In case there was any slim hope that he might hang on, the emerging details of just how extensive his shenanigans were ought to polish that off. Wait ’til the tabs track down “Kristen” and ask her to confirm or deny Heidi Fleiss’s theory of how he got busted.

Gov. Eliot Spitzer has been soliciting high-priced hookers for at least six years and possibly for more than a decade, sources tell The Post.

The revelation yesterday that the crusading governor was in fact “Client 9” named in a federal prostitution indictment did not shock insiders in the city’s sex industry.

Sources tell The Post that Spitzer had frequented high-priced hookers as far back as 2002 and possibly earlier.

Spitzer, who as attorney general lead investigations into prostitution, was among an elite group of powerbrokers and high-powered attorneys that regularly paid for dates at top escort agencies, sources said.

The same article says he and “Kristen” had rendezvoused before, although Newsday claims he’d “visited” with other women at the Emperors Club seven or eight times, all over the country, dating back “several years.” Four digit fees in each and every case.

Exit question: Nobody knew? Surely some of his aides would have had an inkling and whispered something to the party leaders in NYS vetting the guy for his gubernatorial run. Although … if they knew, people on Wall Street would have heard and would have used it to destroy him after his office started cracking down. It’s either a miracle of discretion that word never leaked or the Post’s story is crap. Which is it? And if it’s the latter, how come Newsday independently is also reporting assignations dating back to before he was governor?

Update: What does this do to the left’s theory of a politically motivated prosecution? Only now are the Bushies digging up the dirt to bring down a guy whose approval rating was in the toilet anyway? Or did they supposedly have it in hand all this time and were just waiting for the right time, and this is the right time for whatever reason? Whatever.

For the record, Paterson says there are no transition plans ongoing.

Update: Another depth charge on the nutroots theory of a targeted prosecution: Not only was it Spitz’s bank who alerted the feds of his suspicious transfers, the investigation was underaken because they thought someone might have been blackmailing him.

No shortage of material if someone had, needless to say.

Spitzer had the money broken down into several smaller amounts of under $10,000 each, apparently to avoid getting around federal regulations requiring the reporting of the transfer of $10,000 or more, the sources said. The regulations are aimed at helping spot possible illegal business activities, such as frauds or drug deals.

Apparently, having second thoughts about even sending the total amount in this manner because it still might reveal what he was doing, Spitzer then asked that the bank to take his name off the wires, the sources said.

Bank officials declined, however, saying that it was improper to do so and in any event, it was too late to do so, because the money already had been sent, the sources said.

The bank then, as is required by law, filed an SAR, or Suspicious Activity Report, with the Internal Revenue Service, reporting the transfer of the money that exceeded $10,000, but had been broken down into smaller amounts, the sources said…

[A]n analyst at the regional IRS office in Hauppauge noted Spitzer’s particular SAR and singled it out for attention to criminal investigators, the sources said.

The assumption, the sources said, was that Spitzer was somehow being victimized either by a blackmailer or an impostor. The agents also speculated that perhaps the governor was involved in some sort of political corruption, the sources reiterated.

The former AG of New York, famous for his prosecutions of corporate crime, didn’t think to avoid an SAR?