George Pataki surprised everyone tonight with the news that he was running for president, in a video announcing that he was suspending his campaign for president. Go home, man.

Remember how close former New York Gov. George Pataki was to entering the presidential race earlier this week? Finally, a real candidate! But alas, he announced today that he will not run after all. Ugh. This cannot be happening.

If you were a former three-term governor of New York and had dealt with all of Albany's crap for 12 years, wouldn't you hate politics and life so much that you'd want to go fishing or golfing or part-time corporate lobbying all the time, alone, while anxiously awaiting your death that just can't come soon enough? Yeah, you would! But if you're George Pataki, you apparently want to run for president. Hmm.

Former New York Gov. George Pataki, whom 3-4 people in the country remember, is "looking at" a possible presidential run.

Socialite Fabiola Beracasa turns 33 today. Model Petra Nemcova is turning 30. Former New York Governor George Pataki is 64. Former labor secretary Robert Reich turns 63. Actress Minka Kelly is 29. Beyonce's kid sister, Solange Knowles, is 23. Longtime newspaper columnist and author Pete Hamill is turning 74. Actress Sherry Stringfield is 42. Fleetwood Mac drummer Mick Fleetwood is 62. And The Office's Mindy Kaling turns 30 today.

• A battered Lehman Brothers plans to spin off the majority of its real estate investments into a new company and sell more than half its interest in its investment management division. The bank also predicted a third-quarter loss of $3.9 billion. [WSJ, Dealbook]

Socialite Fabiola Beracasa turns 33 today, a fact she'd undoubtedly rather not be reminded of. (Just do your best to age gracefully, Fab; your mom, Veronica, should not be your role model.) Also celebrating: Petra Nemcova turns 29, the number she'll probably be sticking to for many years to come. Former Governor George Pataki is 63. Newspaper editor and author Pete Hamill is 73. Beyonce's little sister, Solange, turns 22. Actress Sherry Stringfield is 41. And avant-garde dessert maestro Will Goldfarb will be 33 today.

Pataki was the Republican governor of New York from 1995 through 2006.

They may not be able to agree on a design, a memorial, or even a proper timeline, but the wise folks behind the rebuilding of Ground Zero have come up with something that's even more important: a web site! That's right, the Post reports that the Mayor and the Governor will be joining forces to introduce the thing this morning:

The News' Ben Smith takes note of the following event:

Attorney General Eliot Spitzer caused a minor controversy with a recent (and unfavorable) comparison between upstate New York's economy and that of Appalachia. Governor George Pataki (yes, he's still there) took offense, claiming that "Appalachia doesn't have Empire Zones," which are New York State economic development programs. As it turns out, Appalachia does have Empire Zones since fourteen New York counties actually are part of Appalachia. Admit it, New Yorkers: You pretty much assumed upstate was like a scene from Deliverance all along, didn't you? Thank God we have The Times to confirm all our regional stereotypes.

So there are all these feel-good stories today letting us know that George Pataki is feeling hale and hearty and all of that. His brother-in-law says he looks "tremendous." His wife says he's coming along well. His spokesman says he's up and about and reading his email on a laptop. But no one is telling us the detail all his Empire State constituents must be dying to know: Can the governor shit yet?

You know what's even more unpleasant than reading about whether or not the governor can take a shit?

NYT architecture critic Herbert Muschamp's distate for the Libeskind plan doesn't seem to be affecting official opinion. Mayor Mike and Governor Pataki both favor Libeskind, albeit not strongly, and Port Authority officials appear to be leaning the same way. Maybe the Anti-Muschamp letter writing campaign worked.
Support builds for one plan for trade center site [NYT]