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(CNN) - Secretary of State Hillary Clinton used no diplomatic doublespeak Sunday when asked about a rumor she was considering a run for governor of New York next year.

"No, no," she said on the ABC program "This Week," adding: "I hope maybe we can put it to rest today."

Clinton said she was committed to her job in President Barack Obama's Cabinet, adding it was "an extraordinarily important time to be secretary of state for our country."

"That rumor is dead," Clinton said. "If you could please put it in a little box and send it off somewhere, I'd appreciate it."

New York Rep. Eliot Engel shows some home town pride.

Washington (CNN) – New York Democratic congressman took to the House floor Friday morning to congratulate the New York Yankees for winning the World Series. But the discourse quickly turned to partisan attacks.

Democrat Reps. Eliot Engel and Edolphus Towns began the accolades. Engle, who lives in the Bronx, wore a Yankee cap, calling it "a symbol of unity." He said, "I know it is violating rules to put a hat on, but I am going to do it for just two seconds because I think it is really important that I put this on...In Asia, in Africa, in Europe, in the Middle East wherever we go we see people wearing Yankee hats."

But Utah Republican Jason Chaffetz wanted to talk about health care and not baseball. "While the Democrats want to talk baseball we want to talk about health care," he said. "While the New York Yankees are winning the World Series the American families are striking out."

New York Democratic Rep. Jose Serrano fired back at Chaffetz. Serrano accused the Republican of turning the World Series into a partisan issue. "Americans celebrate success and I am positive that there is not a single American in this country, except for some in this House, who would think that what we are doing today is wrong."

Serrano added, "This weekend we will deal with the biggest issue of our times."

Health care or Yankees, New York Democrat Rep. Nydia M. Velázquez took another position.

"I just would like for the record to reflect the fact that I am a Mets fan," she said.

CNN projects that Democrat Bill Owens has won the battle for New York's 23rd congressional district, defeating Conservative Party candidate Bill Hoffman.

(CNN) - Vice President Joe Biden is heading back to New York's 23rd congressional district to campaign for Democrat Bill Owens the day before Tuesday's special election.

With the Republican Party split between party-backed Dede Scozzafava and Conservative Party candidate Doug Hoffman, recent surveys suggests Owens is in the lead – giving Democrats a rare shot at a pickup in this solidly-Republican upstate district.

Owens, who is running to replace Rep. John McHugh, who resigned earlier this year to serve as Obama's Secretary of the Army.

Biden, who also campaigned with Owens in September, will appear in Watertown. Earlier this month, President Obama made an appearance at a fundraiser for Owens in New York City.

–CNN Deputy Political Director Paul Steinhauser contributed to this report

Bloomberg has a clear lead in the New York City's mayoral race.

(CNN) – A new survey suggests that New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, vying for a third term in office, holds an 18-point lead over his Democratic rival, with just eight days to go before voters there head to the polls.

According to a Quinnipiac University poll released Monday morning, 53 percent of likely New York City voters support Bloomberg, running as an independent, with 35 percent backing the Democratic candidate, New York City Comptroller William Thompson. Ten percent of those questioned are undecided, and 3 percent support Conservative Party candidate Stephen Christopher.

Bloomberg held a 16-point advantage in a Quinnpiac survey conducted in late September. Bloomberg also held a 16-point lead in a Marist College poll that was released last week.

The Quinnipiac survey suggests that Bloomberg is leading overwhelming among Republicans, has a 36-point advantage among independents, and is splitting the Democratic vote with Thompson. The poll indicates a racial divide, with white voters backing Bloomberg by a 2-to-1 margin, African-Americans supporting Thompson in roughly the same proportion, and Hispanics backing Bloomberg by 14 points.

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(CNN) – Last fall, New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg won his campaign to extend the city's mayoral term limits from two four-year terms to three. Next week, he'll see if voters think he should serve a third term.

Bloomberg, an independent, held a 16-point lead over Democratic City Comptroller Bill Thompson, 52-32 percent, in the latest polling conducted by Marist College. Twelve percent of likely voters said they supported other candidates or remained undecided.

Full story: http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/10/25/2009.mayors/index.html

In an interview Sunday, Gov. Paterson left his descriptions vague about discussions with the White House, saying he would not detail 'confidential conversations.'

(CNN) - Embattled New York Gov. David Paterson vowed Sunday he won't give in to White House pressure to drop out of next year's election, insisting, "I am not failing to stand up for my party."

Speaking to NBC's "Meet the Press," the governor - facing approval ratings below 20 percent - said "there are a lot of people who have told me not to run."

"I'm blind but I'm not oblivious," he said. "I realize that there are people who don't want me to run."

Paterson, the nation's first legally blind governor, said, "I have spent a whole life being told I couldn't do things. I was told by guidance counselors I shouldn't go to college."

"I was told, when I was minority leader of the Senate, that we couldn't win the majority. We won eight seats in four years and won the majority." Paterson also noted that a court his week upheld his appointment of a lieutenant governor, disproving those who said it would not be upheld. The message to him, Paterson said, "was that you don't give up."

Full story

Polls show that Paterson is low in the polls - and dropping fast.

WASHINGTON (CNN) - An Obama administration source denies reports that the White House has been looking for a 'soft landing' for embattled New York Gov. David Paterson - but says Paterson hasn't flatly refused to remove himself from the race, though he is being coy about his plans.

Informed sources tell CNN that White House political director Patrick Gaspard met early last week with the Democratic governor to let him know about the administration's concerns he could not win the governor's race next year - a problem that could affect races down-ticket, not the least of which Senate seat now held by Kirsten Gillibrand. The White House decision to approach Paterson, says one source, "was driven by the poll numbers. There doesn't seem to be any way he can recover."

CNN has also learned that New York Sen. Chuck Schumer met with the president last month, and that the fate of the governor's race may have been one topic of conversation.

Polls show that Paterson's approval numbers are low - and dropping fast. In recent polls, just one in five voters approved of the job he'd been doing as governor. The same surveys indicated he'd lose in a matchup against former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani. State Attorney General Andrew Cuomo - who has assiduously avoided weighing in on the Paterson controversy - is clearly waiting in the wings, his approval ratings skyrocketing as he aggressively takes on Wall Street. "Every banker Cuomo indicts, the more popular he gets," says one Democratic strategist.

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(CNN) - New York Gov. David A. Paterson said Sunday he will run for election to hold onto his office next year, despite a New York Times report that said the White House is "urging" him to withdraw.

Senior White House officials deny the report, which said that President Barack Obama "sent a request" to Paterson. The paper described it as "an extraordinary intervention into a state political race by the president."

The Times report cited "two senior administration officials and a New York Democratic operative with direct knowledge of the situation."

Speaking to CNN, White House officials acknowledged that aides have conveyed to Paterson's camp that they are aware of Paterson's unpopularity at home and the political troubles it could cause.

"It's no secret that Democrats in New York are very concerned about the situation," said one White House official. "We share those concerns and those
concerns have been conveyed in an appropriate way."

Paterson told reporters Sunday, "I am running for office. I'm not going to discuss confidential conversations." He said he was focused on state legislation, not "distractions."
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(CNN) - Republicans appeared to regain control of the New York State Senate Monday, convincing two Democrats to support a new power-sharing coalition.

State Sens. Pedro Espada Jr. of the Bronx and Hiram Monserrate from Queens, both Democrats, voted with Republicans 32 to 30 to make the move.

"For the past five months, state government has been characterized by gridlock, paralysis, secretiveness, threats and partisan politics – all to the detriment of the people represented by me and my 61 colleagues," Espada said in a statement.

"Today begins a new state government built on reform, bipartisanship and consensus- and coalition-building."

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The National Organization for Marriage has launched a new ad campaign in New York State.

(CNN) – The National Organization for Marriage is out with new television and radio ads in New York as the state's senate is considering legislation that would legalize same-sex marriage.

"New York Consequences," a 30-second television spot and a 60-second radio spot, focus on hypothetical consequences of recognizing same-sex unions on equal terms with traditional marriages.

"Legalizing gay marriage has consequences for kids," TV ad says. "Massachusetts schools teach second graders that boys can marry other boys. A California public school took first graders to a same-sex wedding . . . "

"The rights of people who believe marriage means a man and a woman will no longer matter. We'll all have to accept gay marriage whether we like it to or not," both ads also say.

The ads are being supported by a $100,000 ad buy in Long Island and the Albany-Schenectady area, according the National Organization for Marriage. The initial ad buy runs from May 28 through May 31, the group also said.

The New York State Assembly recently passed a bill legalizing same-sex marriage in the state. New York Gov. David Paterson has said he will sign the bill if the state Senate also passes it.

The new ads end with a request for viewers and listeners to call their state senators and express their opposition to same-sex marriage.

Related: Bush v. Gore lawyers join forces to challenge California's Prop 8

Another military flyover in lower Manhattan has been canceled less than a week after the White House official responsible for the flyover that resulted in this photo tendered his resignation to the president.

NEW YORK (CNN) - Less than a month after an unannounced government-sanctioned lower-Manhattan flyover frightened New Yorkers, the Federal Aviation Administration turned down a U.S. Navy unit's request to fly military aircraft 3,000 feet over the Hudson River in New York City Monday morning.

In a statement, Jim Peterson, a spokesperson for the FAA, said that after receiving the Navy's request to fly a P-3 squadron over the area, the FAA notified the New York mayor's office.

A spokesman for the mayor's office told CNN that after the April 27 Air Force One flight for a photo session, a new notification procedure was instituted for potential flyovers.

"We were notified by the FAA this morning," said Jason Post of Mayor Michael Bloomberg's office.

"We told the FAA we didn't think there was enough notice given, and then the FAA - on their own - made the decision to cancel the flight," Post said, adding that the city itself does not have the authority to tell the FAA to cancel a flyover, but can make recommendations to the agency.

The FAA's Peterson said, "When higher-level FAA officials learned about the request, they informed the Navy that the flight was not approved and would not be allowed to fly the requested route."

Navy spokesman Cappy Surette said later that a P-3 squadron based in the Brunswick, Maine, had planned to fly in a training exercise.

Surette explained that more than two dozen such Navy training flights have occurred over the Hudson since 2005. "It allows the squadron to practice complex air-traffic handoffs in a busy quadrant," he said.

"The request was made, they said 'Not this time,' we said 'OK.' " Surette added.
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Interior Secretary Ken Salazar announced Friday that the crown of the Statue of Liberty will re-open on July 4.

NEW YORK (CNN) - The crown of the Statue of Liberty will re-open to tourists on July 4, spokeswoman Kendra Barkoff of the U.S. Interior Department said Friday.

The crown has been closed since the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001.

The National Park Service closed the crown amid worries that it would be difficult for visitors to evacuate quickly in the event of an emergency.

Tourists have been able to visit other parts of the statue.

Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said the federal government planned to give "America a special gift" by re-opening the crown.

"We are once again inviting the public to celebrate our great nation and the hope and opportunity it symbolizes by climbing to Lady Liberty's crown for a unique view of New York Harbor, where the forebears of millions of American families first saw the world," he said in a statement.

Access to the crown will be limited to 10 people at a time guided by a National Park Service ranger.

A gift from France to the United States, the Statue of Liberty was dedicated in 1886, designated as a National Monument in 1924 and restored for its centennial on July 4, 1986.

It stands just across New York Harbor from where the Twin Towers stood.

(CNN) - American Morning's Alina Cho reports on the Obama administration's decision to classify photos taken during a recent, controversial photo-op over lower Manhattan.

Related: White House apologizes for low-flying plane

A new poll suggests that a majority of New Yorkers would prefer to have disgraced former governor Eliot Spitzer in office right now instead of the current governor, David Paterson.

(CNN) - OK - this one's really got to hurt.

A new poll suggests that a majority of New Yorkers would prefer to have disgraced former governor Eliot Spitzer in office right now instead of the current governor, David Paterson.

And the Marist College poll, released Monday, indicates that less than 1 in 5 New Yorkers approve of the job Paterson's doing as governor. Paterson's a Democrat, but even among his own party, only 22 percent think he's doing a good or excellent job in office.

This new Marist poll continues a trend seen in other recent surveys of New York voters that indicate Paterson's numbers are plummeting.

Two-thirds of those polled say Paterson doesn't have what it takes to lead the state.

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(CNN) – A former homeland security adviser to President George W. Bush is slamming the decision by an Obama White House official to use lower Manhattan as the location for a low-flying presidential plane photo-op.

Francis Townsend, a CNN security contributor, called the fly-over "crass insensitivity" Tuesday on CNN's American Morning. "And, frankly, as I would say as a former prosecutor, I would call this felony stupidity," the lawyer and former Bush homeland security adviser added.

Townsend also suggested that Louis Caldera, the Director of the White House Military Office, may not be fit to continue serving in the Obama administration.

"What makes this almost more disturbing is the fact that that's the office responsible for the movement of the president and his staff in a time of emergency," Townsend told Kiran Chetry. "So, of course, the most important thing is that the person leading it has good judgment. . . . at its best this is bad judgment. This is probably not the right job for Mr. Caldera to be in if he didn't understand the likely reaction of New Yorkers."

"This was not necessary," Townsend added. "If you needed pictures of Air Force One over a national icon, fly it over the Grand Canyon. But flying it over lower Manhattan, which to many of us is a sacred ground now where we lost thousands of Americans, I just think it wrong."

Caldera issued a statement Monday evening regarding the fly-over. "[I]t's clear that the mission created confusion and disruption," he said. "I apologize and take responsibility for any distress that flight caused."

President Obama was reportedly furious after learning that a plane in his fleet was flown over the same vicinity as the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.

At a press conference Monday afternoon, New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg also criticized the flight and said had he known of the White House's plan, he would have asked that the flight not take place.

UPDATED 11:33 a.m.: President Obama said Tuesday the fly-over incident "was a mistake." "It will not happen again," the president also said.

Full story

On Thursday, New York Gov. David Paterson announced he will introduce a bill that would allow same-sex couples in New York State to enter into civil marriages with the full rights of legal marriage.

(CNN) - A new poll indicates that majority of New Yorkers support the legalization of same-sex marriages.

Fifty-three percent of New Yorkers questioned in a Siena College Research Institute poll support a bill that would allow same-sex couples to wed, with 39 percent opposing the move.

The survey suggests that Democrats, independent and young voters, and women strongly support Senate passage. Republicans strongly oppose passage. Men, older voters, African-Americans, and Protestants are also opposed. The strongest support for the measure is found in New York City.

On Thursday, New York Gov. David Paterson announced he will introduce a bill that would allow same-sex couples in New York State to enter into civil marriages with the full rights of legal marriage. A similar attempt two years ago failed to make it through the state's legislature.

Sunday on CNN's State of the Union, Paterson strongly defended a proposed bill that aims to legalize same-sex marriage in his state.

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NEW YORK (CNN) – Gov. David Paterson announced Thursday he is introducing legislation to legalize same-sex marriage in his state.

"For too long, gay and lesbian New Yorkers, we have pretended, that they have had the same rights as their neighbors and their friends," Paterson said. "That is not the case."

The same bill was defeated in the state senate in 2007 when it was proposed by former Gov. Eliot Spitzer.

Listen: Will New York become the next state to allow same-sex marriage? CNN Radio reports.

A New York lawmaker tells CNN that the state's governor will soon announce plans to introduce a bill legalizing same-sex marriage in the state.

NEW YORK (CNN) - Gov. David Paterson will announce plans Thursday to introduce same-sex marriage legislation in the state assembly, according to an assemblyman who was asked to be present for the announcement.

"The governor's office called me and asked if I would stand with the governor," said Micah Z. Kellner, a state assemblyman from Manhattan. "I said I will be thrilled to stand with the governor when he makes this announcement."

Paterson has expressed support for gay marriage in the past but when asked Tuesday, he would not confirm details of an announcement.

"There is clearly a problem in that those individuals who are gay or lesbian who would live in a civil union are still not entitled to somewhere between 1,250 and 1,300 civil protections" available to married couple, Paterson said. "... We would like to try to address that at some point in the near future."

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Democratic candidate Scott Murphy is using controversial Republican figures to get voters to come out to the polls on Tuesday.

WASHINGTON (CNN) – In the final hours before the special election to fill the congressional seat in New York's 20th district, Democratic candidate Scott Murphy is using controversial Republican figures to get voters to come out to the polls on Tuesday.

Murphy's campaign has sent out a last-minute mailer featuring pictures of Rush Limbaugh, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin and former President George W. Bush.

"Upstate New York can have a congressman who works for them," the front of the mailer said, with arrows pointing to Limbaugh, Palin and Bush. "Or one who works for you."

"Republicans want to stop President Obama. On Tuesday, you can help stop them," the mailer said above a picture of Murphy.

The special election on Tuesday to fill Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand's vacant congressional seat pits Murphy against Republican Jim Tedisco. Tedisco once held a comfortable lead in the conservative district, but the latest polls show Murphy closing in on his challenger.