaign in evaluating a prospective hire for their fund-raising department?

Now that most of the electoral goals of the state Democratic Party have been accomplished, it's sort of an open question when it comes to the direction Eliot Spitzer will want to go in when he weighs in on the selection of the new chair.

Here's an interesting piece of speculation from one informed Democratic source:

"It really depends... on what they want the party to do and succeed in. If it's to nurture and strengthen the bench then [Nassau Suffolk County Chairman Rich Schaffer] would be good. If they want a caretaker then it could be someone more they trust who will just raise money like [Spitzer fund-raiser] Cindy Darrison.

"She does not have the same level of campaign experience but she is great for money. Rich has been one of our most successful chairs and has won all the major races."

Newsday quoted one lobbyist saying Schaffer is the likely replacement. A lobbyist I spoke with said that Schaffer's not interested in it. (I haven't heard yet either way from Schaffer himself.)

As for Darrison, she wasn't mentioned as a member of Spitzer's transition team today. Spitzer's spokeswoman Christine Anderson said they had no further announcements about personnel.

Any other logical candidates?

-- Azi Paybarah

It's always kind of fun to see the decidedly unglossy world of New York politics slip into the glossies, as in this Real Simple Magazine guide to political fundraising ("a wonderful way for concerned citizens to make more than just their votes count"!). (Subscription required, but I know you have one!)

Real Simple's expert: Spitzer fundraising chief Cindy Darrison. And her first piece of advice?

"Always know the rules and play by the rules. Because if you do it wrong, there are criminal penalties."

We venture into the realm of people with actual power in Washington today with a profile of Jeff Ballabon, a little-known, extremely well-connected Jewish Republican who is among the leaders of the movement of Orthodox Jews into the Republican Party.

Peter Beinart's definitive piece on that trend is here, but Ballabon's a fascinating character as much for his personal complexities -- Yeshiva boy, Yale Law School and, as Spitzer aide Cindy Darrison would have it, neanderthal/feminist.  read more »

The profile also gave us an excuse to read an excellent detective novel called Bag Men, one of whose characters, Detective Shecky Bliss, is modeled on Ballabon.

Read the piece for some Ralph Reed fun and a different perspective on John Ashcroft from the one usually heard around here.