NEW YORK -- David Paterson said he is ready to assume leadership after Gov. Eliot Spitzer's stunning resignation amid a call-girl scandal.

New York Times Coverage | Dupre's MySpace page

Paterson told reporters at the Capitol this afternoon, "I am prepared."

He will become New York's first black governor and the first legally blind chief executive in the nation.

Legislative leaders in both parties said they look forward to working with Paterson, a former state Senate Democratic leader who spent more than 20 years in the legislature before becoming Spitzer's lieutenant governor in 2006.

Spitzer resigned Wednesday after being exposed as a client in a high-priced prostitution ring.

Paterson is known for a bipartisan approach, as opposed to Spitzer's abrasive style.

Some of Spitzer's top aides have turned in their own letters of resignation for Paterson to consider.

Others are expected to stay in their jobs.

Spitzer Call Girl Gains Support

People have posted messages of support on the MySpace page of the 22-year-old aspiring musician identified as the call girl at the center of the scandal.

The New York Times reported that the real name of the prostitute -- identified as "Kristen" in court papers alleging that Spitzer paid more than $4,000 for her services -- is Ashley Alexandra Dupre.

She briefly spoke to the Times about the Spitzer scandal. Law enforcement officials identified the governor as a "Client 9" who had a Feb. 13 tryst with "Kristen" and paid her $4,300, according to court papers.

"I just don't want to be thought of as a monster," Dupre told the Times. "This has been a very difficult time. It's complicated."

Dupre's MySpace page provides a window into her life as she went from a broken home in New Jersey to a music career in the city.

"I have been alone. I have abused drugs. I have been broke and homeless. But, I survived, on my own. I am here, in NY because of my music," she wrote.

She wrote that she was 17 when she left her "broken home."

Her Web site boasts a recording of a song, "What We Want." "I know what you want, you got what I want. I know what you need. Can you handle me?" she sings. By Thursday morning, the song had received more than 440,000 plays.

The Times also spoke with Dupre's mother, Carolyn Capalbo, 46, who said that she was "shell-shocked" when her daughter told her last week that she had been working as an escort. She said she was not sure that Dupre realized who Spitzer was when he was her client.

"She is a very bright girl who can handle someone like the governor," Capalbo said. "But she also is a 22-year-old, not a 32-year-old or a 42-year-old, and she obviously got involved in something much larger than her."