Text size:

Spitzer, Faso set debate

BY ERROL A. COCKFIELD JR. | Newsday Albany Bureau Chief

September 20, 2006

New York state Attorney General Eliot Spitzer is seen after a fundraiser at the Glen Oaks Country Club in Old Westbury. (Newsday / Karen Wiles Stabile / February 15, 2006)

Gubernatorial front-runner Eliot Spitzer is expected to face John Faso, his Republican opponent, in their first televised debate Tuesday night at Cornell University's campus in upstate Ithaca.

After much of the governor's race has been focused on the Democratic intraparty battle between Spitzer and Nassau County Executive Thomas Suozzi, the debate could offer Faso, a former Assembly minority leader who is trailing badly in the polls, an opportunity to gain ground against the attorney general.

The debate will air at 7 p.m. on News 12 Long Island, NY1 News in New York City, and on cable and radio stations throughout the state. Faso has raised barely one-tenth of Spitzer's $37 million. The attorney general has used that war chest to maintain a consistent presence in television advertising statewide. With little money for media, Faso needs the platform of televised debates to get his message across.

A poll released this week by the Sienna Research Institute showed Spitzer leading Faso 72 percent to 21 percent. The attorney general also was leading by 8 percentage points among Republicans.

Faso has called for Spitzer to debate as much as possible, but the attorney general has agreed to only two debates. The second will be held Oct. 12 in Buffalo.

Both men appeared on a town hall-style program along with Suozzi late last month, but they were in different locations and each took questions for 30-minute segments.