Posted on 03/11/2006 11:07:00 PM PST by neverdem
For years, they were close political allies and friends. They are nearly the same age and have similar ideas about public policy. They even joined forces four years ago as running mates for governor and lieutenant governor.
But nowadays, Andrew M. Cuomo, 49, and Charlie King, 46, are rivals for the Democratic nomination for attorney general. And between the 2002 race and this year's contest, their friendship has withered to a point where they are barely on speaking terms.
Indeed, the rift between Mr. Cuomo, housing secretary in the Clinton administration and onetime...
--snip--
In the last year, Mr. King has criticized his former running mate on a number of issues, including not returning to donors money left over from Mr. Cuomo's aborted 2002 campaign, and for spending the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday speaking to a paying audience in Las Vegas instead of participating in memorial events in New York.
For his part, Mr. Cuomo has scored a number of victories at the King campaign's expense. One notable example was persuading the Brooklyn father-and-son politicians United States Representative Edolphus Towns and Assemblyman Darryl C. Towns to rescind their endorsements of Mr. King and support the Cuomo campaign.
Still, it has been far from a free-for-all. Both men are said to be reluctant to make their criticisms too harsh. "If we keep going at each other," one upstate politician, who did not want to offend either side, quoted Mr. Cuomo as telling him, "we both look bad to the voters."
Many Democrats agree. "Unfortunately, friendships among people who run against each other is a recurring theme in New York politics," said Assemblyman Ruben Diaz Jr., a Bronx Democrat. "But in this case, if both of them search their souls and consider their long friendship, it doesn't have to get nasty."
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
SO9
Andrew Cuomo: The most Ape-like human being I have ever seen in my life.
Stamping out mail cigs [Schumer] barf alert
FReepmail me if you want on or off my New York ping list.
What about the dirt?
Is the little cuomo over LaAffair of the exlittle woman?
Man it would be fun heckleing him at public appearences.
Isn't the odious Mark (never been elected to a real office) Green running for AG, too?
No, NYC Public Advocate isn't a real office.
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