Democratic gubernatorial candidate Thomas Suozzi collected one of his first newspaper endorsements yesterday, winning the backing of the New York Amsterdam News, a black-owned weekly newspaper in Harlem.

In a front-page endorsement, the publisher emeritus of the tabloid, Wilbert Tatum, called Mr. Suozzi the “perfect candidate for Governor of New York State,” writing that the Nassau County executive has “the competence, experience, and perseverance that one needs to fill the spot in government.”

Turning to Mr. Suozzi’s primary challenger, Attorney General Eliot Spitzer, Mr. Tatum credited Mr. Spitzer for bringing “many white collar criminals to justice,” but suggested that he was overly driven by political ambition. “There is not much more to be said of him except his ambition is real,” he wrote.”Mr. Spitzer will sacrifice anything for his ambition.”

The endorsement was a rare glimmer of good news for a campaign that is heading into the September 12 primary scrambling to avoid a landslide defeat at the hands of Mr. Spitzer, who is leading in opinion polls by more than 60 percentage points.

Suozzi campaign officials said they did not know off-hand of another newspaper that has endorsed the candidate. The New York Times editorial board endorsed Mr. Spitzer this week, and many major newspapers in the state are expected to publish their endorsements in the race in the coming week.

The Amsterdam News also endorsed Senator Clinton, who is running for re-election, and a Democratic attorney general candidate, Charles King.

Coming from a century-old newspaper that still holds influence among the city’s black community, the endorsement points to what may be one of the few chinks in Mr. Spitzer’s armor: his relationship with the black community in a Manhattan neighborhood that is often distrustful of political establishment figures in Albany and City Hall.

During his two-terms as attorney general, Mr. Spitzer has occasionally found himself at odds with Harlem’s black leaders and institutions.

The attorney general surprised many in the community earlier this year when he tapped state Senator David Paterson, who represents Harlem, to be his lieutenant-governor running mate, passing over Leecia Eve, a former adviser to Senator Clinton who had already been endorsed by Harlem’s elder statesmen, Rep. Charles Rangel, a former Manhattan borough president, Percy Sutton, Mayor Dinkins, and even Mr. Paterson’s father, Basil Paterson.

The decision had some Harlem politicians fuming that Mr. Spitzer had gone over their heads and slighted their leadership. The day Mr. Paterson’s campaign was announced, Mr. Rangel told the Times with sarcasm, “When Eliot Spitzer, the world’s smartest man, is telling me that he has picked his candidate and knows that his candidate can win, who am I to question the world’s smartest man?”

Reporting on Mr. Paterson’s entrance into the race, an Amsterdam News reporter asked Mr. Spitzer “if he had played puppet master from Albany,” according to an article published by the newspaper. Mr. Spitzer denied that he had.

Any anger quickly subsided, however. Ms. Eve dropped out of the lieutenant-governor’s race and threw her support behind Mr. Paterson, who also won the backing of the Harlem Clubhouse leaders.

Mr. Spitzer’s other major involvement in the community has been overhauling Harlem institutions that his office has investigated.

The attorney general in 2002 replaced the board of the Hale House, a Harlem children’s charity, after its founders pleaded guilty to stealing more than $1 million from the charity.

Mr. Spitzer also presided over the state’s 1999 settlement with the Apollo Theater, which was sued by Mr. Spitzer’s predecessor, Dennis Vacco, for mismanaging its finances. The settlement resulted in Mr. Rangel stepping down as chairman.