GOP gubernatorial candidate Rick Lazio released a new Web ad this morning that seeks to undercut AG Andrew Cuomo’s pledge to clean up the Capitol by portraying him as thisclose to Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver.

The ad splices footage from Cuomo’s gubernatorial announcement speech during which he said things like “we’re tired of seeing New Yorkers victimized by government corruption in Albany” with a clip of him leaning over to kiss Silver on the cheek at an undated state Democratic Party event. (Also on the dais is former state Democratic Party Chairwoman June O’Neill).

The moment is reminiscent of the infamous McCain-Bush “hug” (from the president’s 2004 re-election campaign) that the Democrats employed ad nauseum during the 2008 campaign.

The video also features the interview Assemblyman/Brooklyn Democratic Chairman Vito Lopez gave to NY1 during the Democratic convention in Rye during which he went far off the Cuomo script by saying the AG is a “product of Albany.”

The tagline: “Andrew Cuomo: 29 years as a product of Albany, $29 to break the cycle.” This is a fundraising tool Lazio has been employing of late in campaign Web ads.

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