Faced with a political race that didn't involve proving he hated Muslims more than the other candidate, Republican gubernatorial nominee Carl Paladino's candidacy has struggled to gain ground on Democrat Andrew Cuomo. An initial Quinnipiac poll showed Paladino within striking distance, but the Cuomo campaign has since hit Paladino aggressively, pushing up his negatives and expanding Cuomo's lead. The most recent poll from Quinnipiac shows Cuomo now leading Paladino 55-37. Check out those unfavorables:
New York State likely voters approve 72 - 22 percent of the job Cuomo is doing as Attorney General and by a 53 - 34 percent margin have a favorable opinion of him. Voters say 67 - 24 percent that Cuomo has the right personality to be governor.
By a 49 - 33 percent margin, likely voters have an unfavorable opinion of Paladino, with 15 percent who do not know enough about him to form an opinion. This is a big drop from September 22, when Paladino had a positive 36 - 31 percent favorability, with 31 percent who did not know enough about him.
As I wrote at the time, I thought Paladino's proximity to Cuomo was a reflection of New York residents being unfamiliar with Paladino. Paladino, who was considered the "Tea Party" candidate, basically beat establishment Republican Rick Lazio in part because of his more vociferous opposition to the proposed Ground Zero Islamic center. He's basically one of the few concrete examples. along with Delaware Republican Christine O'Donnell, of what Jonathan Chait calls the GOP's "tactical radicalism" actually backfiring.
Paladino's latest effort at gaining momentum is a three-minute ad buy in which he basically just talks to the screen, explains his reasons for threatening a New York Post reporter who was taking pictures of his 10-year-old daughter by a woman who isn't his wife, and accuses Cuomo of having an affair, saying, " Andrew's prowess is legendary." The entire thing is a work of The Office level awkwardness:
Is anyone else aware of a political ad in which a candidate references his opponent's talents in the sack? That's a sure-fire way to convince the New York electorate that sending around bestiality videos to his friends isn't indicative of Paladino's character as a person.
