The Nation — New York Governor Eliot Spitzer had to be dragged onboard the Hillary Clinton for President campaign.

Now, he’s another headache for Clinton.

Spitzer, who earned a national reputation as a crime buster, was busy apologizing Monday after having been linked–via a federal investigation–to a prostitution ring. The governor reportedly reportedly paid $4,300 to spend the night before Valentine’s Day with a young lady at Washington’s swank Mayflower Hotel.

"I have acted in a way that violates my obligations to my family… [and] my sense of right and wrong," admitted Spitzer, in a brief statement delivered at his Manhattan office. "I must now dedicate some time to regain the trust to my family."

Ouch.

Ouch for Spitzer.

Ouch for all New York Democrats, including a certain New York senator.

The first question is an ugly one: Will Spitzer, one of Clinton’s highest profile backers and the man who was going to lead the New York delegation at this summer’s Democratic National Convention, quit politics?

The Governor’s not saying. But the calls for a quit are already being voiced. New York State Assembly Republican leader James Tedisco declared that "[Spitzer] has disgraced his office and the entire state of New York. He should resign his office immediately."

If Spitzer quits — and the betting is that, as details of the scandal come out, he will — the governorship will go to his able lieutenant governor, David A. Paterson.

Paterson, also a Democrat and also a Democratic National Convention super-delegate, has always been a good deal more enthusiastic about the Clinton campaign than Spitzer.

Despite the fact that Clinton is the senator from New York state, Spitzer did not endorse her until after Clinton was forced to make a high profile visit to ask the Governor for his support. Even when it came, Spitzer — whose own ambitions to be attorney general, vice president or even president were no secret — did not campaign all that hard for Clinton.

While Spitzer spent time at the Mayflower, Paterson slogged through Iowa and other key states on Clinton’s behalf.

After the endorsement was secured, Spitzer first became a problem for Clinton when she struggled to defend and then distance herself from his proposal to make it easier for immigrants to obtain drivers’ licenses.

He is a much bigger problem now.

It’s not that Clinton is tied in any way to the governor’s troubles.

Rather, he is a distraction–the big player in her adopted home state who is now in big, big trouble.

The Clinton campaign immediately began sponging Spitzer’s name from the Senator’s campaign website–just as Idaho Senator Larry Craig’s name disappeared from the website of Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney after Craig’s bathroom troubles in Minneapolis.

But that won’t be the end of this.

The Spitzer trip up is a made-for-TV — and really made-for-The New York Post — scandal. The media won’t let go of this one, and sooner or later Tim Russert and Chris Matthews are going to be obsessed with everything Hillary Clinton has to say about it.

Clinton will be answering breathless questions about all her governor’s troubles, about whether he should resign and, of course, about her impressions of what it means when prominent political players — like governors or, say, presidents in the 1990s — get wrapped up in sex scandals.

Double ouch!

The one bright side for Clinton is this: If Spitzer quits, Paterson will be the first African-American governor of New York state. He will instantly become Clinton’s most prominent African-American backer.

Unfortunately, while Paterson more than deserves that prominence, and will use it well and wisely–his accession to of the governorship, should it come, will follow a torturous period for New York Democrats, including Hillary Clinton.

Source: Yahoo