Jewelry hidden story

| Fox passes on coming-of-age sitcom pilot

2009-11-09T21:53:00.001-08:00

Fox-passes-on-coming-of-age-sitcom-pilot

LOS ANGELES –
Fox is not proceeding with a sitcom billed as a coming-of-age ensemble in the vein of "That '70s Show," from the co-creator of that show.

The untitled semi-autobiographical project was written by Mark Brazill. At one stage, it was known as "The Rednecks & Romeos."

Casting for the pilot fell within the new guidelines at Fox for making final decisions based on tests-on-tape, not the traditional in-person network auditions.

After a live studio test, finalists for key roles in the pilot were taped at producer Warner Bros. TV for a network test. But after looking at the material, studio brass determined that, taped in front of a bluescreen, actors didn't pop the way they did during the in-person studio test.

Additionally, as a multicamera comedy, the project hangs heavily on the chemistry among the leads and the energy in the room, which also was lost on tape.

As a result, upon WBTV's request, Fox agreed to a dual network test: an in-person audition and a more-elaborate screen test done by the studio with the actors on the set. In the end, after seeing actors and reviewing tapes, Fox decided not to proceed.

Warner Bros. brass, however, are said to remain high on the project, which is expected to be shopped to other networks.

- | Fox passes on coming-of-age sitcom pilot |

| Health care wastes up to $850 billion a year

2009-10-29T21:55:00.001-07:00

Health-care-wastes-up-to-$850-billion-a-year WASHINGTON - The U.S. health care system is just as wasteful as President Barack Obama says it is, and proposed reforms could be paid for by fixing some of the most obvious inefficiencies, preventing mistakes and fighting fraud, according to a Thomson Reuters report released on Monday.

The U.S. health care system wastes between $505 billion and $850 billion every year, the report from Robert Kelley, vice president of health care analytics at Thomson Reuters, found.

Americas health care system is indeed hemorrhaging billions of dollars, and the opportunities to slow the fiscal bleeding are substantial, the report reads.

The bad news is that an estimated $700 billion is wasted annually. Thats one-third of the nations health care bill, Kelley said in a statement.

The good news is that by attacking waste we can reduce health care costs without adversely affecting the quality of care or access to care.

One example — a paper-based system that discourages sharing of medical records accounts for 6 percent of annual overspending.

It is waste when caregivers duplicate tests because results recorded in a patients record with one provider are not available to another or when medical staff provides inappropriate treatment because relevant history of previous treatment cannot be accessed, the report reads.

Some other findings in the report from Thomson Reuters, the parent company of Reuters:

Unnecessary care such as the overuse of antibiotics and lab tests to protect against malpractice exposure makes up 37 percent of health care waste or $200 to $300 billion a year.Fraud makes up 22 percent of health care waste, or up to $200 billion a year in fraudulent Medicare claims, kickbacks for referrals for unnecessary services and other scams.Administrative inefficiency and redundant paperwork account for 18 percent of health care waste.Medical mistakes account for $50 billion to $100 billion in unnecessary spending each year, or 11 percent of the total.Preventable conditions such as uncontrolled diabetes cost $30 billion to $50 billion a year.

The average U.S. hospital spends one-quarter of its budget on billing and administration, nearly twice the average in Canada, reads the report, citing dozens of other research papers.

American physicians spend nearly eight hours per week on paperwork and employ 1.66 clerical workers per doctor, far more than in Canada, it says, quoting a 2003 New England Journal of Medicine paper by Harvard University researcher Dr. Steffie Woolhandler.

Yet primary care doctors are lacking, forcing wasteful use of emergency rooms, for instance, the report reads.

All this could help explain why Americans spend more per capita and the highest percentage of GDP on health care than any other OECD country, yet has an unhealthier population with more diabetes, obesity and heart disease and higher rates of neonatal deaths than other developed nations.

Democratic Senator Charles Schumer said on Sunday that Senate Democratic leaders are close to securing enough votes to pass legislation to start reform of the countrys $2.5 trillion health care system.

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Legal © 2009 MSNBC.com - | Health care wastes up to $850 billion a year |

| Health bill exempts some big employers

2009-10-21T17:29:00.001-07:00

Health-bill-exempts-some-big-employers WASHINGTON - Despite promises by President Barack Obama, more than 70 million Americans who have health insurance through their jobs could be open to higher costs or denials of some coverage under a leading overhaul plan making its way through Congress.

Thats because large employers that directly assume the cost and risk of health coverage for their workers — including Wal-Mart Stores, Inc., Caterpillar Inc. and Xerox — wouldnt be subject to the same rules and restrictions that would be imposed on health insurers in the measure approved this month by the Senate Finance Committee.

Large companies that offer their workers such coverage are lobbying hard to keep the status quo and be shielded from costly new regulations and requirements in the final health measure currently being negotiated behind closed doors by Obamas top aides and leading Democrats.

Not all Democrats want to go along.

I want to make very clear that we cannot promise the American people that the insurance reforms they have been hearing so much about will benefit everyone, when the reality is that this bill leaves out up to 55 percent, or 73 million people covered by such arrangements, said Sen. Jay Rockefeller, D-W. Va., when the Finance panel met recently to debate the measure. He tried unsuccessfully to change the legislation to require those plans to obey all rules applying to insurers.

Many workers not protected
What the firms want is to be able to keep extending health insurance to their workers free of many insurance regulations, such as those governing what services must be covered by a policy and when a person can be denied coverage.

That means that despite Obamas pledges that people will no longer be subject to the most egregious aspects of todays health care system — being denied insurance because of a health condition, shouldering crippling out-of-pocket costs, or facing limits or high costs for basic services and treatments — a wide swath of workers wouldnt enjoy the same guarantees.

Several big business groups have banded together as the National Coalition on Benefits to preserve their special status, originally granted in the early 1970s for employers that take on the risks and costs associated with insuring their own workers. Theyve been bringing executives from companies large and small to Capitol Hill for meetings with lawmakers to drive home their slogan: Dont erode what works to fix whats broken.

The companies say they need flexibility to continue covering workers, and provisions included in other drafts of the health overhaul that would eventually subject them to some of the same rules as insurance companies — like requiring them to offer specific benefits — would crush their ability to do so.

The more the administrative burdens are, the more costly it becomes. These things tend to snowball and grow with time, said Martin Reiser, a lobbyist with Xerox who heads the coalition. Our message is that the employment-based system is working, so dont try and fix us.

Wal-Mart is part of the group. So is Caterpillar, which is a member of the steering committee along with such other Fortune 100 firms as AT&T, Dow Chemical and Verizon Communications.

Businesses that ‘self-insure’
At issue are businesses that self-insure rather than purchasing coverage from an insurance company. Workers in such arrangements often believe theyre covered by a health insurer since they have cards bearing the companys name, but in fact their employer shoulders the risks and pays claims, with the insurance company merely administering the plan.

Its a growth business for many insurers; two-thirds of Aetnas 20 million members are self-insured, its chief executive said in a recent cable TV interview.

The Associated Press is one of the vast majority of large employers that self-insures.

Firms that offer the coverage generally provide generous benefits, and theyre already subject to some federal requirements. They must cover maternity care, mental health and breast cancer screening, for example, and can block someone from coverage because of a pre-existing health condition only under certain circumstances and for limited periods of time. While theyre not legally required to cover everyone regardless of medical history or health status, most if not all of these employer-provided plans already do so, since their goal is to spread risk across a broad group.

Still, some lawmakers contend they should have to abide by the same strict requirements that health insurance companies would under the new system.

Rockefeller says he is worried that some bad actors looking to manage their costs would end up saddling their workers with more health expenses. For example, if a worker had cancer and reached his employers coverage limit, the company could stop paying for treatment. Insurance companies, by contrast, would be barred from establishing such limits in the new system.

‘They can do whatever they want’
Employers already have been shifting more health care costs onto workers in recent years as those expenses have skyrocketed. In the current sluggish economic environment with unemployment high, some analysts expect the trend to intensify.

An employers ability to increase deductibles and copays and basically mess around with a source of compensation depends on the strength of the labor market, said Paul Fronstin of the Employee Benefits Research Institute. Right now, employers have it made, because unemployment is at 10 percent — they can do whatever they want.

If companies in this category get their way in the debate over the health overhaul, employees will remain subject to such changes and reductions.

Theyre already vulnerable in the sense that employers decide what to cover in the benefits plan, and should somebody want something covered thats not covered, theres basically no recourse. That wont change, Fronstin said.

Organizations representing the large employers — including the Business Roundtable, the National Association of Manufacturers and the American Benefits Council — say their members arent asking for special treatment.

Were the group thats been doing the right thing year after year. If the end goal is to make sure that everyone has good insurance, were the group thats doing that already, said Jeri Kubicki of the NAM.

The Self-Insurance Institute of America Inc., which represents smaller firms that provide coverage to their workers, wrote to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid this week arguing that its members plans should be left alone in the push to expand coverage.

Doing otherwise, wrote Mike Ferguson, the groups chief, would at best result in higher costs and reduced benefits for beneficiaries and at worst force employer-sponsors to terminate their plans altogether.

Fergusons group has poured more than $600,000 into lobbying Congress over the past two years, doubling its spending this year as it has intensified its push to resist new requirements. Large members of the National Coalition on Benefits have shelled out much more to influence Capitol Hill, including more than $20 million by the Business Roundtable, more than $9.5 million by the National Association of Manufacturers and $1.6 million by the American Benefits Council.

- | Health bill exempts some big employers |

| Iran: US Britain Pakistan linked to militants

2009-10-20T07:15:00.001-07:00

Iran:-U.S.,-Britain,-Pakistan-linked-to-militants TEHRAN, Iran - Iran vowed retaliation Monday after accusing Pakistan, the U.S. and Britain of aiding Sunni militants who stunned the Islamic regime with a suicide bombing that killed top Revolutionary Guard commanders and dozens of others.

A commentary by the official news agency called on Iranian security forces to seriously deal with Pakistan once and for all. And President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad told his Pakistani counterpart that his nation must hunt down suspected members of Jundallah, or Soldiers of God.

The presence of terrorist elements in Pakistan is not justifiable and the Pakistani government needs to help arrest and punish the criminals as soon as possible, state TV quoted Ahmadinejad as telling President Asif Ali Zardari on Monday.

Iran made no specific threats against the U.S. or Britain, but the accusations came as talks began in Vienna over Irans nuclear program. The U.S. is part of those talks, which observers said made little headway Monday beyond spelling out each sides position.

Iran has often claimed that Western powers use groups such as Jundallah to try to destabilize the country. But the direct finger-pointing at Pakistan — and the warnings of a stepped-up offensive — present a different and risky scenario for Irans leaders.

Area of Sunni tribes
Sundays attack occurred in a region that is home to several minority Sunni tribes in rugged southeastern Iran. It is one of the countrys most restive areas. Until now, authorities have avoided widespread security offensives that could draw in outside extremists such as al-Qaida.

Sharper tensions with Pakistan could severely hurt Irans efforts to battle drug trafficking and jeopardize important trade deals at a time when Tehran could face more sanctions over its nuclear program. In May, the two countries signed a landmark pact for a natural gas pipeline into Pakistan.

Pakistans president quickly condemned the attack that killed at least 42 people — including five senior Revolutionary Guard officers — in a district near Irans border with Pakistan. The dry canyons and hills are crisscrossed by smuggling routes and home to Sunni Muslim ethnic groups known as Baluchi.

Jundallah gained notice more than five years ago with sporadic attacks and kidnappings, claiming the minority Sunni tribes in southeastern Iran suffer at the hands of Irans Shiite leadership. Its leader, Abdulmalik Rigi, has been quoted as saying the group does not seek to break from Iran but that violence is necessary to draw attention to discrimination.

Most experts estimate Jundallah has no more than 1,000 main fighters from Baluchi clans, whose territory extends into Pakistan and Afghanistan. Iran has claimed the group has ties to al-Qaida and the Taliban, but most analysts say no evidence has been produced.

Guard targeted before
Jundallah has targeted the powerful Revolutionary Guard before, including a February 2007 car bombing that killed 11 members. The group also claimed responsibility for a May suicide bomb that killed 25 worshippers in a Shiite mosque.

Sundays blast was the most deadly. Reports said a suicide bomber ambushed a high-level delegation of Guard commanders arriving for talks on promoting Sunni-Shiite reconciliation with tribal leaders in Pishin near the Pakstani border.

Revolutionary Guard chief Gen. Mohammad Ali Jafari vowed to deliver a crushing response and said an Iranian delegation would travel to Pakistan soon to present evidence of links to its agents.

Irans Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei issued a statement on his official Web site vowing to punish those behind the attack.

Several analysts who have studied Jundallah say the group likely receives inspiration and material support from Baluchi nationalists in Pakistan, but no direct backing from militant factions.

U.S., U.K. reject claims
Evidence shows that U.S., British and Pakistani intelligence supported the group, state TV quoted Jafari as saying.

The State Department and Britains Foreign Office strongly rejected claims of any involvement.

Zardari called the incident gruesome and barbaric and pledged full Pakistani support to fight the militants, according to a statement from his office.

Peiman Forouzesh, an Iranian lawmaker representing the region where the attack took place, called on the Guard to carry out military operations inside the Pakistani soil against Jundallah.

A statement in the name of Jundallah said the attack was carried out in retaliation for the Iranian regimes crimes against the unarmed people of Baluchistan.

The victims of the attack included the deputy commander of the Guards ground forces, Gen. Noor Ali Shooshtari, as well as a chief provincial Guard commander, Rajab Ali Mohammadzadeh. The others killed were Guard members or tribal leaders.

- | Iran: US Britain Pakistan linked to militants |

| Back-to-school blues? Here’s how to beat them

2009-10-10T01:41:00.001-07:00

Back-to-school-blues?-Here’s-how-to-beat-them For a kid, going from a hazy, lazy summer where the only thing she has on her schedule is scratching a mosquito bite to having to rise with the sun, look remotely human, and pay attention all day can be a major shock. But there are ways you can make things go more smoothly, starting right now.

Reset her body clock
Odds are, shes been trapping toads until late into the evening and then sleeping in. Easing her back to a school-year schedule will ensure that she shows up bright-eyed, if not bushy-tailed, says Rafael Pelayo, M.D., a pediatric sleep specialist at the Stanford Sleep Disorders Clinic in Redwood City, CA. Heres how:

Spin sleep. You have to get the kids on board, says Dr. Pelayo. If she sees going to bed as a punishment or a bummer, shes going to avoid it. But if she understands that sleep is good for her, just as exercise is, she may resist less. Talk about it like Its not that you have to go to sleep, but that you get to go to sleep. It also helps to tell her that youre going to be resetting your schedule, too, and have only incredibly boring stuff — cleaning the bathroom, discussing health care reform with her father — planned for the evening. That way, the kid doesnt feel punished. Its the whole family getting ready.

Do the math. Calculate the hour at which shell need to get up in order to get to school on time and count backward nine or so hours. Thats her falling-asleep time once school starts, says Dr. Pelayo. Her bedtime might be 10 or 20 minutes before that.

Shift her to-bed and wake-up times. If shes been going to bed too late, beginning two weeks before school starts, move her bedtime up about 20 minutes every three or so days. You cannot expect a kid whos been staying up until eleven to go to bed at nine all at once, says Dr. Pelayo. Shes just going to get frustrated and lie awake. This change also means that exciting activities like TV watching and texting friends have to end earlier in the evening so your kid has time to wind down. Also, from the very first day you start shifting her bedtime, start rousing her at the time shell need to get up for school so shell tire earlier at night.

Make getting up worth it. Dr. Pelayo recommends that, after you flip on the light and open the bedroom shades to let in the brightest sun possible, you let your kid play a video game or watch TV first thing in the morning — at least for a few days. It may sound like blasphemy, but think about it: Waking up is biological. Getting out of bed, on the other hand, is volitional. In other words, give her some incentive. By the start of school, her body will be in the habit of getting up earlier.

Dont force it: On the night before school starts, your child might be too hopped-up to get to bed on time. Its not a big deal for one night, says Dr. Pelayo; her excitement will fuel her that first day. Saying something like You have to go to sleep because tomorrow is the first day of school will only add to the pressure. You cant force yourself to fall asleep, he says.

Get a workplace that works
Just as nature will reclaim an abandoned property by engulfing it in spooky trees and tall grass, your childs desk, if you can even see it, is by now probably home to toys, trophies, discarded clothing, and artwork thats just short of being good enough for refrigerator display. Not exactly a place that encourages focus. The best way to set up your childs homework space? Let him do it, says Marcella Moran, an educational consultant and co-author of Organizing the Disorganized Child. Parents tend to organize their kids based on their own organization style, says Moran. That works for you, but it may not work for your child.

That doesnt mean, though, that you cant help your kid discover his perfect, intuitive workspace. After the desk is cleared, have him sit down at it. Ask him to close his eyes and name the essential items he needs to do his homework. Then have him place his hand where hed think to grab the item. Wherever it is he reaches, thats where that object should live. Repeat this process with all the essentials. Voila! The perfect setup for your child to work efficiently.

Deal with ‘I dont want to go to school!’
Unless you homeschool, theres no question your kid has to be backpack-on, lunch-box-in-hand ready on day one. Still, replying You have to go, or Mommy and Daddy will go to jail, while true, isnt ideal. Ask him exactly what it is about school thats eating at him, advises Ruth Peters, Ph.D., a clinical psychologist in Clearwater, FL, and dont accept Everything as an answer. Probe gently, and depending on what he says, heres how to help him wrap his mind around the fact that September is just around the corner.

If what he means is: I dont want summer to end. Well, who can blame him? But help put that in perspective, says Peters. Dreading the end of a good thing doesnt mean that school is a bad thing. A reminder of the aspects of school that he adored last year — friends, clubs, a particular subject — should do it.

If what he means is: Ive heard older kids say school is not cool. You should be able to ferret this out pretty easily. Then a quick Are you kidding? Whats not cool about meeting new people and learning new things? should do it for a kindergartner or first-grader. To an older kid, you might say, Do you really dislike school, all day, every day? If its fear of seeming uncool, he will probably be able to name some aspects of school he enjoys, and you can just remind him that he doesnt have to pretend to dislike something just to fit in.

If what he means is: Im afraid of the work. Reassure him that the first six weeks of school is always a catch-up time, says Peters, and that when the pace picks up, youll do whatever he needs to support him. You can always get a tutor to help out, adds Peters, who points out that a high school student will often do it for little money. But watch your language here. You want to empathize about the fact that certain things may be hard, she says, without making the problem seem insurmountable. So avoid saying something like Yeah, none of us Spunkmeyers is good at math — you got the gene! Instead, try Yes, math can be tough. But well figure it out one way or another.

If what he means is: Im worried Ill have no friends/be bullied/have to eat lunch alone. Social worries are huge for kids and can cause a lot of anxiety about the start of school. If something happened last year, theyre probably thinking that more of the same is going to happen, says Peters. Theres a lot you can do, though. Find out before his first day if his friends are going to be in his class, and if theyre not, prepare him for that by talking over whom he can eat lunch with and making plans for after school. See if you can have a late-summer playdate to reconnect him with some of the kids he likes, or even arrange to have breakfast on the first day of school with his best friend and his best friends mom. The more he knows about whats coming up, the better hell feel.

Not least: Meet the teacher!
In the week before school starts — after that, things will be madness — make contact either in person or via e-mail and introduce yourself. You can let her know if your child has any particular sensitivities or if he or she needs special accommodations. Plus, itll start off your relationship on a positive note.

Stephanie Dolgoff is Parentings editor-at-large. Her blog is Formerlyhot.com.

- | Back-to-school blues? Here’s how to beat them |

| Gold sets new record even as dollar rises

2009-10-09T23:37:00.001-07:00

Gold-sets-new-record-even-as-dollar-rises NEW YORK - Gold prices have extended their rally, climbing to fresh highs even as the dollar recoups some of its losses.

Oil prices are down after a government report showed an oversupply of gasoline, while grain prices are slightly higher.

Gold for December delivery touched a new high of $1,049.70 an ounce, before settling up $4.70 at $1,044.40 an ounce.

Investors have been sending gold higher as the dollar declines, fearing a weak greenback will eventually lead to inflation. Gold is often used as a hedge against inflation and a falling dollar.

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| No karaoke for you! Bad wiring spells tone-deaf

2009-10-06T18:11:00.001-07:00

No-karaoke-for-you!-Bad-wiring-spells-tone-deaf NEW YORK - Do your friends cover their ears when you sing along with the radio? Does the choir director ask you to lip-sync?

If youre one of the unlucky people who is tone-deaf, it turns out your brain may have a wiring problem. Thats what new research published Wednesday suggests.

People who are tone-deaf cant detect differences in musical pitch but usually have normal hearing and speech. Tone-deafness runs in families, and estimates of how many people have the problem range from 4 percent to 17 percent.

In the small study done in Boston, brain scans showed there was a difference in a particular brain circuit between those who were tone-deaf and those who werent. Among the tone-deaf, researchers discovered there were fewer connections between two areas of the brain that perceive and produce sounds.

The studys lead author, Psyche Loui, likened the connection to a highway between two islands in the brain.

In tone-deaf people, theres less traffic on the highway, said Loui, who studies music and the brain at Harvard Medical School and is also a musician.

Loui and her colleagues took brain scans of 20 people, half of them tone-deaf. Those who were tone-deaf had fewer nerve fibers between the frontal and temporal regions of the brain, or in some cases the fibers couldnt be detected at all.

The researchers reported their findings in Wednesdays issue of the Journal of Neuroscience.

Its a new piece in our understanding of tone-deafness and the processes that are involved in the perception of pitch in general, said Nina Kraus of Northwestern University, who wasnt involved in the research.

Loui said the brain connection they examined was long known to be involved in language. Now that we know which brain pathways to train, she said, there may be ways to help people with tone-deafness, and perhaps those with other language disorders.

- | No karaoke for you! Bad wiring spells tone-deaf |

| Analysis: NY Gov pushed to quit goes it alone

2009-10-06T16:21:00.001-07:00

Analysis:-N.Y.-Gov.-pushed-to-quit,-goes-it-alone ALBANY, N.Y. - David Paterson thrived politically as a New York state senator, working his way up in a nearly all-white Albany political structure.

Now, hes governor, and things have never been worse.

For nearly a year, Paterson has been battered by a faltering economy and with poll numbers hovering at record lows. This week, he learned the Obama administration is worried hell drag other Democrats down in 2010 if he runs for a full term, perhaps even threatening the narrow margin the party needs to ward off filibusters in the U.S. Senate.

These days, Paterson finds himself very much alone.

‘Im blind, Im not oblivious’
Paterson said Sunday on NBCs Meet the Press that Obama never directly asked him to step aside, and he wouldnt discuss what presidential aides may have told him confidentially. But the legally blind governor added hes heard the message from Democrats in New York and Washington: Im blind, Im not oblivious.

But I am running for governor, he said. I dont think I am a drag on the party. I think Im fighting for the priorities of my party.

At an Associated Press event in Syracuse last week, Paterson said that when he was Gov. Eliot Spitzers lieutenant governor, he had never envisioned becoming the states chief executive.

I had this grand plan that Hillary Clinton was going to become president, he said. Maybe the governor would appoint me to the Senate.

In January 2008, that was the plan. Paterson worked to draw black voters to Sen. Hillary Clintons presidential campaign. On TV screens and front pages, he was wedged next to President Bill Clinton and closer to the senator than Chelsea.

Democrats thought it was a well-deserved fit for Paterson as a reward for bringing the party close to controlling the state Senate for the first time in decades. Former New York City Mayor Ed Koch said Paterson was capable, highly intelligent and courageous. Paterson was the dashing statesman in an otherwise plodding Albany. He was smart, collegial, a reformer, ambitious and funny — on purpose.

Now, for many, hes a punch line.

Exit scenarios
Even Paterson is starting to talk about exit scenarios.

I dont think anyone who is clearly hurting their party would take an action like running when it is going to make the party lose, New Yorks first black governor said. Then he added a shot: Im not sure those that are always calling for loyalty in the Democratic Party have been loyal themselves.

Albanys top two legislative Democrats — Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver and Senate Conference Leader John Sampson — last week committed to Paterson right now and until otherwise known. Another Democratic pal, Rep. Gregory Meeks of Queens, called Paterson my governor, my friend, who has done a relatively good job.

For a sitting governor, that praise is a few shades shy of faint.

All of this comes days after Washington Democrats sent a clear message that Paterson should step aside for the popular Attorney General Andrew Cuomo. They are concerned that a weak top of the ticket could hurt other Democrats, including Kirsten Gillibrand, whom Paterson appointed to fill Clintons Senate seat. A Paterson run could even entice Republican savior-in-waiting Rudy Giuliani to run for governor.

He needs a game-changer, said Lee Miringoff of the Marist College poll, which found Paterson had a 17 percent approval rating.

Many, however, say the game is over.

Last weeks criticism and an apparent snub by Obama who gushed over Cuomo during a New York visit was embarrassing publicly for Paterson. Worse, it may be lethal financially, giving Democratic campaign contributors cover to cut checks to Cuomo and, with the apparent blessing of the nations first black president, not worry about a backlash.

That will make Patersons decision for him. It was the same force that made Cuomo exit the 2002 race for governor as money and support flowed to then-state Comptroller Carl McCall in his losing campaign to unseat Gov. George Pataki.

Paterson mostly alone
Without friends, a free flow of campaign cash and the contacts made from a previous campaign for governor, Paterson is mostly alone. Inheriting the job 18 months ago when Spitzer resigned amid a prostitution probe and governing through the worst fiscal crisis in state history left him saying no to powerful, well-funded special interests, while repeatedly committing his own political missteps, including the ugly process to replace Clinton with Gillibrand.

Paterson angered the Kennedy family when he didnt embrace Caroline Kennedy for the job and a Paterson operative later leaked unsubstantiated rumors about her in an attempt to show she was ill suited.

He is left with a message that is not much more than his character — which polls show New Yorkers like — and how he feels he kept the state from worse fiscal fates faced by other states.

So Paterson says hes clearly running even as Democrats urge him to reconsider.

You dont give up because you have low poll numbers, he told Meet the Press. If everybody can tell what the future is, why didnt they tell me Id be governor? I could have used the heads-up.

- | Analysis: NY Gov pushed to quit goes it alone |