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Carl Paladino
Sympathy For Paladino
Nov 4th - 4:21 pm
Democratic Assemblyman Sam Hoyt today had some rare kind words for his fellow Buffalonian, Carl Paladino, following the businessman’s big loss to Governor-elect Andrew Cuomo in Tuesday’s election.
Hoyt, who came within just over 200 votes of losing his own seat in the Sept. 14 primary, is a longtime Cuomo ally. He and Paladino have a love-hate relationship, according to the Buffalo News. As Hoyt put it, the two have been both “the best of friends and the worst of enemies.”
“I’ve known Carl forever,” Hoyt told me during an interview this afternoon here at the Somos conference in Puerto Rico. “…He’s supported me. He’s aggressively supported my opponents.”
“…I’m saddened by, you know, how Carl has been portrayed and the difficult moments he’s had being in the spotlight, the national spotlight, the New York City spotlight that he wasn’t ever familiar with.”
“And, you know, something that he might say to a friend, you know, jokingly, is then statewide fodder …and I feel bad for the guy. I don’t know that he knew what he was getting into, and I think he’d tell you that today as well.”
Lazio: Wilson Would Have Won With Me
Nov 3rd - 6:06 pm
Now that he is formally no longer a judicial candidate after taking what he laughingly described as a “brutal” beating in the Bronx state Supreme Court race, Rick Lazio is “freed” – as he put it – to tell us how he really feels.
And he’s not holding back.
“(Carl) Paladino performed, it seems to me in terms of numbers, about as well as Jay Townsend,” the ex-gubernatorial candidate said, comparing his erstwhile primary foe to the little-known Republican trounced by Sen. Chuck Schumer yesterday.
“To win statewide, you have to be credible at showing balance,” Lazio continued. “You can’t veer off into the far corners of either ideological extreme and expect to do well. It pretty much played out the way I expected in the governor’s race. It has to be pretty painful for Harry Wilson, having gotten as close as he did, to come up so short.”
I asked Lazio if he thought Wilson would have won had he been the GOP/Conservative standard-bearer instead of Paladino, and he replied:
“I think he would have won, yes. I think I would have provided a lift in the suburban areas; I would have run more competitively statewide, too.”
Paladino Calls Off His Press Conference
Nov 3rd - 12:26 pm
….The vanquished baseball bat-wielding mad-as-hell man from Buffalo was supposed to have a press conference this afternoon at the Ellicott Square Building – the same place where he launched his long-shot run for governor ‘lo those many moons ago.
But he has apparently thought better of it, calling off the event with less than an hour to go.
Even though he pledged New York – and Democratic Governor-elect Andrew Cuomo – hasn’t heard the last from Carl Paladino, we won’t be hearing from him today.
No word yet from Cuomo, but given his habit of providing reporters with just a few hours notice prior to his public appearances, it’s entirely possible we’ll be seeing him at some point later today.
Carl: Take The Bat, Andrew (UPDATED)
Nov 3rd - 1:47 am
Carl Paladino ended his first run for office the same way he came in: unapologetic and unpredictable.
In his concession speech this evening, Paladino thanked his supporters, including members of the Tea Party movement, who inspired him to take on the Republican establishment and make it to the finish line in the general election.
“Last year with the unexpected and remarkable ascent of the tea party we saw the passion of regular people spill into the streets,” said Paladino.
“I shared their feelings; we’re frustrated with big government, we’re tired of our politicians spending like drunken sailors and giving us weak elected representatives, we’re tired of backroom deals and contempt for the people of the people…and yes i joined the tea party movement for the same reason I joined the united states army because I love my country and I’m passionate about new york state and saving it.”
Paladino’s entire speech is after the jump:
More >
Cuomo: Mandate Tonight Is To Clean Up Albany (UPDATED)
Nov 2nd - 11:40 pm
Andrew Cuomo took the stage around 11 p.m. promising to clean up Albany, saying the people of New York want the government changed in Albany.
“That’s what they’re going to get. The mandate tonight is to clean up Albany and to have elected officials who represent the people of this state and not the special interests and not the lobbyists,” said Cuomo. “The people want a government of competence and performance and integrity and can balance a budget just the way that they balance their budget at home.”
Cuomo had a lot of people to thank, including campaign staffers, volunteers, and the labor movement. However, he didn’t have much to say about his opponent, Carl Paladino.
UPDATE:
From NYPIRG’s Blair Horner
While many precincts have yet to report numbers, the results currently available have Cuomo on pace to finish this election with the 4th largest margin of victory in a NYS gubernatorial race since 1800. He will almost certainly finish in the top ten.
The other nine candidates on this list all won in years in which their parties had significant national gains – Cuomo will thus be the only gubernatorial candidate to finish in the top ten and defy national trends.
Caputo: Carl Wasn’t Polished, But He Told The Truth
Nov 2nd - 8:21 pm
Paladino campaign manager Michael Caputo remains confident in his candidate’s chances tonight. Less than an hour before polls close in New York, Caputo pointed out to NY1′s Michael Scotto that polls showed Paladino trailing Rick Lazio in the GOP primary two months ago, then cruised to a sizable victory.
Scotto asked Caputo if Paladino’s “mad-as-hell” style hindered him from connecting with the general election audience.
“Mike, you got to get out of New York City more often,” said Caputo.
“People talk like that outside of New York City. People use kitchen-table language and when Carl Paladino spoke, everybody knew one thing: That he was telling the truth. He wasn’t polished about it, he wasn’t glib, he wasn’t in some cases even good at campaigning, but he listened to them because he brought a message of hope.”
An Angry Man And His Bats
Nov 2nd - 5:41 pm
Here’s Carl Paladino’s Election Night press pass. It’s a collector’s item! Someone save me one!
Paladino: Campaigning Is ‘Treacherous’
Nov 2nd - 4:33 pm
After casting his ballot in Buffalo today (presumably for himself and his running mate, Chautauqua County Executive Greg Edwards), gubernatorial hopeful Carl Paladino said he found his first political campaign “treacherous, very confusing in many respects,” but insisted he had no regrets.
“I don’t think I’m going to miss it,” Paladino said. “…I’m not a great campaigner. I’m just me. I’m just human. I’m just a builder from Buffalo.”
Paladino continued to insist the polls are wrong and he will surprise everyone by defeating Democratic frontrunner Andrew Cuomo when the polls close tonight. Asked what he planned to do today, he said: “Take a nap.”
Lazio: ‘No Regrets’
Nov 2nd - 7:54 am
Former gubernatorial hopeful Rick Lazio joined me on CapTon last night and insisted he has “no regrets” about dropping out of the race to cede the Conservative line to Carl Paladino, although he refused to say whether he will be voting today for the Buffalo businessman who trounced him in the GOP primary on Sept. 14.
In his first extended TV appearance since he quit the race in September, Lazio said his judicial candidacy (for state Supreme Court in the Bronx), which he used to get off Row D, prevents him from making any endorsements or overt political statements. He did, however, lament the tone of the governor’s race and its lack of focus on issues.
“It would have been a different race for sure,” Lazio said when I asked him if he wished he had stuck it out in the gubernatorial contest.
“I don’t think it would have been likely that it would have effected the ultimate outcome in terms of who the victor might be, and my thinking of it at the time was I did not want to create unintended consequences where people were voting for me and one candidate or the other was a net beneficiary.”
“…I thought the right and honorable thing for me to do honestly was to step aside even though I had won that Conservative Party line, so I have no regrets at all about that.”
Lazio did take a swipe at state GOP Chairman Ed Cox for candidate shopping and failing to unite early behind contenders who had no significant primary opposition (actually, only comptroller hopeful Harry Wilson falls into that category).
The former congressman said he thinks criticism of Cox is “fair,” although I’ve heard some say he’ll be vindicated in backing Suffolk County Executive Steve Levy if Paladino loses big today. (Heck, even Eliot Spitzer thinks Levy would have beat Andrew Cuomo).
Paladino Pitches ‘Taxpayers’ Line
Nov 2nd - 7:34 am
GOP gubernatorial hopeful Carl Paladino’s last-minute campaign video pushes his candidacy on the independent Taxpayers Party line, and deems the Democrats a “threat” to the solvency of New York and accuses them of “playing games” with public funds.
This is a new approach for the Buffalo businessman, who hasn’t been talking about that new third party line all that much since he won the Sept. 14 primary. At one point, it was unclear whether he would even run on the line, which he created through a petition drive (separate from the one he used to get onto the GOP primary ballot).
Interestingly, the video targets Democratic gubernatorial frontrunner Andrew Cuomo, Gov. David Paterson, Senate Majority Leader Pedro Espada Jr. and Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, but says not a word about Senate Democratic Conference Leader John Sampson.
Paladino did an early-morning interview with Curtis Sliwa on AM 970 The Apple. He continued to insist the polls are wrong – particularly the Siena poll, which he said “we have to get rid of.”
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