With all of the delicacy, charm and raw political skill that they showed in trying to get Gov. David Paterson of NY to quit.

White House Is Taking a More Aggressive Role in State Races

WASHINGTON — The White House’s intervention in the race for New York governor is the latest evidence of how President Obama and his top advisers are taking an increasingly direct role in contests across the country, but their assertiveness has bruised some Democrats who suggest it could undercut Mr. Obama’s appeal with voters tired of partisan politics.

[snip]

More than anything, though, the interventions reflect a controlling style of this White House and of Mr. Emanuel, who employed similar hard-ball tactics to recruit candidates when he was running the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. In addition to Mr. Emanuel, the White House political director, Patrick Gaspard, and deputy chief of staff, Jim Messina, keep close watch on all political races.

Via @PatrickRuffini: bolding mine, and reflective of Erick Erickson’s recent first look at ACORN CEO Bertha Lewis’s Rolodex.  One may be forgiven for wondering whether… input on this was sought.

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If so, the New York Daily News is being rather artful about it:

Meanwhile, people have been speculating with vengeance since we told you about the former Davis escort who contends Spitzer wasn’t the only governor she romped with. On Friday, when Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell’s spokesman Chuck Ardo resigned, Ardo insisted his retirement had nothing to do with Gawker and other sites putting Rendell on their short list of pols who may be Governor X. Ardo told The D.C. Write Up that Rendell is not the new luv guv - “no way, no how, no place, no time.”

Many seem to be aching for X to be Arnold Schwarzenneger. While we’re continuing to investigate the escort’s highly detailed story of her three “dates” with him, we won’t identify the chief exec with the prominent wife. But we will say this: it ain’t California’s Governator.

So Gov. Rendell’s former PR flack’s denial that his former boss patronizes prostitutes gets reported without comment - while unnamed rumors that it was actually Gov. Schwarzenegger get firmly and unequivocally debunked.  Either way, absolutely deniable on the Daily News’ part.

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It doesn’t usually attract much notice when a governor’s spokesperson retires, but the timing of this announcement is curious:

After seven years of fielding questions from reporters from Pennsylvania and beyond, Gov. Ed Rendell’s chief spokesman Chuck Ardo says he plans to leave the administration…

”Because I’m tired,” he said. ”Because I’ve spent all day, every day, for the last 90 days trying to explain to people what we’re taking away from them. It’s physically and emotionally draining…”

”It’s just emotionally draining,” Ardo said. ”I’ve just run out of juice…”

Ardo, an Ohio native, said he and his wife, Nancy, also want to spend more time with his 11-year-old grandson, who is moving in with the couple this week.

”I want to spend more time with my family,” he said. ”It’s a demanding job.”

If Ardo is exhausted now, it’s a good thing he’s stepping aside. Because recent headlines suggest that the job of serving as Rendell’s spokesman may be about to get a lot more demanding. If I were Ardo, I’d be looking for a change right about now, too.

I don’t know whether to be angry or to rejoice:

Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell (D) on Wednesday urged House members to consider another stimulus package just for infrastructure projects in order to produce more jobs…

“I would like to see a second stimulus devoted solely to infrastructure,” he said. “It’s what produces jobs, and produces orders for factories, American factories…”

“Look, I think the stimulus bill was misnamed,” he said. “Part of it was stimulus, part of it was job creation, but a lot of it was relief,” such as increased unemployment insurance and food stamps.

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