The Return of Vintage Spitzer?

At his big fund-raiser last night, Eliot Spitzer sounded almost like his old self.

“Inspiration is hearing someone say, ‘No it can’t be done, it won’t be done’ and then, proving them wrong,” the governor said. “Look around this room. Look around this state. There is inspiration everywhere.”

Afterwards, I asked him if the speech was a deliberate return to the governing style that got him elected.

“I don't know if it was a return," he told me. "I think it was just a statement of principles that sort of capture what we need to do. It certainly is a theme that I have talked about during the period when I was running for governor: the need to be the center of innovation and intellectual creativity. That’s what New York has historically been and that is what we’ve got to be if we are going to be a vibrant economy."

Here was the analysis of State Comptroller Tom DiNapoli: “I think he’s trying to get back to the core of what he ran on a year ago.”