Manhattan Democratic leader Assemblyman Keith Wright joined fellow party leader Jay Jacobs in expressing sadness and support for Gov. David Paterson in his decision to end his campaign for a full term.

“He gave it his best shot,” Wright said in an interview after the governor’s press conference, noting that Paterson had been thrust into a chaotic climate created at the Capitol when his predecessor Eliot Spitzer abruptly resigned amid a prostitution scandal.

“It was like being called up to the All-Star Game when you hadn’t even gotten to go to spring training,” he said.

He ticked off a litany of agenda items that Paterson had pushed during his tenure, among them reforming the Rockefeller Drug Laws and pushing for gay marriage to become legal in the state.

He added that Paterson had preserved his “legacy,” and had created a platform “for his successor to build on.”