Eliot Spitzer Running For Mayor of New York City? Only Two Years To Go...

Shut up, it's too early for this! Not for the political news media, who will gladly play this game for the next twenty-four-plus months. No one knows for sure, of course, whether ex-Governor Eliot Spitzer will run for mayor in 2013, but it's never too early to start the speculation. (But if we were guessing with no consequences: yes, he will.) That's what Charles Gasparino said last week in the New York Post, and when asked, Spitzer could just smile and laugh.

According to Gasparino, "Spitzer is clearly fantasizing about a run, I'm told by several prominent city Democrats," though "a CNN flack says Spitzer has 'no plans' to run for mayor and 'is happy doing the show.' Spitzer, he says, would run "as a self-financed independent, a la Mike Bloomberg." Get used to this noncommittal back and forth!

CNN recently booted Spitzer's co-host on Parker Spitzer to give New York's horny old gov his own show, In the Arena. But since 24 hours is a lot of air-time to cover for networks like Spitzer's own CNN, Fareed Zakaria was happy to float the premature question to Spitzer during a segment (video above) earlier this week.

"Don't believe what you read in the newspapers," Spitzer said, vouching for television instead. "I love doing what I'm doing at CNN." Har har.

And yet anyone who doesn't believe this was the plan all along -- smile on TV until everyone forgets you sexed hookers -- hasn't really been paying attention. The question now is how much longer we will get to call him our "disgraced governor."

"Mr. Mayor" doesn't have the same euphemistic ring to it.

[jcoscarelli@villagevoice.com / @joecoscarelli]