The Fall and Rise of Eliot Spitzer

(MoneyWatch)  Eliot Spitzer has become a media darling. A columnist for Slate, appearing on the Today show, on MSNBC and, oh yes, in Newsweek. He's here, he's there, he's everywhere.

What's amazing is that the former New York governor is apparently his own PR machine, doing this without spinmeisters like Howard Rubinstein or Hill & Knowlton. And he is bouncing back fast from March 2008 when he graced the cover of New York Magazine with an arrow pointed at his crotch.

Of course Spitzer has an advantage. He went after Wall Street, the whole caboodle: investment banks, mutual funds, and of course, American International Group, and said they were crooked. In 2008 he was proven right. The former "Sheriff of Wall Street" must have really kicked himself for getting caught in a prostitution scandal just when he would have come into his full glory.

But everything old is new again and Spitzer is doing the right thing. He is apologizing, saying how sorry he is that he hurt his family, baring as much of his soul as he wants to: the usual talk-show stuff. If you didn't know better you'd think that he wants to climb back up the political ladder.

Perhaps he senses a soft spot. New York Governor David Paterson, his former lieutenant governor who replaced him, is dropping in the polls, hurt by his choice for U.S. Senator and by the state's dismal finances. His likely rival for the Democratic nomination, Andrew Cuomo, has a famous name, but already failed in a gubernatorial bid in 2002. The next election is in 2010. Can Spitzer rebound this quickly?

If Spitzer becomes the "new" sheriff of Wall Street, would he be the same as the "old" sheriff? As attorney general, Spitzer rocked the house: he made the world's biggest investment banks pay more than $10 billion in fines. He forced AIG to cough up $1.6 billion and get rid of then chief executive Maurice (Hank) Greenberg.

But as governor, he was more conciliatory. He planned to get banks, financial institutions and insurers into one room and simplify the complex and confusing rules that govern them. That idea was ahead of its time. These multi-national, multi-functional hydras have been playing "fool the regulator" for years, and it came home to roost when AIG's London office went wild with credit default swaps and brought down the company.

Perhaps we do need Eliot Spitzer back. And, by all indications, he is looking for a political rebirth. So here's a suggestion. Let's put the extraterrestrial "E.T." behind the peripatetic Spitzer, waving his lighted finger to remind him: "Eliot ... be good."