The chairs are set and the nametags taped. For now, a stand-in for the swearing-in. Monday at 1 p.m., David Paterson himself will take over as New York's 55th governor.

It's capping of an extraordinary seven days. When the lieutenant governor is administered the oath by Chief Judge Judith Kaye, it will be almost a week to the moment that his predecessor shook the political world.

"I apologize to the public, whom I promised better," Eliot Spitzer said on Monday.

Spitzer had dalliances with prostitutes and is reported under investigation for financial tricks to pay for them.

On Saturday, he was taken to his secluded country home, about an hour from Albany.

Paterson, meanwhile, sat with Spitzer's former partners, waiting to take over as number one.

In both style and location, Paterson's swearing in will be very different than his predecessor's inauguration, held just 14 and a half months ago."

Spitzer began with a shot at his predecessor.

"Like Rip Van Winkle, the legendary character created by the New York author Washington Irving, New York has slept through much of the past decade while the rest of the world has passed us by," Spitzer quipped back in January of 2007.

It kicked off a rocky relationship with his partners that Paterson hopes to reverse.

Sources say the affable son of Harlem will tell lawmakers to see his swearing in as theirs too.

A new day one, with joint responsibilities in a turbulent time.