The Capitol Red Room is jam-packed with reporters, lobbyists, and state staffers for LG David Paterson's first press conference as governor-in-waiting.

It's more crowded than I have ever seen it in the almost 10 years I've been covering Albany.

Paterson started off, in his usual way, with a joke. He was met with applause when he walked into the room, and when it died down, he said: "If most of you weren't being...