Under the Bus

Why Obama Nixed Paterson

New York liberals asked him to intervene.

Members of New York Gov. David Paterson's own party apparently threw him under the bus. Politico reports that the White House asked Paterson to step aside in 2010 after members of congress and state legislators warned the administration that Paterson would drag down the 2010 Democratic ticket. The Democrats are particularly vulnerable in New York next year, with appointed Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand up for reelection along with a half-dozen House members with tenuous holds on their seats—including five freshman members. Evidently, concerned parties made their case to Rahm Emanuel in closed-door meetings, worried that the deeply unpopular Paterson would cause election turn-out among Democrats to sharply drop across the state.