Rep. Charlie Rangel, with his wife, Alma, and singer Aretha Franklin, at the congressman's birthday party fund-raiser in the Crown Plaza last night. (photo credit: azi paybarah / observer)

One year after a House Ethics investigation tainted Rep. Charlie Rangel's 80th birthday party fundraiser, the Harlem veteran threw himself another party on Wednesday night, and many of New York's major Democratic figures were there.

Governor Andrew Cuomo made an early appearance but left before the night's emcee --- his predecessor, David Paterson -- began introducing the night's speakers. Cuomo and Paterson did run into one another. ("Hey, young man!" Cuomo said as he embraced Paterson. The two spoke privately as several aides surrounded the two men.)

"I read a piece that said [Rangel's] running again. That'll be his decision," Cuomo told the Observer in a brief interview. "If he runs, he'll be a formidable candidate. You can feel the support in the room. And we'll take it from there."

I asked Cuomo -- a governor who hasn't left the state since taking office -- if he would travel outside New York to help elect President Obama.

"I would help the president in any way that I can," Cuomo said. "I think it's very important that we re-elect him. So, any way that I can help him, I will. I'm going to see him in the next couple of days," Cuomo noted. "I was with him last week at a fund-raiser." (The governor meant a fund-raiser for Obama; the president was not in attendance.)

In the lobby outside the third floor ballroom, the organizers of the event displayed a picture of Rangel, smiling, walking through a doorway with a smiling President Obama standing to the side. President Obama -- who will be in NYC tonight for a series of fund-raisers -- had said last year amid Rangel's controversy that the 20-term congressman should end his career "with dignity," which many people took to be the president's call for Rangel to resign rather than go through an embarrassing ethics investigation.

Rangel has cited the need to support Obama as one reason for continuing in Congress, and on stage, the congressman spoke positively about the president, saying he's faced unprecedented obstruction from Republican lawmakers.

"The truth of the matter is, when a handful of people are prepared to take down our great country, to go to the cliff and tell the whole world that you can't depend on us to pay [what] we owe, we are in trouble," he said.

Rangel introduced the night's emcee, former Governor David Paterson, whom Rangel incorrectly said "became a lawyer" before going on to serve as a State Senator and became "one of the most outstanding governor's we've had in our great state." (Paterson never actually became a lawyer, but did work for the Queens district attorney.)

Comedian Paul Mooney -- wearing a red cap with the word "Harlem" written in sequence, said he liked Rangel. "He reminds me of Adam Clayton Powell," the comedian said. "That's why I like him. He's a double agent. He looks like a white man."

Rangel replaced Powell in 1970, and has been challenged twice by his son, Adam Clayton Powell IV.

Rangel's actual birthday was two months ago, on June 11, but his wife Alma's birthday is August 12th, the congressman told the audience. He presented Alma with a bouquet of roses on stage and when singer Aretha Franklin led the crowd in singing "Happy Birthday," the congressman smiled and pointed to his wife.

Among the attendees were a number of likely 2013 mayoral candidates: City Council Speaker Christine Quinn, former comptroller and 2009 Democratic candidate Bill Thompson, Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer and -- the only one of them who got to speak from the stage -- current City Comptroller John Liu.

Rep. Joseph Crowley and Rep. Greg Meeks, both of Queens, were in attendance, as was Democratic congressional candidate David Weprin.

On his way out of the event, Weprin bumped into former mayor Ed Koch -- who recently endorsed his opponent, Republican Bob Turner. Weprin shook hands with Koch and turned around to a young man who snapped a photograph of the two men and said, "That's the money shot."

Before the night was over, the crowd was treated to a handful of songs from Aretha Franklin. After singing some new songs -- and, of course, "Respect" and "Happy Birthday," the legendary singer urged the audience to buy her album at either Wal-Mart or "Walmart.com."

Rep. Rangel, his wife Alma, and singer Aretha Franklin celebrated the Harlem lawmaker's birthday at a fund-raiser at the Crown Plaza last night. (photo credit: azi paybarah / observer)

2012: "If he runs, Giuliani's advisers envision a smaller, scrappier operation than his 2008." [AP]

2017: Mr. Baldwin, a 53-year-old Long Island native, is hardly huddling with the masses. He lives at the Eldorado." [Diane Cardwell / New York Times]

NY-9: "This is ours to lose," said Turner. [Dan Long / KickLedger]

NY-9: "OVER confidence. No Republican in #NY9 should talk like that." [Russ Schaffer / Twitter]

NY-9: "Schumer has indicated he will officially endorse Weprin and Cuomo has yet to weigh in on the race." [Rachel Hartman / Yahoo]

NY-9: This may be the last primary in September. [erick Ortiz / amNewYork]

Crime: "[S]omebody tried to shoot me through the window," Assembyman Boyland reportedly said last night. [Larry Celona and Joe Mollica / NY Post]

Crime: “It doesn’t seem they were aiming at the vehicle,” said Inspector Royster. [Joseph Goldstein and Sarah Nir / New York Times]

City Budget: "Bloomberg inserted $22.5 million into city budget to pay for his high-profile initiative…items were specifics in budget documents that council members received the day they voted." [Michael Saul / WSJ]

Travel Expenses: State lawmakers spent $2.9 million this year. [Joseph Spector / Gannett]

Travel Expenses: Freshman Assemblyman Eric Stevenson tops the list, eight $26,468. [Tony Cassino / Bronx Chattter]

Gambling: Editors say drop casino push, and stop diverting current gambling profits "from lottery's video slot machines to subsidize horse-racing tracks." [Daily News]

Labor: Verizon protesters rally outside Southampton home they thought @vp was located in. [Lisa Du / Newsday]

Audits: NYPA spent money on "nonessential" things like "parties, ceremonies, gifts and memberships," said DiNapoli. [Ken Lovett / Daily News]

Audits: "NYPA defended many of the questionable costs as morale-boosting and necessary." [Casey Seiler / Times Union]

Toll Hikes: "Cuomo administration knew of the $4 plan before the PA announced it Friday, sources said. [Glenn Blain and Pete Donohue / Daily News]

Headline: "New sex-education curriculum must teach kids how unwanted pregnancies perpetuate poverty." [Daily News]

Medicaid: Espada's organization getting cut off from Medicaid, "effectively shutting down the 30 year old Bronx-based health clinic." [Fred Dicker / NY Post]

Internet: 32 parks to get Wifi. (Free access for three 10-minutes periods every month; 99 cents for daily access after that). [Patrick McGreehan / New York Times]

Buffalo: "But [Schumer's] latest small-bore issue didn't exactly resonate in Buffalo. A check with bars on Chippewa and with police on area college campuses found that the Chinese-made fake IDs do not pose a widespread problem in this area." [Lou Michel / Buffalo News]

Nassau: Mangano and Stack promise to work together. [Celeste Hadrick / Newsday]

Media: Dominic Carter's conviction overturned. [Richard Huff / Daily News]

Media: Newsweek must have gone out of their way to find a bad Bachman photo. [Jon Stewart]

Aretha Franklin plans to make it to Rep. Charlie Rangel's birthday gala on Aug. 10.

Franklin was scheduled to sing last year, but fell in her bathtub and had to cancel.  Dionne Warwick filled in instead.