He cited New York's budget morass as the chief factor precluding a Presidential bid.

There is a certain paradox, Ms. Ross said, that while Mr. Davis's chief critics campaign against his handling of the budget morass, they have also lined up behind Proposition 53.

Maybe the money would just disappear into some American budget morass.

The budget morass seemed as dire as ever today after Mr. Marino rejected Mr. Cuomo's proposals and presented his own version of a 15-month budget plan.

Senator George Allen, Republican of Virginia, said that the budget morass showed "a disgraceful lack of action due to the Democrats' poor leadership last year."

All this has started well before next Tuesday's first meeting of the bipartisan group that is supposed to find a way out of the budget morass.

Including hurricane reconstruction aid and anti-torture strictures hardly disinfects the budget morass being left behind.

For weeks, Mr. Cuomo has insisted that without some resolution of the budget morass in his home state, he could not conscientiously begin a bid for national office.

But the main focus remained on something old - the county's budget morass.

New York City, meanwhile, has its own budget morass.