Governor David Paterson has been running several ads to begin rehabilitating his image among New York voters and to get a jump on his potential rivals, including Attorney General Andrew Cuomo. Polls put Paterson behind pretty much everyone who might contemplate a run for his office.
So, when I saw this ad, I was struck by one thing.
It's an admission of mistakes. I'm sure his opponents will try to dwell on it, but this advertisement actually tries to spin a negative as a positive; mistakes were made, but they can and have been overcome, just as surely as all the other trials and tribulations in Paterson's life.
This ad is refreshing because it doesn't hide from the fact that the Governor has made mistakes; he's made plenty as I've written about here since he took office upon the resignation of Eliot Spitzer. Typically, it's the opponent who points out mistakes and failings of a politician, so to see the candidate himself point out this makes this advertisement all the more interesting. I wonder if it will have the intended effect to build a coalition of voters in the state to sustain a reelection effort.
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