"When Eliot Spitzer, the world's smartest man, is telling me that he has picked his candidate and knows that his candidate can win, who am I to question the world's smartest man?" said Mr. Rangel, the dean of the New York Congressional delegation.

"I like to think that the world's smartest man has counted all the support he has for his candidate," he continued. "I don't remember David Paterson asking any of us for his support, but if Eliot has picked a candidate, who am I to deny him that decision?"

Mr. Sutton, a former Manhattan borough president, said he was troubled that the Spitzer camp might pit two black candidates, Ms. Eve and Mr. Paterson, who might end up dividing the black vote and losing to a third candidate.

"We're very surprised to hear the attorney general prefers David to her; this news came out of nowhere," Mr. Sutton said. "But like Charlie Rangel says, I'm not smart like Eliot Spitzer is."

I meant to hold back my opinion but it came out in the equally lost comments that I felt the gesture was meant to say "you're a valued, but junior, partner in all this."

I believe the second message is being delivered, which may be loosly translated as, "We need you guys but not you specific guys."

In Cuomo Campaign, Shadow of '02 Race
By JONATHAN P. HICKS

Andrew M. Cuomo has established a formidable campaign in his quest to become attorney general. He has collected the largest amount of money, a full $1 million more than his closest rival in the crowded Democratic field. And he has picked up significant endorsements from labor unions, political organizations and public officials.

But Mr. Cuomo is having lingering troubles with some black political leaders, many of whom say they remain irritated by — and unforgiving of — his primary battle four years ago against H. Carl McCall, New York's first black major party nominee for governor.

Several prominent black politicians say they have never forgotten the role Mr. Cuomo played in the 2002 race, when many black officials and black voters viewed Mr. McCall's candidacy with historic expectancy.

And they complain now, as they did then, that Mr. Cuomo placed himself as the spoiler in that campaign, diverting attention and money from the race against an incumbent, two-term Republican governor and dividing the Democratic Party in the process. Mr. Cuomo abruptly pulled out of that race just one week before the primary, avoiding what polls indicated would have been a searing defeat at the hands of Mr. McCall.

"I have talked with a great many people in the African-American community who feel that Andrew has ground that he needs to make up," said United States Representative Gregory W. Meeks, a Queens Democrat who has not endorsed any candidate in the race.

"And it comes from the McCall race. This year, many people in the African-American community are looking to see his sincerity toward us. But it's something I think he recognizes and has been working on."

For his part, Mr. Cuomo's supporters say that that the 2002 election was, in political terms, ages ago and that he has done much to mend his relationship with black officials in the state. His supporters say he has picked up a number of endorsements from some prominent black New Yorkers and that he has spent the last year reacquainting himself with voters throughout the state, many of them African-American.

"I have great support in the African-American community, and I've worked my whole life on issues that have made a significant difference," Mr. Cuomo said in an interview on Friday. "At the end of the day, I think I will have the majority of the popular and represented support."

There are signs that Mr. Cuomo, a former housing secretary in the Clinton administration, has been picking up support from some black officials in recent months. Byron W. Brown, the newly elected mayor of Buffalo, as well as Assemblyman Darryl C. Towns of Brooklyn, have endorsed him. So has Russell Simmons, the hip-hop impresario and businessman. And more endorsements are to be announced, his campaign said.

Nonetheless, many black officials say they have not quite been able to put the past behind them.