Outmaneuvering Astorino and Cheating the Voters

For much of the past decade, as he came back from a disastrous 2002 run for Governor and a painfully public divorce, Andrew Cuomo seemed to have the political gods smiling upon him.

When he sought the Democratic nomination for State Attorney General in 2006, his main opponent was Mark Green, a man who had antagonized at least as many people as he had over the years without gaining Mr. Cuomo’s political wiles. Then, ensconced in the position that had propelled Eliot Spitzer to a landslide win as Governor, he assisted in Mr. Spitzer’s self-destruction and then barely had to lift a finger as his successor, David Paterson, took himself out of the running in 2010.