With the Democratic gubernatorial primary two weeks away, challenger Zephyr Teachout says she has momentum and a major media victory.
Perhaps reflecting a tight campaign budget against an incumbent Governor Cuomo, Teachout is on a bus tour, a "whistleblowers tour," looking at corruption in Albany.
On Wednesday night, she made a late stop at the Buffalo Teachers Federation, a very early supporter. She was buoyed by the news The New York Times had refused to endorse Cuomo and is endorsing her running mate Timothy Wu. While the powerful editorial pages wouldn't endorse her in return, it did say nice things about her campaign and her platform.
Teachout criticized Cuomo for not campaigning as he approaches what many believe with be reelection in November.
"He's had many surrogates speak for him. But, this is the governor of New York State. He should come forward and speak for himself, campaign for himself, answer the hard questions for himself," Teachout said.
"Because, in the final analysis the state of the economy, the state of the government, the state of the schools, the buck stops with Governor Andrew Cuomo."
A Fordham Law School teacher, Teachout says she supported the governor four years ago because he promised to clean up Albany. Now, she says he's part of the problem, protecting campaign supporters and campaign contributors and neglecting traditional Democratic issues like schools and jobs.
