Cuomo Skips ’92 Bid, Citing N.Y. Problems : Politics: Decision comes 90 minutes before filing deadline. His refusal to run leaves race wide open.

In an emotional news conference just 90 minutes before the deadline for filing in the New Hampshire primary, New York Gov. Mario M. Cuomo announced Friday he would not run for the presidency, clearing the way for a wide-open campaign among the remaining six major contenders from the Democratic Party.

Looking saddened and stricken, Cuomo said that he could not enter the presidential contest while New York state’s massive budget deficit remains unresolved.

“It’s my responsibility as governor to deal with this extraordinarily severe problem,” Cuomo said. “Were it not, I would travel to New Hampshire today and file my name as a candidate in its presidential primary. That was my hope and I prepared for it.

“But,” he added, “it seems to me I cannot turn my attention to New Hampshire while this threat hangs over the heads of the New Yorkers I have sworn to put first.”

With evident regret, Cuomo said he was bending to what he called the desire of Democratic National Committee Chairman Ron Brown that he issue a definitive statement before Friday’s 5 p.m. filing deadline for the New Hampshire primary.

Cuomo noted that theoretically he could skip the New Hampshire contest and still compete in other primaries.

“But I accept the judgment of the national chairman of our party that it would be in the best interests of the Democratic Party that I abandon any such effort now so as to avoid whatever inconvenience and disruption of the process that is created by the uncertain possibility of another candidacy,” he said.

“It would have been nice to run for President,” Cuomo added wistfully.

In a statement, Brown praised Cuomo for displaying “great grace and integrity” in his decision to put “the interests of New York ahead of politics.”

Privately, DNC officials said Brown had not presented Cuomo with any sort of ultimatum or urged him to abandon the race entirely if he could not reach a decision in time to enter the New Hampshire primary. “Ron has never said that,” said one DNC official.

Regardless, Cuomo’s decision removes a lengthy shadow that had been cast on the campaigns of the announced candidates. Cuomo--better-known and better-financed than any of those candidates--would have entered the Democratic presidential race as an instant front-runner.

Many Democrats have been aching for Cuomo to seek the presidency since his soaring speech to the Democratic National Convention in 1984, which established him as one of the party’s most gripping orators and compelling presences. Others, though, worried that Cuomo’s liberal views on social issues and New York’s fiscal problems would have presented the GOP with a tempting target.

Friday’s news conference capped an extraordinary 10-week period of public introspection by Cuomo that began when he first revealed to a group of wealthy supporters that he was mulling a presidential candidacy.

His decision-making process--and the shifting signals that surrounded it--cut into the fund-raising and staffing efforts of the other candidates and became the grist of comedians’ monologues.

“A mind is a terrible thing to make up,” quipped substitute “Tonight Show” host Jay Leno, capturing the spirit of the “will he or won’t he” jokes.

Cuomo’s decision was greeted with words of praise--and sighs of relief--by the campaigns of the major Democratic contenders--Govs. Bill Clinton of Arkansas and L. Douglas Wilder of Virginia, Sens. Tom Harkin of Iowa and Bob Kerrey of Nebraska, former Massachusetts Sen. Paul E. Tsongas and former California Gov. Edmund G. (Jerry) Brown Jr.

Clinton--who had sparred with Cuomo over welfare reform, national service and other issues in recent weeks--issued a statement praising his rival as a “great force for progress, change and conscience in our country.”

Tsongas, urged Cuomo to “add his very important perspective to the debate on economic policy,” and claimed kinship with Cuomo’s advocacy of measures to spur economic recovery.

But behind the warm words, aides to the contenders uniformly expressed relief that Cuomo had finally removed himself from the spotlight.

“There’s no question with Cuomo not only off the stage, but out of the wings, we have a new race,” said George Stephanopolous, Clinton’s deputy campaign manager. “He clearly had an effect on everything--money, attention.”

In Washington, White House officials had widely expected Cuomo to throw his hat into the ring. Commerce Secretary Robert A. Mosbacher, the recently named chairman of President Bush’s reelection campaign, even launched a preemptive attack on the New York governor during a morning briefing for reporters.

Bush, in an interview with the C-SPAN cable network to be broadcast Sunday, reacted to Cuomo’s announcement by saying, “I respect his decision.” He added: “Even though we yell about each other from time to time, we get along all right.”

Cuomo had cautioned in recent weeks that New York’s budget crisis could prove an insurmountable obstacle to his presidential ambitions. Still, signs abounded that he was preparing to run.

Sites had been selected for his New Hampshire storefront headquarters. Fund-raisers were poised in 20 states. National campaign headquarters were set to open in New York and Washington. And on Friday, two planes had been chartered to take the press and Cuomo advisers to New Hampshire with the governor.

But in the end, Cuomo said he simply could not enter the race while he and the Republicans who control the New York state Senate continue to grapple over the state’s budget problems.

After weeks of what Cuomo termed “wrestling” over the budget with the Republican legislative leaders, no agreement on closing the deficit is in sight. In a sense, it appeared the GOP had pinned his presidential hopes to the mat.

While he criticized the Republican lawmakers Friday for refusing to reach a compromise with him on a budget plan, he stopped short of saying the lack of cooperation was aimed at thwarting his presidential bid. “I’m not going to assume anybody had perverse motivation. I’ll leave that to God and their conscience,” he said.

With evident disappointment, he also said: “I would be less than honest if I did not admit to you my regret at not having the chance to run for President.”

Asked whether his announcement realistically ends any chance that he will ever make such a run, he said: “You’ll have to make that analysis.”

Among the Democratic candidates, political analysts say Harkin probably gained the most from Cuomo’s decision, largely because he had the most to lose if the New York governor entered the race. Harkin, who has based his campaign on an unalloyed defense of traditional Democratic approaches to problems, would have faced formidable competition from Cuomo for the support of organized labor and other liberal interests in the party.

“If I’m Tom Harkin, I’m breathing a huge sigh of relief right now,” said Will Marshall, a Clinton adviser.

For Brown and Wilder--the candidates who have had the most trouble persuading party insiders and the press to take their campaigns seriously--Cuomo’s decision eliminates a powerful competitor for attention.

Tsongas, who needs a breakthrough in New Hampshire to launch his candidacy, no longer has to worry about an ambush from Cuomo. Polls showed them sharing the lead in the crucial first primary state.

For Kerrey and Clinton, the impact of Friday’s announcement is somewhat less certain. Neither camp relished the prospect of contesting a better-known, better-financed opponent.

But advisers to both men believed a Cuomo candidacy might have helped either candidate define himself more clearly as the voice of new Democratic thought--much as Gary Hart played off Walter F. Mondale’s advocacy of traditional Democratic approaches to establish his identity in 1984.

Though Cuomo’s announcement appeared air-tight, his hold on the imagination of many Democrats is so great that talk of drawing him into the race may resurface if the early primaries do not produce a clear front-runner.

Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-San Francisco), one of Cuomo’s staunchest backers, said Cuomo’s announcement “sounded like a pretty definitive statement.” But she added: “Depending on how well the present field does, it’s never too late for anyone to get in the race if there’s not a strong showing.”

Still, most Democrats believe Friday’s statement was as close to a renunciation as they can expect from the sometimes enigmatic New York governor.

“To tell you the truth, I don’t know what ‘definitive’ looks like on Mario Cuomo,” said Harkin spokeswoman Lorraine Voles. “I don’t want to lay that entirely on his door because no matter what he says, there will always be the media fixation with him. But I think the statement was fairly definitive and we’re taking him at his word.”

That sense of finality was also palpable in Albany. Throughout the day, as the suspense grew, reporters and state employees crowded the corridors near the governor’s office.

Times staff writer Douglas Jehl contributed to this report from Washington.