Eliot Spitzer and Andrew Cuomo: Second Comings -- but on Separate Tracks

You've got to give it to two of the most outsized egos in New York politics: They know how to make comebacks.

Eliot Spitzer, 59, the former New York governor, is up from a sex scandal two years ago. Andrew Cuomo, 52, who will likely become the state's next governor, is up from a political debacle in 2002. Both are driven, passionate, aggressive, brassy, secretive, manipulative and arrogant. Insiders use more vulgar terms to describe the two heavyweight Democrats, who, of course, have no lost love for each other.

Their lives may be parallel but not their fates.

On Saturday, Cuomo made official his campaign for the governorship once held by his father, Mario M. Cuomo. He is almost guaranteed victory in November. As an effective state attorney general, he is New York's most popular politician (a Marist poll this month shows that 64 percent of voters believe he is doing an either excellent or good job). His personal life, which he strives to keep private, has nevertheless become glamorously public with his long-term relationship with the celebrated chef and TV personality Sandra Lee, 43, host of the Food Network show "Semi-Homemade." They've become one of New York's power couples (it's tempting to rank them No. 1, but then one remembers that Bill and Hillary Clinton live in New York).

Cuomo's life today is a far cry from the horrible years of 2002 and 2003, when he endured political defeat (a failed run for governor) then the brutal end of his 13-year marriage to Kerry Kennedy, who was having an affair with a polo player.

Cuomo regrouped and returned to the trail in 2006 to become the successor to Spitzer -- who had won the governorship -- as state attorney general. Spitzer's resignation in 2008 opened the way for Cuomo to make this year's gubernatorial bid.

As for Spitzer, in less than 24 months the "pay for luv gov" has managed to drive out his demons (so he says), find redemption, mend his marriage (Silda is still with him), gain respectful media attention and reinvent himself as a cable news commentator and interrogator.

Just check out Spitzer playing guest anchor on MSNBC's Dylan Ratigan show, and doing it with aplomb and panache. As a former attorney general and veteran of the stump, he's suave, nimble and clever with opponents and a fierce proponent of his liberal views.

Now there's talk he's going to anchor or contribute to a new CNN political talk show. If all goes according to media rumor, the once lavish patron of a high-priced prostitution ring, liar, cheater and all-around cad will become one of the prime voices and faces of cable news.

Speculation about Spitzer and CNN oozed last week after Campbell Brown, who anchors CNN's 8 p.m. hour, handed in her resignation. (I'd like to join Brown's sympathizers -- she's a woman in a boys' game, she seems honestly nice, and she felt shafted by NBC back when Katie Couric left "Today" and Brown didn't get that seat -- or so the story goes. But, honestly, she was boring and bland and had no political bite.)

Spitzer is tailor-made for this arena. I've watched him two or three times, and each time I've been surprised. He's quicker, smarter and less unpleasant than half the talk-a-thoners on cable. He is sane, and that is saying something.

But all is not sweetness and light for Client No. 9, his tag at the escort service he used in New York and Washington. He and his wife, Silda Wall Spitzer, 52, who live in Manhattan with their three children, are rarely seen together in public, and there are reminders of the scandal everywhere.

For one thing, the woman he paid for sex, Ashley Dupre, has gone from call girl to cover girl on the May issue of Playboy magazine and is a sex advice columnist for the New York Post.

And that wrenching scene from March 17, 2008, still lingers in memory: Spitzer, with his ravaged-looking spouse at his side, admitted his infidelity and announced his resignation. It was the end of his political career and, many thought, of his marriage.

But Silda -- like her husband, a Harvard-trained lawyer -- did not leave him. Ironically, she became the model for the new CBS hit drama "The Good Wife." She has said little in public and, unlike the protagonist of "The Good Wife," has not returned to the practice of law, which she gave up for her husband's career.

Having his damaged life fictionalized in a television drama serves as a constant reminder of his disgrace and phenomenal fall, but that is not the worst news for Spitzer. Instead, it's that New Yorkers don't want him in public office again -- ever. Over half of all voters surveyed by the highly respected Marist poll oppose his political resurrection. "He has become more visible lately but not more electable," said Lee M. Miringoff, the poll's director.

That's got to be crushing news to Spitzer, who has known little else but politics. He told NY1, the local 24-hour news cable station, that he "desperately" missed his old job and was not ruling out a campaign in the future. Alas!