For example, if your boss tells you "if you do that again you’ll be fired," I think it’s fair to say that whatever "that" is, it is not likely you will be doing it again, unless of course you want to get canned.

Well, leave it to folks in the Democratic Party to ignore some of those basic rules because clearly they either have trouble with their short-term memories or they are simply choosing to lose the upcoming Governor’s race.

After watching the come-from-ahead loss by Mark Green in the race to become New York City’s mayor, it seems the Cuomo campaign has decided to take the page of what not to do when opening mouth and inserting foot.

The Jewish Week reported that Democratic candidate for Governor Andrew Cuomo told Jewish leaders there was a "racial contract" at work that could help his rival H. Carl McCall get the Democratic nomination next year. The comment was made, according to the paper, on Nov. 6 as word of Green’s loss spread through the city.

The defeat was seen more as a "rejection" of Green rather than an "election" of Bloomberg.

Many voters — especially those in the Latin community — believed some of Green supporters ran a racially divisive run-off campaign, after telephone calls were made equating a Fernando Ferrer administration negatively with David Dinkins and the Rev. Al Sharpton.

McCall, if you don’t know already, is the first African American elected to a NY statewide office and he supported Ferrer in his bid to become the City’s first Latino mayor. Ferrer will no doubt support McCall to return the favor and that is what may have invoked the comment reportedly made by Cuomo who also said — according to the paper — that McCall’s campaign would be a "second installment" on the so-called "racial contract" and that "couldn’t be allowed to happen."

Cuomo, the elder son of former-Governor Mario Cuomo and former housing secretary under President Bill Clinton, has been relatively silent since the report and would only say through a spokesman that the conversation was about keeping the party unified by avoiding racial divisiveness.

What is clear is that race is still a factor in New York State politics.

At 43, Cuomo should have been aware that using such language in any environment would have gotten him in trouble. But the mayor’s race should also have show politicians that the race issue is complex, with "Intra-racial" factors operating as well. You cannot simply open your mouth and set one side off against the other.

Race can be a doomsday device that blows up in your face if deployed disingenuously.

If the Democrats have, or want, any prayer of defeating George Pataki, they better learn from the lessons of the mayoral race and not make race — one way or the other — the matter upon which they stake their political futures.

If Cuomo believes he does not have the minority vote, he needs to go out and get it.

McCall doesn’t have a lock on it either, since he has been knocked in the past for not really being there for blacks on a variety of issues.

Both men should show us why they are worthy of what we now know are precious votes and they should earn those votes like anyone else.

We aren’t impressed by the color of anyone’s skin or his or her last name anymore. We are impressed with what you have to say, what you do. And not learning from mistakes — be they yours or the mistakes of others — doesn’t earn many points at all.