President Obama's speech today in New York "will be marked with an awkward political overlay, a weekend's worth of stories on his pressure on Governor David Paterson not to seek re-election," Ben Smith reports.
"And so, operatives in New York and Washington say, Obama's contact with the governor will be kept to a bare minimum: Obama will fly in Air Force one with Rep. Paul Tonko, and see Paterson only on the tarmac in Troy, where Paterson will be one of a handful of local figures, including the mayor of Troy, to greet the president."