Hevesi Update; Pataki Seeks Special Probe, Hevesi's Poll Numbers Crashing

The kids were home from college this weekend so I've been away from the blog for a couple of days. Got to catch up and I'll start with Alan Hevesi.

Gov. George Pataki on Friday named a former federal prosecutor to look into the case of the embattled state comptroller, on the hot seat for having a state employee chauffeur his wife on state time and the taxpaers' dime.

A Marist Poll on the comptroller's race shows Hevesi's voter support dropping like a rock.

On Oct. 20, Hevesi had a 40-point lead over his Republican challenger Christopher Callaghan. One week later that support dropped to 12 points, with 12% undecided.

I must say the announcement by the Republican Pataki surprised me. I was expecting him to immediately send the case to the state legislature, if for no other reason than to keep the probe of Hevesi front and center until Election Dday. The precipitous drop in the polls was a little surprising as well, since the first few polls after the "Driving Mrs. Hevesi" scandal broke showed only some erosion in Hevesi's support