Politics At Last: A No-Go From Mario

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What happened? He had communed with himself for 70 days, exposing his innermost calculations in near hourly briefings to anyone who cared. He had authorized the gathering of troops and moneymen. He had signed the legal papers and glowed as expectations soared. Everything and everyone was ready. And then, at the eleventh hour, with political junkies and hopeful Democrats in a state of emotional exhaustion, Mario Cuomo said, "Nah, not this time either."

Such as it was, the Governor's thinking had less to do with politics than with his self-image, with his concern that a giant poised to lead a crusade might ultimately appear small and personally ambitious. Strange thoughts for a politician. Par for the course for Mario Cuomo.

More than anything, a trial lawyer fears being unprepared. And more than anything, Mario Cuomo remains a trial lawyer. "You've got to know your brief 110%," Cuomo explained several years back. "Unless I know it all better than anyone, my performance is flat. I may never get the questions that expose my weaknesses, but if I know they're there, waiting to be discovered, then I can be as mediocre as anyone. So I have to know it all. I never pretend. I'm too afraid of making a mistake."

The last time Cuomo declined to run for President, back in 1987, he had been studying nonstop for months. In a hotel room in New Orleans on Feb. 16, he was trying his best to get a handle on U.S. farm policy. "Does anyone really understand this stuff?" he wondered. "What happens when I have to be cogent on parity or price supports? You remember what happened to Gerry?" Cuomo's reference was to Geraldine Ferraro, who confused an arcane bit of nuclear-war fighting strategy -- the difference between "first use" and "first strike" -- during her unsuccessful 1984 vice-presidential race. "The worst thing that can happen to you in this business is the same as the worst thing that can happen in the law," said Cuomo. "You're made to look foolish." Three days later, Cuomo shied away from the 1988 presidential race.

Earlier this year, Cuomo again confronted his fear that he wasn't fully prepared. He blundered by suggesting that the U.S. consider a negotiated settlement to the gulf crisis that could have left Iraq with some Kuwaiti territory and oil. But the real obstacle this time was a different worry. On one level it was as the Governor stated: he had -- and has -- an obligation to resolve New York's fiscal crisis. At another level it was politics, pure and simple. Cuomo knew what an aide to George Bush confided only a few hours before the Governor announced that he would not run in 1992: "We don't want to face Mario. But if he goes, the Republicans in Albany will tie him up for months. His budget will never be resolved, and he'll look like he's put his personal desire for the presidency before his public responsibility. It'll kill him."

That Republican "got it right," says a Cuomo adviser. "Mario would have tortured himself about appearing to abdicate his first obligation. He would have seen himself as small and petty. That's really why he decided not to run, but he had to look deep inside to figure it out."