Just to take a stab in the dark here: did David Paterson's people do a poll recently showing that people like the governor, but lack clarity on what he's doing? It might be interesting to know the answer - and I certainly do not - because it's striking how out-front the governor has been recently.

On September 8th, Paterson mocked Albany legislators as bloodsuckers, leading to much howling and rumored garlic and crucifix shortages caused by enthusiastic citizen buying.

On Tuesday, September 16th, Paterson gave authority to AIG to move $20 billion in assets from subsidiaries to its central holding, long before any Federal action was taken.

On September 19th, the governor requested that Treasury headquarter its relief efforts for Wall Street in New York City itself.

Today, the governor refused to rule out tax increases to get the state through the Wall Street crisis, authorized the attorney general to investigate the LIRR pension/disability scandal, hinted at a special session of the legislature, called rebuilding at Ground Zero "a mess", announced that the state will begin regulating some of the bizarre credit derivatives, slapped down John McCain, and for good measure, yesterday let everyone know that he won't be endorsing in the 2009 mayoral race.

Whatever the root cause of this pleasing activity is, more, please.