Gov. Paterson seems to be warming up to potential Senate candidate Harold Ford Jr. Despite openly backing incumbent Kirsten Gillibrand, whom he appointed to the job to succeed Hillary Clinton, and despite telling reporters last month that Ford “might look for another state to run a primary,” Paterson was spotted dining with him at Butter on Tuesday night. “They were joking around with the hostess and telling her not to seat them too close together in the booth,” says a spy. Still, Ford and Paterson made no effort to conceal their meeting, sitting in the main dining room and chowing on salmon and pasta. We hear Ford, who expects to decide on whether to run by the end of the month, picked up the tab.