Can Eliot Spitzer Stay Progressive?

Clint Hendler

November 8, 2006

He’s famously fought Wall Street corruption, Con Edison, and the insurance industry. But now that Spitzer is New York’s 54th Governor, can he take these values to Albany and (eventually) the White House?

Late Tuesday night, Eliot Spitzer took the stage in a crowded Manhattan ballroom to be greeted as New York’s governor-elect. Clinging tightly to the Plexiglas podium, sweat rolling down his face, he stood in front of his family and a hand-painted American flag backdrop.

“At times in my life, I have been known as the people’s lawyer,” Spitzer told the cheering crowd. “And I fully intend to serve this state as a people’s governor.”