Andrew Cuomo's defeat of former New York Public Advocate Mark Green for the Democratic nomination for State Attorney General marks one of the biggest political comebacks in recent New York State history.

Four years ago, Cuomo was written off for dead. After making the ill-advised decision to take on establishment Democrat H. Carl McCall for the Democratic nomination for Governor, Cuomo's campaign stalled, sank, and imploded before the two men even reached the primary election date. A week before the balloting, the former Clinton Housing Secretary, and son of legendary former Democratic Gov. Mario Cuomo, was gently shoved out of the race by party heavies Rep. Charlie Rangel, Attorney General Eliot Spitzer, and little-known political hobbyist Bill Clinton.

The reason for Cuomo's early exit was to save McCall resources he desperately needed to take on incumbent Republican Gov. George Pataki in the general election. Unfortunately, McCall still went down in flames in November. Although Cuomo's early exit had been honeyed with the promise that his party loyalty to McCall would be rewarded in terms of his future career, many state honchos still were furious at him for having entered the race at all, in their view hobbling McCall's long-shot effort right out of the starting gate—especially considering that McCall had the chance to be New York's first African-American Governor.

In the next year, Cuomo's personal life collapsed, as his storied marriage to Kennedy royalty Kerry Kennedy Cuomo dissolved amid reports of her longtime infidelity. At this point, his career appeared doomed. If you told someone at that time that he would be the Democratic nominee for Attorney General in three years, they probably would have asked if you meant his brother Chris Cuomo, the media personality.

I actually had the opportunity to work on the McCall campaign in 2002. There was a conflicted feeling on the inside regarding Andrew, where I sensed he was both reviled for his flagrant opportunism and respected for the creativity he had shown as Clinton's Housing and Urban Deveopment Secretary. Everyone knew he had great political talent, and sincere progressive beliefs—he just was taking too big a bite at the apple, far too early. It is nice to see him back in the game, with what appears to be a wiser outlook on how to continue his family's proud legacy.