David Weidner follows up his column from last week, in which he reported Attorney General Eliot Spitzer's comparison of upstate to Appalachia, and notes that Spitzer's flak wasn't amused:

(Darren) Dopp accused me of mischaracterizing Spitzer's comment. What followed was a debate about what Spitzer meant and how it was received: Was the remark a joke? Wasn't it? Did people laugh or didn't they? Would I listen to the tape? Was I even there?

The conversation made me ask myself: "Do I need a lawyer?"

Dopp is from Endicott, in upstate New York. He is good at his job. I have new sympathy for Hank Greenberg or anyone who has given the AG a deposition.

Ken Langone, Home Depot's co-founder, just gave one and reportedly wasn't too impressed.

It's easy to suggest Spitzer's office is coming across like prosecutorial bullies, but the public can see it differently. After all, when David Dinkins ran for Mayor against Rudy Giuliani, he often repeated the line, "We need a mayor, not a prosecutor." To which Giuliani responded, "We need a mayor who's not afraid of a prosecutor." Dinkins won their first race, Giuliani the second.

But it's hard to recall Giuliani's office hammering the press for any of his campaign gaffes (and he had many.) It's not a good habit for a candidate to get into in New York State. (Pierre Rinfret, the hapless Republican candidate for governor in 1990, had a bad habit of threatening reporters and editors.)