Cuomo: Paladino's not the only one who's angry

Andrew Cuomo wants you to know he's just as mad as anyone.

"I'm angry," the famously circumspect attorney general said Wednesday outside City Hall as he accepted Mayor Michael Bloomberg's endorsement for governor. "The mayor's angry. We're all angry. . . . How could you not be angry?"

Meanwhile, the election's original angry man, Republican developer Carl Paladino - whose stump speech declares "I'm mad as hell" - sounds a bit less ticked off lately. This week, he praised New York City after disparaging Manhattan as elitist, too liberal and crowded; apologized for calling former Gov. George Pataki a "degenerate idiot"; and promised to name a tax policy team.

The shifts are subtle but real, political observers said, as the general election heats up. A new poll Wednesday showed Cuomo with just a 6-point lead in a matchup with Paladino.

"What Paladino is doing is trying to make himself look like a governor as he tries to overcome a Cuomo advantage and probably ease up a little bit on the rhetoric," said Maurice Carroll, director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute. Noting his apology to Pataki, a party elder, Carroll said: "He's no dope."

Cuomo wants to remind voters that, as attorney general, he has battled forces that have angered the public - Wall Street, Albany politicians and health insurance companies, said Jay Jacobs, New York State Democratic Party chairman.

"Andrew was angry about this stuff before anybody ever heard of Carl Paladino," Jacobs said. And Cuomo "has actually done something about it."

Cuomo addressed voter anger in response to a question. He said he wanted to "focus it to actually do something to correct the problem." Later, he joked he was "angry and positive." Earlier, Bloomberg had said: "Anger is not a governing strategy."

Some observers noted Cuomo seemed uncomfortable Wednesday talking about voter anger, which state GOP spokesman Alex Carey called "hypocrisy." Cuomo also mistakenly said he had voted for Bloomberg in the past (he had not, a spokesman said later) and was forced to deflect reports of a special campaign strategy session held on Paladino's attacks.

"Andrew took a shot and he's not taking it very well," said Douglas Muzzio, a politics professor at Baruch College.

At the same time, Paladino is beginning work on appealing to the downstate voters he needs to win, said his campaign manager, Michael Caputo. He plans to spend 60 to 70 percent of his time in the metropolitan area for the next six weeks, Caputo said.

After releasing two posters - one depicting a filthy Cuomo in the shower, and the other captioned "NO COJONES" - Paladino seemed more conciliatory while downstate this week, experts said. But Caputo predicted more of the same, releasing a statement calling Bloomberg "his royal highness."

"Carl will not change his tone," Caputo said. "Carl can't change his tone."

With Dan Janison