Who says there are no glitzy second acts in politics after a popular big political show closes when it suddenly becomes a major flop? Former New York Gov. Elliot Spitzer, who had been a rising star if the Democratic party had ever seen one, is seriously contemplating a return to elected life despite having gone out in a scandal that humiliated him, his wife, his family and let down the many people in New York State who supported and trusted him:
Fallen Gov. Eliot Spitzer champs at the bit to return to politics — and is in “unceasing agony” that he’s no longer governor, he says in a new interview.
While any 2010 campaign is “just hard to see,” he tells Fortune magazine, “I’ve never said I would never consider running for office again.”
Spitzer, who slam-dunked the 2006 election for governor after eight years as attorney general, lasted 15 months before a hooker scandal brought him down.
He quit and lay low for awhile to repair relations with his wife and three daughters, but has re-emerged as a columnist, T.V. pundit and university professor.
The former “Sheriff of Wall Street” is getting it back together, he tells interviewer Peter Elkind, author of “Rough Justice: The Rise and Fall of Eliot Spitzer.”
But he is in “unceasing agony” and “incredibly frustrated” over the way he left office two years ago, he said.
Other than that, “life is great,” he added. “Right now, I can tell you I have a family that is in one piece … That’s a measure of success after what we went through.”
Spitzer, who works in his family’s real estate business, has said there was life beyond politics.
Two questions:
If Spitzer — who has been a thoughtful, solid and dynamic talking head on the cable news shows that have had occasionally him to comment on issues since he left office — rebounds and is elected to office once again, will John Edwards be far behind?
And will we soon see Spitzer doing Nike commercials?
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Joe Gandelman is a former fulltime journalist who freelanced in India, Spain, Bangladesh and Cypress writing for publications such as the Christian Science Monitor and Newsweek. He also did radio reports from Madrid for NPR’s All Things Considered. He has worked on two U.S. newspapers and quit the news biz in 1990 to go into entertainment. He also has written for The Week and several online publications, did a column for Cagle Cartoons Syndicate and has appeared on CNN.