The sheriff is back! Eliot Spitzer’s return to politics will send a fearful Wall Street scurrying for cover, according to a new campaign ad unveiled yesterday.
The 30-second spot, which the aspiring comptroller’s campaign characterized as a “significant buy” featured mostly on news Web sites, plays up Spitzer’s reputation as having been the “sheriff” of Wall Street when he was state attorney general.
But political analysts aren’t sure it’s the best tactic for the former governor, who resigned after being caught with high-priced prostitutes.
“My first reaction is, gee, one of [New York City’s] biggest businesses and sources of revenue is the financial community, and he’s doing a commercial saying when he gets elected they’re going to leave town?” said Democratic political consultant Joseph Mercurio. “It’s not a particularly good idea.”
The clip shows several frames of Wall Street as an abandoned ghost town, then zooms in on a wind-blown newspaper headline that reads “Spitzer rejoins politics . . . for comptroller.”
A narrator says, “Guess they heard he’s back.”