In an exclusive interview today on NY1, Governor David Paterson reaffirmed that he is running in the gubernatorial election next year and addressed the potential major budget battle with the state Legislature.

“I don’t know whether this is the most popular place to be right now, but it’s right. So I’m not going to look at the polls. I’m going to do what I think is right,” said the governor. “And I’m going to hope when the public reviews me…. You know, there was a guy with 19 percent [in] poll numbers a few years ago, and everybody had him dead in the water. And he’s running very close in a race in New Jersey. His name is Jon Corzine.”

Paterson also said that he is not interested in taking a position in Washington, D.C.

These revelations come in the wake of the White House delivering a message of great concern if Paterson should run for governor and President Barack Obama’s words of praise for State Attorney General Andrew Cuomo during an appearance in Albany.

When asked if Cuomo is interested in being governor, Paterson responded, “Well, he ran for governor in 2002, so I think he would like to be governor at some point. I don’t know whether he’s interested in being governor now. You’d need to have him on and ask him. Why don’t you do that?”

(Source: NY1)