As a board member of the New York State Publisher's Association, I was scheduled to meet with lawmakers, in Albany, on Monday, and Gov. Eliot Spitzer. He was to be the first meeting of the day. A staffer phoned the first thing in the morning to tell our group that the governor was in New York City and would regrettably have to cancel.

This was the second time in two years that the governor had canceled on our group and there were a lot of comments going around the table. No one could foresee the real reason that would keep the governor from our meeting.

The day progressed with scheduled meetings with Senate Minority Leader Malcom Smith, Senator Majority Leader Joseph Bruno and Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver. It is now obvious that none of these men knew what the governor was about to reveal or you would have seen Bruno dancing on our conference table.

At 2 p.m. one of our members got a phone call saying to go read the New York Times Web site. It had reported the revelation that Gov. Spitzer was being implicated as a customer in a prostitution ring. We all gathered around a PDA reading the story that will change our state for years to come.

The scene could only be described as surreal. Standing in the middle of the Capitol, a beautiful building filled with history, you could feel the whirl of the news go up and down halls, echoing in the stairwell. I walked the halls and listened as person after person filled in a co-worker or visitor.

I watched state Senators, members of the Assembly, all speechless - a sight I may never see again in my lifetime. The range of emotion throughout the Capitol was wide. There were looks of disgust, of shock, and yes, a lot of laughter. I walked outside the building and two gentlemen, in their car, called me over and asked if I had heard the news. I told these gentlemen I had and that at least now I knew why my meeting had been canceled. The gentlemen informed me that they had a lunch scheduled with Spitzer on Tuesday - I told them I thought it was safe to make other plans.

That summed up the entire day, strangers sharing the story because they couldn't believe it themselves. It seemed that if you told someone else you might finally be able to believe it yourself.

Emanuel is The Citizen's publisher.