ALBANY - Let the battle begin.
Gov. Andrew Cuomo and Marc Molinaro, his Republican opponent, hit the campaign trail Tuesday as the focus shifted to November's general election, when Molinaro will look to deny Cuomo a third term.
Their competing events Tuesday showcased the differences in their campaign strategy.
Cuomo, who polls have shown as a clear front-runner in a heavily blue state, repeatedly used Republican President Donald Trump as a foil during a speech at a Democratic rally in Manhattan, painting the president's conservative policies as a direct attack on New York and the November elections as the antidote.
He never mentioned Molinaro directly.
"It was a scam, it was a fraud, it was a lie," Cuomo, who easily dispatched Democratic primary foe Cynthia Nixon last week, said of Trump's promise to be a champion for the middle class.
"(Trump is) the Bernie Madoff of politics and ultimately the Ponzi scheme failed."
Molinaro criticizes
Molinaro, meanwhile, played the traditional underdog role, directly challenging Cuomo's record on public corruption as he called for the governor to relieve Larry Schwartz, a former top Cuomo aide now in the private sector, of his duties as a member of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority board.
Schwartz, a former Westchester County deputy county executive, was at the center of a controversy earlier this month surrounding a Democratic Party mailer suggesting Nixon was anti-Semitic.
A Cuomo campaign volunteer and ally, Schwartz signed off on part of the mailer before it went out, but Cuomo's campaign claimed he never saw the side that said Nixon — who is raising two of her children Jewish — has been "silent on the rise anti-Semitism."
Schwartz now works for OTG Management, a private company that contracts with Delta to operate restaurants and retail shops in airports, including JFK and LaGuardia in New York City.
"This governor is allowing almost a corrupted, criminal enterprise to function within state government, and it needs to come to an end," Molinaro, the Dutchess County executive, said at an Albany news conference.
In a statement, Cuomo campaign spokeswoman Abbey Collins accused Molinaro of taking "cheap shots."
"Trump ‘mini-me’ Molinaro knows Larry is a professional and a part-time volunteer, unlike his political hit men (former Sen.) Al D'Amato and lobbyist David Catalfamo," Collins said, referring to Molinaro's campaign's long-held association with Park Strategies, D'Amato's firm that until recently employed Catalfamo, a Molinaro consultant.
Trump as a foil
Cuomo effectively used the strategy of making Trump the focus of his campaign during the primary season, which ended with him beating Nixon by 31 percentage points on Thursday.
He's made clear that strategy will continue into the general election, with his campaign labeling Molinaro a "Trump mini-me" despite the Republican saying he didn't vote for Trump in the 2016 election. (Molinaro says he wrote in the name of Chris Gibson, a former congressman.)
The governor has also been buoyed by a significant rise in voter turnout in the Democratic primary, when 1.5 million people went to the polls — more than twice as many that showed up in the 2014 primary.
"They were energized because the Democratic base, they need a government that delivers for them," Cuomo said. "They are living a real life."
He continued: "There's nothing theoretical or abstract about their life, and a Democratic Party that works for them — a progressive government that works for them — is a government that makes a difference in their lives at their kitchen table, and that is exactly what we did."
Campaign funds
Cuomo, a prodigious campaign fundraiser, spent more than $20 million in campaign funds during his primary battle with Nixon, though some of that went toward anti-Molinaro ads.
At the beginning of September, Cuomo had about $16 million left in his campaign account, far outpacing the $887,238 Molinaro had at the end of July, the last time he was required to file a disclosure form.
Molinaro said he was unconcerned about the Cuomo campaign's attempts to tie him to Trump, accusing the governor of being dishonest because he hasn't been a supporter of the president's.
He pointed to the corruption convictions of Joseph Percoco, Cuomo's former top aide and close personal friend, and former SUNY Polytechnic Institute President Alain Kaloyeros, who Cuomo tasked with revitalizing the upstate economy.
Percoco will be sentenced on bribery charges this week; Kaloyeros was convicted of bid-rigging charges earlier this year.
"Andrew Cuomo is like some sort of deranged Wizard of Oz — 'Pay no attention to the corruption in my administration. Look over there, it's Donald Trump,'" Molinaro said.