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“Probably the Mets because the Yankees are behind the Boston Red Sox and the Tampa Bay Rays in the American League East,” he said in the interview that was broadcast today.

Paterson, an avid Mets fan, didn’t mention that the Yankees have 26 World Series titles to the Mets two, but he did show confidence in his team, which moved into a first-place tie in their division last night.

Then he joked with Michel Martin, the show’s host and also a Mets fan, that “You’re right, the Mets really are the only team in New York.”

Paterson did take on some more meaty issues in his interview.

As he did in his speech yesterday to the NAACP, Paterson took on racism in the country and the issues facing urban America.

When asked if as an African-American governor from Harlem he has to calibrate his connections to the inner city, he said no.

“I think that a lot of African Americans who aspire to leadership levels of government and other entities feel this pressure that if they appear too interested in their own neighborhoods, that it is somehow some reverse racism,” he said. “It is not … Politics is all about coming from your community.”

And he defended Barack Obama’s comments, derided by the Rev. Jesse Jackson, that government assistance of the poor and black community has to be coupled with family responsibility.

“What Sen. Obama is saying is that I’m going to fight for the same programs, but I’m not going to allow the people who are the recipients of these programs to walk around without any responsibilities. And I think that is a really a step toward a new culture and really a higher plane of thinking than we have seen in American government in a long time.”

Updated: Bruno met with the media before he took the bus tour with television cameras in tow. He said it was emotional leaving the Capitol for the last time, but said he’s accomplished much.

I asked him if he’s going to own thoroughbred horses and run them, something he couldn’t do as a senator because of state ethics laws. He said it’s something he’s considering.

“That’s one of the things I’m going to be looking at. For the first time ever, I could have an interest in a horse I could race,” he said as he walked to the bus. “As you know, I love horses. I have two colts, two yearlings in my backyard. They could go into training, so I’m going to take a look at it. One of them is City Zip’s baby, a great stallion.”

City Zip had a good run in 2000 and 2001 at Saratoga Race Course, Bruno’s home turf. A New York Times story said that City Zip won four straight races at the old track.

(Right is a picture of Albany Mayor Jerry Jennings, in light blue shirt, giving Bruno a blanket with all the projects that Bruno aided. With them is left, Assemblyman Roy McDonald, who is looking to replace Bruno in the Senate; and right, Assembly Minority Leader Jim Tedisco.)

Here’s the tour schedule:

“Senator Joseph L. Bruno will be going on a farewell tour of the Capital Region this afternoon. The tour will begin in front of the East Capitol steps at 1:10 with a brief meeting with Albany Mayor Jerry Jennings and Leader Jim Tedisco. The bus will leave promptly after the meeting.
Stops are expected to include; the stadium at HVCC, Rensselaer Tech Park, the former site of Rensselaer High School, Rensselaer Train Station, UAlbany East Campus and Albany International Airport.”

The segment will be streamed on the Internet at noon. It can be heard here.

But as the New York Sun and we pointed out, he’s far from the first elected leader who succeeded a resigning leader to be given that title.

Former Vice President Gerald Ford was named the “accidental president” when he succeeded President Richard Nixon, who resigned in 1974.

The Sun’s editorial says that Robert Sherrill’s 1967 book about Lyndon Johnson is called “The Accidental President,” putting the lie to Mr. Paterson’s claim that “nobody called LBJ an accidental anything.”

There is a 2001 book about President Bush titled “The Accidental President: How 413 Lawyers, 9 Supreme Court Justices, and 5,963,110 Floridians (Give or Take a Few) Landed George W. Bush in the White House.”

There is a 2006 biography of the10th president titled “John Tyler, The Accidental President.”

And New Jersey Gov. Richard Codey and Connecticut Gov. Jodi Rell were also called “accidental governor” after they took over amid scandals.

“Malcolm Wilson was an “accidental” governor,” one reader wrote this morning. “He waited 15 years to be an overnight success once Nelson (Rockefeller) resigned. I don’t think you’ll find records of Gov. Wilson complaining that citizens thought he was second-rate by having inherited the office.”

It will be the first time that new Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos will be one of the “three men in a room’’ that calls the shots at the Capitol. ( Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver is the third.) Skelos took over last month as Senate majority leader from Joseph Bruno, who is quitting the Senate today.

Paterson has proposed that the state force school districts to limit annual increases in property-tax rates to a maximum of four percent, but lawmakers didn’t act on the idea during the legislative session that ended on June 24.

Skelos has signaled his willingness to back the idea, but Silver is opposed.

The Legislature is expected back at the Capitol for a brief session in September. The tax-cap idea may be considered then.

Of course, Obama can boast today of raising $52 million over the last quarter,  more than double what McCain raised. So Obama will have a large warchest to fire back.

Here’s the video. Warning: It has eerie music.

Adam D. Kramer called Galef’s objection “a shocking move that should send shivers down the spine of anyone who believes in democracy and the right of citizens to vote in contested elections.”

Galef of Ossining, who has served in the state Assembly since 1993, said the “general objection” gives her time to look over Gouldman’s petitions to see if there are any violations of election law.

The move is standard procedure and she would have expected Gouldman to do the same, Galef said.

Whether or not Galef decides to follow up with specific objections by Monday’s deadline, she will have a challenger in November.

Richard Quaglietta, who ran twice unsuccessfully for the Kent Town Board, is running on the Working Families line.

  One thing hasn’t changed from the Spitzer to the Paterson administrations: the official marching orders for agency public-information officers are to be “helpful” and “transparent.’’

That was the message PR head Risa Heller delivered at a meeting of the agency flacks this week.

Such a stance may not seem extraordinary – and it was essentially what the doctrine was during the Spitzer administration as well – but is in stark contrast to the doctrine of the Pataki years (1995-2006) when the so-called public-information officers would routinely deflect questions, or not return calls or  merely parrot a canned response.

Those were the orders from the top, one veteran spokesman recalled today.

“Now, there’s not much interest in trying to control the message,’’ he said. “They want us to be open.’‘

That someone was Putnam County Democratic Chair Lynne Eckardt, who, in questioning Lalor, revealed her political standing. Lalor didn’t hold it against her.

There’s a group called Democrats for Lalor. Check it out,” he quickly told her.

Paterson, New York’s first black governor and former supporter of Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton for president, told the national NAACP conference in Cincinnati that looking past race in the presidential election will be a test for U.S. voters.

“Can America reject the crucible of race that has dictated and pervaded all of our history to embrace an African American man who has the right policies for the next decade in our country?” Paterson asked the crowd, to several applause, during his 36-minute keynote address.

In his first major speech on the national stage since taking office in mid-March, Paterson was forceful and threw in several of his patented one-liners. Yet he spoke with strong emotion about the struggles African Americans faced during slavery and since then with discrimination in the workforce and in the communities in which they live.

He also criticized the media in his home state, saying he has been called the “accidental governor” by the New York press when no other governor or president who took office from a resigning leader has been stamped with such a title. He replaced former Gov. Eliot Spitzer, who resigned amid links to a prostitution scandal.

Paterson, 54, stopped short of outwardly blaming it on being the state’s first African-American governor, but said with a smirk, “Why was this non-illustrious title held all these years for me? I will leave the answer to all of you… because I haven’t had a chance to think about it.”

Murtagh “will call upon the State Legislature to change the fundamental way it does business by passing a constitutional amendment to bring Initiative & Referendum to New York, and putting term limits in place for the Assembly Speaker, Senate Majority Leader and all 212 members of the legislature,” his campaign said in a press release.

He is running for the seat currently held by Sen. Andrea Stewart-Cousins, a Democrat.

Feld’s campaign says the forums — dates TBA — will be held on local weekends in parks around the district. Participants can bring their own lunch; Feld will moderate the discussion and provide dessert.

The district, currently represented by Sen. Suzi Oppenheimer, D-Mamaroneck, includes Briarcliff Manor, Ossining, Chappaqua, New Castle, North Castle, Port Chester, White Plains, Rye, Rye Brook, Harrison, Mamaroneck, Larchmont, Scarsdale, and New Rochelle.

Paterson, New York’s first black governor, is expected to discuss the status of race relations in the country and take a broader, national look on issues rather than New York specific, aides said.

It’s truly the first national speech for Paterson, since he took over as governor on March 17. His swearing in ceremony was broadcasted live in national TV because he was succeeding scandalous Gov. Eliot Spitzer, but the speech was more about New York’s future.

You can watch Paterson’s speech live here at 9:45 a.m.
U.S. Rep. Charles Rangel, D-Harlem, is also expected to speak. Yesterday, Republican presidential candidate John McCain spoke at the conference, telling NAACP members that he wants to expand education opportunities, partly through vouchers for low-income children to attend private schools.

Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama spoke to the conference on MOnday night, praising the civil-rights movement of the ‘60s and calling on families to take greater responsibility for their childrens’ upbringings—an issue that led to the now-famous criticism by the Rev. Jesse Jackson

—Howard Rubenstein of the New York City-based Rubenstein public-relations firm, $2,000
—Citizens for (Assemblyman) Sam Hoyt, D-Buffalo, $200
—The Business Council of New York State Political Action Committee, $200
—State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli, $20
—Ivanka Trump, $200
—Family Planning Advocates, $400
—Friends of Joel Giambra, former Erie County executive, $1,000
—Anthony Bottar of Syracuse, member of the state Board of Regents, $200
—Friends of (Assemblywoman) RoAnn Destito, D-Rome, Oneida County, $200
—George M. Steinbrenner, $2,000
—Healthcare Association of New York State Political Action Committee, $2,000
—Friends of (Albany) Mayor (Gerald) Jennings, $1,000

Instead, folks with $1,000 to spend can meet her in a private reception Monday at the home of Mary Ann Koenig and Rick Dobbis in Armonk, dessert included. If you’ve got $10,000 — or can raise it — you can attend the more intimate “host reception” and get your photo taken with the candidate’s wife.

The press, alas, isn’t invited. Neither are lobbyists, foreign agents or PACs.

The first $4,600 of a donation will go to the campaign (for the primary and general elections) and the next $28,500 will go to the Democratic National Committee.
—Via reporter Lisa Ganga.

Ms. Hall teaches Spanish at the Charles E. Smith Jewish Day School in Rockville, Md., the New York Times reported in its wedding pages.

“Polystyrene cups are used in a matter of minutes but remain in our waterways and landfills for centuries,” Kavanagh said.

McDonald’s had no immediate comment.

Updated:

Here’s McDonald’s response:

“Styrofoam is widely used by restaurant companies, grocery stores, retailers and manufacturers. Singling out McDonald’s is not only unfair, but it is misleading.

From the state Board of Elections site:

Total Receipts $5,000,000.00
Total Expenses $.00
Closing Balance $5,000,000.00

In New York, those on the committee include western New York Democratic candidates Dan Maffei, Eric Massa and Jon Powers.

Being on the committee has come under fire in recent days by Republicans after Rangel was knocked for having four-rent stabilized apartments in the city. He decided Monday to relinquish one, his campaign office in Harlem.

The firm Berlin Rosen, in particular Jonathan Rosen, will be winding down as spokespeople for the state party and Paterson’s re-election campaign. Rosen has also served as spokesman for the closing of the Spitzer 2010 campaign.

The party is moving to have its own full-time communications director, who will be Carly Lindauer. She starts next week as the transition begins through the summer.

Lindauer was a spokeswoman for Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign in several states, including in North Carolina and Wisconsin. Before that she was at the Democratic firm Rabinowitz/Dorf Communications.

She served as the public policy fellow for the Jewish Council for Public Affairs and graduated from Boston University’s College of Communication in 2004.

   Most spent:
—Former Gov. Eliot Spitzer, $2.91 million
—Clarkstown Supervisor Alex Gromack, Rockland County, $826,573
—Richard David for District Attorney, $564,235
—Sen. Serf Maltese, Queens, $331,013
—Sen. Joseph Bruno, Rensselaer County, $324,764
—Sen. Thomas Libous, Binghamton, $300,384
—Simcha Felder, Kings County, $245,610
—Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos, Nassau County, $245,059
—Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, Manhattan, $232,521
—Assemblyman Greg Ball, Patterson, Putnam County, $222,443

Here’s some of his statement:

“At the conclusion of the 2008 legislation session I announced I would not seek re-election this fall because, after 32 years of public service, I wanted to move on with my life, give my constituents an opportunity for new representation, and my colleagues in the Senate an opportunity for new leadership. Today I am announcing that I will leave the Senate, effective Friday, July 18th. I believe this is the right time to move forward for several reasons.”

“My work is fairly well done,” Bruno told reporters after the announcement of a $1.5 billion deal with IBM today.

He said he has worked with new Majority Leader Dean Skelos to finish the transition.

“I feel like my transition is done. The furniture is moving out of my office, I think tomorrow. The pictures are off the wall,” Bruno said.

Earlier, he said during the IBM announcement that today’s announcement will be last major deal before he retires. He also took a few parting shots at former Gov. Eliot Spitzer, his nemesis.

Gov. David Paterson’s predecessor “just made life as miserable as he could make it for everybody,” Bruno said.

Bruno said, “I feel very comfortable in slowly riding off into the sunset. You watch my back.”

Full story here.

• Illinois Sen. Barack Obama has a 50 – 41 percent lead over Arizona Sen. John McCain.

• Independent voters split 44 – 44 percent. McCain has a slight 47 – 44 percent edge among men voters and a larger 49 – 42 percent lead among white voters.

• Black voters back Obama 94 – 1 percent, while women support him 55 – 36 percent.  Obama leads 63 – 31 percent among voters 18 to 34 years old and 48 – 44 percent among voters 35 to 54, while voters over 55 split, with 45 percent for McCain and 44 percent for Obama.

• By a 55 – 29 percent margin, likely voters nationwide have a favorable opinion of Obama.   McCain gets a 50 – 31 percent favorability.

•  A total of 88 percent of American voters say they are “entirely comfortable” or “somewhat comfortable” having a black President, but 9 percent are “somewhat uncomfortable” or “entirely uncomfortable.”  And 86 percent say Obama’s race won’t affect their vote.

• A total of 64 percent of voters say they are “entirely comfortable” or “somewhat comfortable” with a President who is 72 years old, while 34 percent are “somewhat uncomfortable” or “entirely uncomfortable.”

• The economy is the single most important issue in their vote, 53 percent of American voters say, followed by 16 percent who list the war in Iraq and 11 percent who list health care.

The poll of 1,725 voters has a margin of error of +/- 2.4 percentage points.

New York Conservative Party Chairman Mike Long said in an interview today that the expected September endorsement of McCain would be “a plus’’ for the Arizona senator among conservative voters around the country because New York is the only place with a statewide ballot line for the Conservative Party.

McCain has clear conservative credentials – leadership on the war on terrorism, support for tax cuts, advocacy for cutting federal spending and opposition to activist judges, according to Long.

The party is waiting to see who McCain picks as his running mate, he said. “If he really picked the wrong vice president, it could put our endorsement in jeopardy.’’

Meanwhile, New York’s Independence Party, which had serious discussions with New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg about a possible third-party presidential candidacy until Bloomberg opted out, is in discussions with representatives of McCain and Democrat Barack Obama about a November ballot line, according to party vice chairman Tom Connolly.

“We are still up in the air,’’ Connolly said. “The short answer is we haven’t picked yet because Bloomberg quit on us.’’

The Independence Party endorsed Green Party candidate Ralph Nader in 2004.

Neither the Conservative Party nor the Independence Party ballot line is expected to make a difference in the presidential results in New York at this point because Obama leads McCain by about 14 percentage points, according to Maurice Carroll, director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute. “Color New York blue and throw away the crayons,’’ he said.

The last time the Conservative Party mattered in a presidential election was in 1980, when the 256,000 votes Ronald Reagan received on that line provided him with his margin of victory in New York over President Carter. Reagan received 2.6 million votes on the Republican line to Carter’s 2.7 million Democratic votes.