Gov. David Paterson started his campaign for a full term this morning, telling supporters at Hofstra University in Long Island that he won’t let special-interest groups and political opponents stand in the way of his election bid.

The Democratic governor, polls show, faces an uphill battle to win election to a four-year term in November after succeeding Eliot Spitzer in March 2008 after Spitzer resigned. Paterson was elected lieutenant governor as Spitzer’s running mate in 2006.

Paterson, 55, the state’s first African-American governor and first legally blind governor, dismissed the polls and his lagging support within his own party as he vowed to seek the Democratic nomination for governor.

“When I look at these New Yorkers and how dedicated they are to their struggle, I realize that this not about me, this is about the people of New York and I will always put the people first,” he said during his nearly 20-minute speech.

Paterson will continue his campaign tour later today in Rochester and then tomorrow morning outside Buffalo. The event in Rochester will be held at Laborers Local 435 Hall, 20 4th Street, at 3:30 p.m. He will finish the trip Sunday morning at Christie’s Restaurant, 1056 Union Rd., in West Seneca, Erie County.

Attorney General Andrew Cuomo is expected to challenge Paterson for the party’s nomination; Cuomo, who has a huge lead in polls and fundraising, has yet to make an official announcement.

The Republican gubernatorial candidate is expected to be former Long Island Rep. Rick Lazio, who has secured a majority of the support within the GOP.

Paterson talked about how he has been an underdog his whole life, with people consistently telling him that he could not succeed because of his disability. But he said he has never backed down from a challenge.

Last fall, the White House asked Paterson to reconsider his election plans and most Democratic leaders have not rallied around his candidacy. No major statewide party leaders—including Sens. Charles Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand, who Paterson appointed in January—were joining him on the tour. The Associated Press estimated about 400 people attended this morning’s event.

“So many people are saying I shouldn’t run for governor. But you need to know that this is a governor that does not quit,” Paterson said, with his wife, Michelle, at his side.

Paterson’s popularity among voters soared after he took office, and he was credited with steadying the state Capitol after Spitzer’s stunning resignation due to his solicitation of a prostitute.

But while Paterson was applauded for warning in mid-2008 of the state’s looming fiscal crisis, his approval began to slip later that year when he was criticized for being indecisive in picking a successor to Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, who resigned in January 2009 to join the Obama administration.

And as the economy struggled and budget deficits bulged, Paterson was knocked for agreeing last year with state lawmakers to raise taxes and fees by more than $7 billion. He has warred with lawmakers over ethics reform and state spending, and in recent weeks had to fend off unsubstantiated rumors about his personal life.

A Marist College poll this month found Paterson with a 26 percent approval rating, down five percentage points from January.

State Democratic Party chairman Jay Jacobs implored the public to back Paterson.

“We need to stand up for a governor who has stood up for us,” Jacobs told the crowd.

Paterson took on his critics this morning, saying he has balanced the state’s finances in hard times, passed reforms to decades-old drug sentencing laws, reformed the scandal-scarred public authorities, expanded opportunities for women and minority-owned businesses and adopted tough laws against drunk drivers.

He repeated through his speech he has put the people first, not the special interests or his fellow politicians.

“The reality is that I’ve done more in my two years as governor than most governors have done in two terms,” Paterson said to cheers.

He also knocked special interests and said he’s not running to accept their money to boost his campaign and to tell them what they want to hear. Paterson had just $3 million in his campaign coffers last month, compared to $16 million for Cuomo.

Paterson said there are some candidates who have “never told the people of New York what they’re going to do about the problems of our time,” a swipe at Cuomo who has been criticized for not announcing his intentions and discussing what he would do as governor.

Some critics said Paterson’s doesn’t have much of a record to run on, saying he hasn’t done enough to curb state spending and lower taxes, even as Democrats control all of state government.

“Personally I like Governor Paterson. But I don’t know whether it’s been a combination of bad advice or bad decisions or bad people around him, in terms of giving him advice,” said Assembly Minority Leader Brian Kolb, R-Canandaigua, Ontario County.

“But I don’t see what the governor can run on. I don’t even understand why he is announcing he’s running for re-election at this point.”

Credit: AP photo