A reader forwarded a link to Web site that featured this “status Cuomo” ad in which Rick Lazio is trying to get people to donate $29 to his campaign.

That’s an interesting gimmick, breaking down to a dollar for every year (by Lazio’s calculation) the AG has been in Albany.

lazioad

For the record, Cuomo has only been a statewide elected official since wining the 2006 race to succeed Eliot Spitzer as attorney general. Prior to that, he ran a failed campaign for governor in 2002, worked in the private sector at Island Capital (developer/donor Andrew Farakas’ firm), served as President Clinton’s HUD secretary and founded a housing non-profit in NYC.

The last time Cuomo was actually in Albany was during his father’s tenure as governor, which lasted from 1982 through the end of 1994.

Nevertheless this whole “Cuomo is part of the Albany establishment” line is central to Lazio’s effort to derail the AG’s effort to run against the dysfunction that has beset the Capitol while his own party has been in power.

The on-line ads aren’t expensive, (a significant fact, since Lazio had just over $600,000 on hand to Cuomo’s $16.1 million as of Jan. 15).

Through the magic of cookies, they pop up on a whole host of sites for anyone who has visited Lazio’s campaign Website – even on Cuomo’s own Facebook page, I’m told.

Lazio’s new media guru is Zach Moffatt of Targeted Victory. Moffatt who worked on former Massachusetts Gov. Bill Weld’s unsuccessful bid to become governor of New York in 2006. He has also worked for Mayor Bloomberg and on the National GOP convention in 2004.

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