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Eliot Spitzer Is Really Considering A Comeback, Friend Says
By
John Del Signore
Published Apr 23, 2010
Modified Apr 26, 2010
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By
John Del Signore
Published Apr 23, 2010
Modified Apr 26, 2010
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Director Alex Gibney's untitled, work-in-progress Eliot Spitzer documentary will be screened during the Tribeca Film Festival this weekend, and the movie's star may be in the audience, the film's publicists tell Politico. We can't imagine why he'd want to sit through an exposé on the prostitution scandal that ended his administration, but then again, we can't believe he agreed to talk about the scandal on camera for the documentary, either. But sources close to Spitzer say it's all part of his plan to run for office again.
Both the movie and Peter Elkind's new book Rough Justice: The Rise and Fall of Eliot Spitzer "are a great steppingstone," Spitzer’s friend Jimmy Siegel told Elkind in an interview for the book. "I think he will run for something in a year or two." And Spitzer told Elkind last month, "I’ve never said I would never consider running for office again." Of course, the Post dug up this Spitzer comment on Good Morning America last September. "I've said I'm not getting back into politics and... there are many ways in life to contribute."
What a difference half a year makes these days! Last September, 69 percent of New Yorkers didn't want him to run for office, now only 58 percent want him to stay away. And once they see this documentary showing Spitzer candidly talking about his Luv Gov ways, maybe he'll get that number below 50 and run for state comptroller? As Elkind puts it:
Spitzer is evidence of how modern times have compressed the natural rhythm of everything — even scandal. He leapt on to the national stage overnight — and vanished in a moment. In the period it has taken me to write this book, he has performed what passes for him as penance and has already begun a comeback...
"When you’re at your nadir is when you can get up off the ground again — and here’s Eliot Spitzer’s opportunity," said Hank Sheinkopf, a New York political consultant who worked for Spitzer in his political campaigns. "If he were a blue-collar Irishman from Queens, he’d be doing 4-10 [in prison]." It's unclear how this blue collar guy from Queens affords call girls from the Emperors Club, or how he ends up in jail for a decade for soliciting prostitutes, but point taken.
Tagged
alex gibney
comeback
documentary
eliot spitzer
hookergate
luv gov
spitzer
John Del Signore
Originally from the Albany area, John Del Signore has called NYC home since 1995. In addition to his thousands of meticulously-crafted bespoke blog posts for Gothamist, his writing has also been published in The Awl, Deadspin, The Nervous Breakdown, and performed at The Brick Theater in Brooklyn.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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