New York gubernatorial candidate Bill Weld dipped his toe into the eminent domain issue today, talking up the issue (PDF) at the Manhattan Institute.

In the process, he took some shots at his rival on the Democratic side, Eliot Spitzer, and Spitzer's running mate, David Paterson, on the tax issue:

Mr. Spitzer chose a running mate who has said clearly that he wants to raise taxes. In light of the Tax Foundation report, one of the most important issues in this race still remains New York’s out of control tax structure. Second, Mr. Spitzer himself suggested the creation of new taxes - or at least raising some old ones! He wants to start funding k-12 education and public school employees - read, the teacher's union - through income taxes, for the first time. I simply do not know how one does this without raising income taxes.

And:

The confusion of the Spitzer ticket is not limited to issues of taxation. Mr. Spitzer says he’s for the death penalty; his handpicked running mate is against it. His running mate was for legislation that would jeopardize the lives of cops; Mr. Spitzer says that he wasn't.

I propose that the first debate in this election be between Mr. Spitzer and his running mate. We'll give them time to hash out their positions and decide where they stand. It should be interesting. But for now, the positions of the Spitzer ticket remain muddled, dangerously muddled.

Enough of politics.

So far, Spitzer has raised the most campaign cash this year, but Weld has gotten off the best sound bites. (Earlier, he said Paterson's now-withdrawn proposal to limit the use of deadly physical force on the job was "a prescription for dead cops.") It's almost as if Weld has done this before.