ANDREW CUOMO SHOULD GO AWAY

This is not good:

Former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo is considering a run against his replacement and fellow Democrat, Gov. Kathy Hochul, as part of an attempt at a comeback after resigning in disgrace amid multiple accusations of sexual harassment by former aides, according to people familiar with the matter.

Cuomo, who reluctantly left office last year after denying the harassment allegations, has been fielding calls from supporters about a possible run against his former lieutenant governor. His aides have been conducting their own internal voter polling on a potential matchup, these people explained....

After a recent public poll from Emerson College and The Hill showed Cuomo was a few points behind Hochul, the former governor received calls from allies encouraging him to run against Hochul, a person close to Cuomo said. That survey, which was published last week, showed Cuomo just four points behind Hochul with likely New York Democratic primary voters.

The chair of the state Democratic Party says he doesn't want Cuomo to run (“I think it would be a bad mistake”), but I don't think that will stop Cuomo if he thinks he can win.

A Cuomo run would be embarrassing national news for the Democrats in what's already likely to be a tough year for the party. It would be a problem for Democrats in two key races outside New York.

In Georgia, the all-but-certain Republican Senate candidate, Herschel Walker, has been accused by his ex-wife of physical and psychological violence. She says he threatened to shoot her in the head. Her sister has corroborated this story. In general election polling Walker and the incumbent, Democrat Raphael Warnock, are running neck-and-neck.

In Missouri, the likely Republican Senate candidate, former governor Eric Greitens, has been accused of sexual assault, coerced oral sex, and sexual blackmail by his former hairdresser. Schmitt's main rival for the Republican nomination, the state's attorney general, Eric Schmitt, beats the possible Democratic nominees by double digits, according to polls, but Greitens, who resigned the governorship in disgrace, leads by only single digits, and is tied or effectively tied with the two leading Democratic candidates in a poll from the right-leaning Trafalgar Group. So there's an outside chance that Greitens could win the nomination and lose to a Democrat in this Republican-leaning state.

But it would help a lot if Democrats didn't have a sexual predator running a high-profile campaign. Recall that, after a #MeToo scandal, Al Franken left the Senate just days before a special Senate election in Alabama in which the Republican candidate, Roy Moore, had been credibly accused of predatory behavior toward young girls. Democrat Doug Jones won that election. It was good that the Democratic Party could make a credible case that it wouldn't tolerate sex predators.

Democrats will find it hard to make that case in Georgia and Missouri if Cuomo is running -- especially if he wins his primary. And if Cuomo wins the primary, the likely Republican nominee, Trumpist congressman Lee Zeldin, suddenly has a shot at winning the general election, because even a Trumpist would hammer Cuomo (or use female-voiceover TV ads to hammer Cuomo) for his sexual improprieties. Could a Republican win in New York State? It's often forgotten that in the bluest part of the state, New York City, Democrats lost five straight mayoral elections between 1993 and 2009. Under the right circumstances, a GOP win is possible.

So go away, Andrew. You're a liability.