I remember listening to Mario Cuomo's keynote speech at the Democratic Convention in 1984 and wishing he was running for President and not Walter Mondale. I was sure he would run in 1988 and again in 1992, but Cuomo ducked out both times. My father felt he had too many skeletons in his closet, but it seems that Cuomo preferred Albany to Washington. His tenure finally ran out in 1994 when he was upset by George Pataki in what proved to be a watershed year for Republicans. George Bush similarly scored a surprise victory in Texas over the well-liked Ann Richards. They both had a great sense of humor about it, but I have to think that loss hurt. His once formidable political clout was gone and he was relegated to a periphery figure in American politics. It was his good fortune to father a son who would restore his dynasty in New York, but it isn't the same. Andrew is not the great speechmaker his father was and he struggles to place himself at the ce...