LIANE HANSEN, Host:
We have a series of reports now on how three states are dealing with this budget crisis, starting with NPR's Robert Smith in New York.
ROBERT SMITH: Unidentified Man: Watch it, watch it, ladies and gentlemen. This is without a doubt the most dangerous stunt to ever be performed before the public.
SMITH: Unidentified Man: And now, Houdini, are you ready to defy death?
HARRY HOUDINI: I'm ready.
SMITH: In New York State, a long line of governors have used the financial equivalent of smoke and mirrors. They've raised fees, borrowed money, and deployed gimmicks to balance the state budget. But the new governor, Andrew Cuomo, has promised, no more tricks.
ANDREW CUOMO: We spend too much money in this state. It is just an unsustainable rate of spending.
SMITH: So how will he's going to cut what the state needs: $10 billion? So far, the magician is not giving up his secrets.
CUOMO: We're going to reveal the budget when we reveal the budget and that's going to be next week.
SMITH: Cuomo spent his first month as governor avoiding talking about specific cuts. Instead, he's been traveling New York State trying to get an audience on his side, trying to convince people that business as usual is the most dangerous stunt.
STEVE GREENBERG: And the voters are very much liking what they're seeing from Andrew Cuomo in his first month in office.
SMITH: Steve Greenberg from the Sienna College Research Institute. He says Cuomo has a 70 percent favorability rating, but that won't last for long. In the 1953 movie of Houdini's life with Tony Curtis - Houdini realizes the audience doesn't love you unless you live up to the hype.
(SOUNDBITE OF MOVIE, "HOUDINI")
TONY CURTIS: (as Houdini) Bess, people aren't going to stand in line to watch me pull rabbits out of a hat.
SMITH: For Houdini, the biggest danger was drowning in one of his water tricks. For Governor Cuomo:
GREENBERG: Unidentified Man: (as character) Ladies and gentlemen Houdini is now prepared to enter the pagoda torture cell.
(SOUNDBITE OF MOVIE, "HOUDINI")
SMITH: Robert Smith, NPR News, New York.