By VALERIE BAUMAN
Associated Press

ALBANY - The most active campaign for statewide office this year doesn't have any candidates yet and may not even have an incumbent.

This is the odd world of the race for New York attorney general, in which at least a half-dozen lawyers and prosecutors are considering a run - but only if popular Attorney General Andrew Cuomo runs for governor. The once almost-anonymous job has transformed over the past 15 years into a high-profile role as the chief enforcer on Wall Street and in corporate America's boardrooms.

The headline-grabbing post has become known by its initials, AG, sometimes derisively said to stand for "Aspiring Governor." It may also soon produce New York's second consecutive elected governor.

With Cuomo expected to drop a re-election bid and run for governor - whispers he refuses to confirm or deny - at least six people are considering trying to take over his job.

Former Gov. Eliot Spitzer was first the fabled "Sheriff of Wall Street" while taking on the financial world as attorney general. Despite his fall after a prostitution scandal, Spitzer remains New York's most ambitious attorney general, so far.

"Until Spitzer, no attorney general had been governor of New York since the early 19th century," said Gerald Benjamin, a political scientist and former dean at SUNY New Paltz. "We now have an attorney general who's been elected governor and an attorney general who may be running for governor, so it's a stepping stone and nationally consequential."

Cuomo has built on the office's reputation with headline-grabbing lawsuits and settlements. He has investigated national issues such as student loan officers, Medicaid fraud, online predators and players in the subprime-mortgage industry implosion.

But Republican Attorney General Dennis Vacco in the 1990s and Democrat Robert Abrams before him first started moving the office from that of a consumer-protection agent and the state's civil lawyer to one of a formidable activist and enforcer.

"The office evolves as society evolves," Spitzer told The Associated Press, "and whoever is attorney general needs to be nimble enough to understand what is working, but to know that issues change."

The 2010 race has a field that includes lawmakers, district attorneys and a former state agency head, and has attracted donations from Wall Street, including some Forbes-list favorites.

Eric Dinallo, a potential candidate and former superintendent of the state Insurance Department, has the most financial support so far from an industry that largely viewed the office with contempt under Spitzer. That's despite his history as a key member of Spitzer's team; he was credited with the idea of using a little-known law so Spitzer could aggressively go after fraud on Wall Street. As insurance superintendent, he was credited with helping to save the massive AIG corporation.

"I think it's probably, of all the jobs in government, the most effective, most immediate to have a day-in and day-out impact on people's lives," Dinallo said.

Kathleen Rice, the Nassau County district attorney, is weighing a run. Other candidates include state Assemblyman Richard Brodsky, a Westchester County Democrat; Democratic state Sen. Eric Schneiderman, who represents part of Manhattan and the Bronx; and Sean Coffey, a lawyer and former Navy pilot.

As for Cuomo, he says he's focusing on his current job, not politics. If he runs for a second term, the would-be candidates said they won't run.

"It's not just reform and change of the political class we have to talk about, but they are the reforms of things that matter in the daily lives of New Yorkers," Brodsky said.

The attorney general should have a broad approach to representing the state, Rice said.

"I think it does the public a great disservice to only focus on one area," she said. "There are many, many people in this state that have nothing to do with Wall Street."

The attorney general represents the state in lawsuits and for criminal prosecutions and civil cases, including antitrust and consumer-fraud enforcement, charities oversight, investor protection, civil rights and government integrity. Several candidates said they also want to write new laws.

"Sometimes the problem is, you have individuals who are breaking the law, but very often there is conduct that is legal that should not be legal," Schneiderman said.

Another appeal of the office is that it's a high-profile position without the political perils of the governor's office or the Legislature. And that has given Spitzer and Cuomo unmatched advantages in governor's races.

"The attorney general often casts himself, herself, in the role of the knight in shining armor, and doesn't need to make tough budgetary decisions that a governor needs to make," Spitzer said. "It's no question, at that level, it's an easier political position."