Politically, the year ahead will offer the usual crop of indicted pols, unpopular policies and heart-stopping surprises. Nonetheless, I’ll offer my thoughts on what interesting things could happen over the next 12 months.
Retiring Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s second brush with blood clots causes her to rethink another presidential bid. Survivors of similar health scares report that they saw themselves and their lives differently, with one going so far as to say that frequent airplane travel—a requisite for presidential runs—makes future blood clots a “crap shoot.”
As a result, Andrew Cuomo will seriously position himself to run for 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. The IDC/GOP governing hybrid may be a “one-off” as Cuomo pivots to show what a Democratic governor in a one-party state can accomplish.
To that end, Cuomo will lead the Stewart(-Cousins) Restoration after the suburban leader of the state Senate Democratic Conference successfully builds it into a fighting force to be reckoned with.
Despite the best efforts of Matt Damon, Mark Ruffalo and Josh Fox, this is the year when shale gas exploration finally gets the green light from state regulators. The Cuomo administration unveils fracking regulations that will prevent negative health impacts and, hopefully, drive private sector job growth in the state’s Southern Tier.
More via http://www.cityandstateny.com/2013-political-predictions-for-the-year-ahead/