The Times makes it sound uneventful, but the Post catches a few "thinly-veiled swipes" at his hand-picked successor, Cyrus Vance, Jr.

Mr. Vance recently demoted two of Mr. Morgenthau's top assistants, and replaced them with former aides to Eliot Spitzer and Michael Bloomberg, the outgoing D.A.'s longtime foe.

During the campaign, Mr. Morgenthau told the Times that his successor “should make changes,” but added, “I hope he’ll keep what’s good in the office.” Yesterday, Mr. Morgenthau said Nancy Ryan, one of the demoted staffers, had been ""extraordinarily valuable to this office," and called her perhaps "the best investigator in the United States."

"Hire people based on merit, not political connections," Mr. Morgenthau said.

But, as the Times would have you know, Mr. Vance does things his own way. In August, a campaign profile was headlined "In Campaign for Top Prosecutor, Candidate Finds Own Path," and another profile headline last week reminded readers "Cyrus R. Vance Jr. Found His Own Way to Manhattan District Attorney’s Office."