ALBANY – Gov. Paterson bemoaned what he called a “racialized” and “hypersexualized” depiction of himself and flat-out denied any philandering whatsoever since reconciling with his wife today on “Imus in the Morning.”

Host Don Imus asked Paterson point blank to answer the speculation that has swirled around the governor in the weeks since The New York Times began crafting a still unpublished profile on him.

“Have you in any configuration had any kind of romantic and sexual relationship with anybody other than your wife?” Imus asked on the FOX Business program.

“No,” Paterson said. The governor went on to suggest that he was being forced to answer the rumors only because he and his wife had fessed up to infidelity in the past.

“I’ve been depicted in a way that’s been racialized, sexualized – hypersexualized – and dissolute,” Paterson said. “It is hard to diminish this kind of uproar once it gets started.”

He also continued to complain about his treatment by The Times, which he has called on to review its own reporting.

“I felt they had an obligation, not only out of human decency, but journalist ethics to let me know whatever this bombshell was so I could answer it on the record,” Paterson said, calling the ordeal a “dismal almost Kafkaesque situation, where you can’t even respond.”

Paterson again suggested that the rumors were spread as part of an orchestrated campaign, but declined to name names.

“Someone is going far out of their way to see that I’m not a candidate this year,” he said.

But he boasted that he was in pretty good shape despite wrestling with ballooning budget deficits since coming into office.

“I’m black, I’m blind and I’m still alive,” Paterson said, drawing laughs from the host. “Now, how much better do they want me to be?”