Toast

10, 9, 8, 7, 6. . . . etc.

How long will the Governor-Who-Never-Was cling by his fingernails to the rock slide of his farcical administration? Hard to say, but at the current pace of new revelations about how he obstructed justice, David Paterson should be worrying less about ruining his manicure and more about lawyering up to avoid a prison term.

The papers are quoting experts today saying that proving direct obstruction of justice would be difficult. But that conclusion is based on what we know so far, and the progress of this unbelievable clown show has been characterized by steadily escalating evidence of malfeasance. Who knows where it will end?

There has been no further mention of the New York Post story last weekend about how the woman at the heart of the domestic violence cover-up scandal managed to purchase an expensive new automobile with cash just days after not showing up to pursue her complaint.

If that was not an innocent coincidence, it's hard to ignore the fact that the woman first did try her best to pursue her complaint through proper channels, only to have state policemen repeatedly call her and harass her to drop the charges.

Someone should also look into why court agents could never manage to serve restraining order papers on the 6-foot-7 ex-boyfriend, despite the fact that he stood next to the governor at all his public appearances--which are announced in advance.

In any case, the chief of the state police has resigned in advance of being thrown out.

Paterson has no political constituency and no voter bloc really committed to him. He has been an absent, lackadaisical governor as the state sinks into insolvency and has not even the minimum political instincts necessary for dealing with an accelerating nightmare scandal. Apparently, he thinks it will all go away soon.

The power brokers hate his guts because of his shoddy treatment of Caroline Kennedy, and the newspapers don't believe a word he says because they've caught him in outright lies--and said so.

I give the Accidental Governor another 48 hours, maybe a week.