Huh. David Paterson settled a discrimination suit filed by a guy who says the governor fired him because of his race. But David Paterson is our first black governor! Oh, the guy is white.

A new poll indicates that New Yorkers would rather have disgraced former governor Eliot Spitzer running the show than current governor David Paterson. When given the choice to pick any of the last four governors to lead the state, just eight percent picked Paterson. It's unclear if this means that Paterson now more unpopular than ever, or if it's because Spitzer's campaign to redeem himself is finally paying off, but we'll leave that to you to decide. [NYP]

Good news, gays: David Paterson and Meghan McCain want you to have the right to marry! So any day now, you can look forward to equality.

Not to be outdone by Vermont, New York Gov. David Paterson will introduce a bill legalizing same-sex marriage on Thursday.

Gov. David Paterson will announce plans to introduce legislation to legalize same-sex marriage at a press conference on Thursday morning, reports the Times. It's probably not a good idea to go out and buy a fabulous new tux just yet, though. Stiff opposition in Albany is expected and "it could take months—even longer—before the bill makes its way through the appropriate committees and onto the floor of the Senate and the Assembly." [NYT]

You know, it's been more than a month since hateful NY Post cartoonist Sean Delonas drew an offensive (and uncreative!) cartoon. Maybe he's not so bad...wait, did he just mock a blind man, for blindness?

Gov. David Paterson is so unpopular that he may have to fend off Andrew Cuomo in the 2010 Democratic gubernatorial primary. Maybe it's time to take a page from the Cuomo playbook and give the ol' iron fist a try? Paterson announced today that he plans to lay off 8,900 state employees now that unions have refused to make concessions on pay and benefits. [NYDN]

It really didn't look like David Paterson's approval ratings could get any worse when they hit an all-time low a few weeks back. But as usual Paterson has somehow managed to outdo himself. According to a new poll by the Siena Research Institute, his ratings have dropped another 10 percent in the past month alone, with only 14 percent of voters now saying they would be willing to vote for him in 2010 and only 29 percent giving him a "favorable" rating. Music to Andrew Cuomo's ears, no doubt. [Bloomberg, previously]

David Paterson: no one likes him anymore, though he's still better than the last, like, 10 governors. We only like him more after reading his insane love letter to his disgraced former aide.

Gov. David Paterson may just boost his sagging approval ratings yet: He announced today that he plans to take a 10 percent pay cut. "I will symbolically make the gesture for the state," he said to reporters in Buffalo this afternoon. "I will take that sacrifice." Of course, he'll also have a fine excuse if it comes out once again that he gave a total of $150 to charity. [NYT/City Room]

New Yorkers were happier with Eliot Spitzer as governor—even after he became tangled up with Ashley Dupre—compared to David Paterson, according to the results of a new poll. Just 26 percent of the 1,045 voters surveyed by the Marist College Institute for Public Opinion said Paterson was doing either a "good" or "excellent" job, the lowest job approval figures Marist has seen in the 27 years it's been surveying voters. (Spitzer had a 30 percent approval in the days after his prostitution scandal broke.) At least Paterson seems to be aware of his enormous unpopularity: "If it wasn't for A-Rod and Bernie Madoff, they'd just about run me out of this state right now." [NYT]

Caroline Kennedy has a reason to smile today. A new poll shows that David Paterson's job approval ratings have fallen to an all-time low since he took office last year. The governor is viewed favorably by just 40 percent of voters—down from 64 percent in November—and it also gives Andrew Cuomo a commanding lead in a possible primary contest. [NYP]

David Paterson doesn't just want to tax your soda and cigars. He now wants to tax your porn, too. The governor is proposing sales tax on music and software downloads, which, his administration points out, would also apply to adult content. The good news is the tax would only apply to pornographers located within New York state, so all those Japanese fetish films you're so fond of will probably be exempt. [NYDN]

New York guv David Paterson's proposed tax on porn is having the wonderful effect of uniting conservatives and porn producers. Also it's allowing reporters to hang out in porn stores, "legitimately." Everybody's winning!

New York Governor David Paterson's attack flack oversaw a stealth media campaign to smear Caroline Kennedy after she withdrew from the Senate race—which succeeded in making Kennedy and the Governor look terrible. Good work!

Add Gov. David Paterson to the list of people skipping the World Economic Forum in Davos. Paterson, who said he planned to attend the mogulfest to drum up business for the state, and who reiterated just yesterday that he planned to go ahead with the trip, changed course today: "Perhaps it would be a better idea to go at another time, send a couple of assistants and stay right here with the leaders of the Legislature and work on the budget," he told reporters. Good call. Frankly, the idea of the New York's famously indecisive, blind governor zooming down the slopes had us a bit concerned anyway. [NYP]

Oh boy, now that Caroline Kennedy will officially not be New York's senator, the real fun begins: time for Gov. David Paterson's people to trash her anonymously! He never liked that bitch anyhow, sources say:

We didn't end up with a Kennedy or a Cuomo in the end. We got Kirsten Gillibrand. Unless, of course, Gov. David Paterson changes his mind between now and noon when he makes a public announcement. So you can still cling to the thought it's Fran Drescher. [NYT]

"Gilli" what now? Kirsten Gillibrand does not have a household name like "Kennedy" or "Clinton," yet she somehow got her crafty hands on a New York senate seat, reportedly.

Thus far there are five major competing theories as to why Caroline Kennedy pulled out of the Senate race so suddenly and mysteriously. We list them, and give exact statistical odds, below: