Former NY governor Spitzer's CNN show axed (AFP)

WASHINGTON (AFP) – US cable television network CNN axed a talk show on Wednesday hosted by Eliot Spitzer, the former New York governor whose promising political career was derailed by a prostitution scandal.

Spitzer's one-hour show, "In The Arena," was cancelled after just nine months. In February, Spitzer's co-host, conservative commentator Kathleen Parker, left the show, which had been suffering from consistently low ratings.

Ken Jautz, executive vice president for CNN/US, said the Atlanta-based network was in discussions with Spitzer "about an alternative role."

But Spitzer, in a statement released by CNN, indicated that his time at the 24-hour cable television network may be over.

"I thoroughly enjoyed my time at CNN," Spitzer said.

"We engaged serious people in conversations about national and global issues in a way that was informative and challenging," he said. I believe that we provided diverse and valuable perspectives during the show's tenure."

The CNN show was seen as a comeback vehicle for Spitzer, a Democrat who resigned as governor in March 2008 after it became known that he had solicited call girls from a prostitution outfit known as "Emperors Club VIP."

CNN said that beginning on August 8, star correspondent Anderson Cooper's nightly news show "AC360" is to replace Spitzer in the 8:00 pm (0000 GMT) slot on weeknights.

The network also said that Erin Burnett, formerly of business news network CNBC, would host a general news show that would air at 7:00 pm (2300 GMT) on weeknights.

Mexico voters choose governor, give hints for 2012 (AP)

ECATEPEC, Mexico – There's more at stake than picking a governor as voters go to the polls Sunday in the state of Mexico, with 15 million people the country's most populous state and a bellwether for next year's presidential election.

Eruviel Avila heads into the closely watched vote with a 30-percentage point lead for the Institutional Revolutionary Party, or PRI, which has never lost the governorship in more than 80 years. But the PRI needs a commanding victory to create momentum going into the July 2012 national election, where it wants to regain the presidency it lost in 2000 after 71 years of uninterrupted rule.

The front-runner in presidential polls, Enrique Pena Nieto, is the current PRI governor of Mexico state, home to the sprawling, impoverished suburbs that ring Mexico City.

The other two major parties, trailing in the polls and lacking the coalitions that have beat the PRI in other states, are warning voters that backing the PRI is backing a return to the past, when the "dinosaurs" wielded power through coercion, corruption and intimidation.

Avila faces Alejandro Encinas, 57, from the leftist Democratic Revolution Party, or PRD, which won the presidential vote in the state of Mexico in 2006 despite PRI domination of state and local offices. Trailing third is Luis Felipe Bravo Mena, 58, of Calderon's conservative National Action Party, or PAN, which won the presidential vote there in 2000.

The PAN and PRD tried early on to form a coalition to defeat the PRI, as they did last year to win the PRI stronghold states of Oaxaca, Puebla and Sinaloa. But the agreement fell apart in Mexico state, and other coalition efforts never got off the ground in two other states, Nayarit and Coahuila, where the PRI is expected to win governorships on Sunday.

Across Mexico, many voters are weary of the PAN, which after more than a decade in power has failed to make fundamental changes in Mexico apart from a trademark war on organized crime that has seen a spike in violence. Since President Felipe Calderon took office in late 2006, more than 35,000 people have died in drug violence according to the government. Other sources put the number at more than 40,000.

And internal fighting in the PRD has left the leftist party in disarray.

The PRI has sprung back in the vacuum.

After mounting one of the most expensive campaigns in Mexico's history, Avila ran tirelessly as a "democrat," polling near 60 percent while Encinas' support hover sin the mid-to-high 20s in surveys by the newspapers Reforma and El Universal. Those polls have a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points.

The newspaper Reforma reported last month that Avila's campaign spent nearly 4.4 million pesos a day ($376,000), more than the 3.4 million pesos ($290,000) Calderon spent to win the presidency. The campaign didn't respond to questions about spending from the AP.

Even as the opposing parties cry foul and have filed complaints with the national elections tribunal over alleged PRI campaign violations, the elections Sunday and next year appear the PRI's to lose.

NJ governor reimburses state for chopper flights (AP)

TRENTON, N.J. – After taking a beating for more than a day, Gov. Chris Christie agreed Thursday to reimburse the state for personal use of a police helicopter to fly to two of his son's high school baseball games and a political dinner with GOP donors.

But the governor, revered among Republicans for his hard-charging, budget-cutting ways and reviled among many Democrats for the same traits, made no apologies for what he called an effort to be a good father.

Christie, often mentioned as a potential 2012 presidential candidate, said he paid $2,100 and asked the state Republican Party to pay $1,200 to cover the costs — not because he believed he was in the wrong but because the furor had become a distraction from serious matters.

"I want to make sure the public understands that I'm doing this because of the duty I feel to them to have my attention and everyone else's attention focused 100 percent on the real problems of this state," he said, "not the political theater and media theater that people enjoy at times."

"I also understand this is a really fun media story for all of you," he told reporters at a bill signing ceremony in Denville.

He said he had been assured by the state police that he did not have to reimburse the state for the personal flights because the pilots needed to log the flying hours anyway to keep their skills sharp. And he said he chose to fly to his son's ballgames as a way of balancing his role as governor because there was no other way to get there in time.

"We tried to balance me being governor, and my demands on that, with my responsibility as a father," Christie said. "I'm governor 24-7, every single day, but I'm also a father. And the fact of the matter is, sometimes when you are governor, you do not control your schedule."

Christie's reversal came a day after a spokesman defended the trips as appropriate and said the governor does not reimburse for security and travel.

The conflict started Tuesday night when Christie flew about 90 miles from the Statehouse to Montvale in a month-old $12.5 million helicopter to watch his oldest son, Andrew, start as catcher — a position Christie played in high school — for Delbarton, a private Catholic prep school.

Christie was joined by his wife, Mary Pat, at the game. Afterward, they flew back south 75 miles to the official governor's mansion in Princeton for dinner with a group of top GOP campaign contributors. The donors, from Iowa, tried unsuccessfully to persuade Christie to run for president.

A list released by Christie's office on Thursday also showed that the governor used the helicopter Friday to fly to another one of his son's games.

Christie is paying for two flights and the GOP is paying for the leg to Princeton to meet with campaign donors because the meeting was political, he said.

Since becoming governor in January 2010, Christie has used the helicopter 33 times, his office said. The most common use was for trips to New York City, which were made on nine occasions — including two for media interviews.

When done by car, the trip to Manhattan can be disruptive because troopers shut the Lincoln Tunnel to other traffic for security reasons.

Christie's turnabout comes after criticism from Democrats, who said they would call a hearing to look into the governor's use of the helicopter, which is part of a fleet also used by state police to respond to medical and other emergencies.

"Chris Christie has now taken his arrogance to the next level," state Democratic Party chairman John Wisniewski said.

But Christie has used a helicopter less than other New Jersey governors, such as Jim McGreevey, who took 272 flights during his first 10 months in office, including 14 non-governmental trips. The Democratic Party reimbursed the state $18,200 for those trips after it hit the news.

Monmouth University political scientist Patrick Murray said Christie erred politically by not being contrite sooner after the issue started making headlines, saying his explanation may fall short with the public.

"I think that the parent thing would work if there weren't the other images surrounding it," Murray said, referring to the presidential bid meeting after the game.

But University of Virginia political science professor Larry Sabato said the flap wouldn't damage Christie among his national Republican following.

"Republicans are so keen on Christie," he said, "that this didn't bother them in the first place."

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Associated Press writers Angela Delli Santi in Trenton, Josh Lederman in Denville and Geoff Mulvihill in Haddonfield contributed to this report.