Gov. David Paterson, right, told ABC News' Terry Moran that he's not ready to announce his pick to fill Hillary Clinton's soon-to-be vacated Senate seat.
(Judy Sanders, Office of the New York Governor )
Paterson noted that leaders don't yet know the full extent of the economic crisis.
"We don't know where it's going to end," he said. "We have not hit the bottom yet."
Paterson, who was elevated from lieutenant governor to governor after the unexpected resignation of Eliot Spitzer, admitted that the job will be more enjoyable once the economy swings back. He said he recognized the gravity of the budget situation in July.
"I think that that was the moment that I realized that we have to tell New Yorkers the truth about the challenges that face us," he said. "And because I was able to do that, it has empowered me, I think, to realize that I can be a very vital cog in what will have to be a collective effort to ameliorate this crisis."
And while the governor battles with the budget, the political world waits with bated breath to see what this suddenly "very vital cog" will do with that open Senate seat, an inquiry so common these days that Paterson has taken to deflecting it with a favorite sports analogy
"There's an old baseball umpire. His name was Bill Klem," Paterson said. "And once there was a pitch, and he didn't say anything. And the batter and the catcher looked at him and said, 'Well, what is it?' And he said what I'm saying: 'It ain't nothin' until I call it.'"
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