I also suspect he is sitting back and letting his 'independant' stooge Golisano try to soften Pataki up with his 'the upstate economy sucks' commericials.
I have seen a few Cuomo commericials with a similar theme up here in Rochester and Syracuse, however.
I suspect you're right about his thinking but the general election campaign is very compressed due to the late primary. I often drive by McCall's Syracuse HQ but I don't know if Cuomo even has one here. I've seen several cars with McCall bumper stickers but none with Cuomo's. Andy would have to make a big push quickly Upstate if he has any hope of eating into Pataki's big advantage here, which he will have to do in order to win.
As for Golisano, I think he will be a non-issue, just as he was in '94 and '98. Vanity campaigns tend to go nowhere.
A new poll today shows he shouldn't even worry about Pataki, because he'll lose to McCall.