Pro-abortion rights group NARAL endorses Cuomo

A relaxed and confident Attorney General Andrew Cuomo accepted the endorsement of NARAL's state chapter in Manhattan on Wednesday afternoon, saying his opponent Carl Paladino is "far out of step with the majority of New Yorkers" in his opposition to abortion rights.

"There will be no dictating to women in the state of New York," Cuomo said at the "Women for Cuomo" event - held to coincide with the abortion rights group's release of a video depicting tearful women posing for booking photos with the warning that "if Carl Paladino had his way, abortion would be a crime, and women would be treated like criminals."

It was a good day for the Cuomo campaign, one in which his own anti-corruption probe into the state comptroller's office was in the headlines and his opponent was playing defense, with several newspaper stories raising concerns about his background and advisers.

Only last week, Cuomo had sputtered to reporters that "I'm angry . . . we're all angry . . . How could you not be angry?" after a Quinnipiac University poll showing Paladino's "Mad as Hell" campaign had surged to within 6 points of him. But by Wednesday, Cuomo had worked out his response.

"Anger only takes you so far," he said this time, contending that what voters really want is the kind of results he's better positioned to deliver. "They don't really want someone to yell" about the state's predicament, Cuomo said, but "to do something about it."

NARAL president Kelli Conlin said the GOP this year has fielded the "most . . . extreme Republican ticket we've faced in our lifetimes," noting that Paladino opposes abortion even in cases of rape or incest, as does Senate hopeful Joseph DioGuardi, and that attorney general candidate Dan Donovan had long ties to the Right to Life party.

Paladino's campaign called NARAL's ad "just more ridiculous exaggeration from another Cuomo surrogate group sent to do the bidding of the Albany ruling class," adding Paladino's views are no different from those of millions of Roman Catholics and he has no plans to seek changes to existing law.