Plenty of would-be successors to Manhattan DA (AP)

[Yahoo! News]

AP - Manhattan District Attorney Robert Morgenthau's announcement that he would retire after a five-decade career that brought him national recognition set in motion a flurry of jostling among leading contenders for one of the most coveted prosecutor jobs in the nation.

Among the would-be successors is Leslie Crocker Snyder, a popular former state judge who lost to Morgenthau in a 2005 election after trying without success to turn his age and lengthy tenure into campaign issues. She reacted to Morgenthau's announcement on Friday to retire by the end of the year and not seek a new term by asserting her intention to seek the job.

"I wish Mr. Morgenthau well. He has been a great institution for New York, and I hope he is happy in the next phase of his life," Crocker Snyder said. "I've been actively running, and I will be running."

Two other attorneys with Morgenthau connections, former assistant Cyrus R. Vance Jr. and current deputy Daniel Castleman, are also likely to be among the top contenders in the November election.

Morgenthau refused to discuss at a news conference on Friday who might be his successor or say what cases were among his proudest accomplishments. Morgenthau will turn 90 in July and noted that he will have worked 25 years beyond normal retirement age.

"Some people are slow to learn. It took me a long time to realize I was getting older," he said at the news conference with his wife at his side, adding that he is in good health.

His wife often repeated questions from reporters because he is hard of hearing. But he was upbeat throughout the news conference as he pondered life as a retiree: "I don't know what I'll do. I got an e-mail from my older brother who said this is a bad time to be looking for a job."

Morgenthau has served as a prosecutor in New York City since the Kennedy administration, when he was appointed as Manhattan's top federal prosecutor by his good friend, President John F. Kennedy. He became the borough's top state prosecutor in 1974 and has been there ever since.

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