Rob Astorino says that despite Chris Christie's snub, he's still got a shot at unseating Democratic New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, with more and more Republicans rallying behind him as the Nov. 4 election nears.
"Chris Christie aside, we've had the support of [Wisconsin] Gov. Scott Walker, [Louisiana] Gov. Bobby Jindal, [former Florida] Gov. Jeb Bush and [former Massachusetts] Gov. Mitt Romney," Astorino said Monday on "The Steve Malzberg Show" on
Newsmax TV.
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"[Romney] just put out a fundraising letter for me today and blasted Andrew Cuomo for the right reasons, because Cuomo is under federal investigation for corruption. His job approval is down to 42 percent.
"A majority of New Yorkers say we're going in the wrong direction. We're beating him with independents and with men. We can close this gap pretty quickly in the last three weeks if we get some of the help that we need," Astorino said.
In the fundraising letter, Romney slams the incumbent Democrat as a "typical corrupt New York politician," The
Wall Street Journal reports.
"The difference between Andrew Cuomo and Rob Astorino is astounding," Romney writes.
Romney's charge of corruption relates to Cuomo's involvement in shuttering the Moreland Commission to Investigate Public Corruption, and the ensuing independent investigation that is examining whether he improperly interfered with the commission.
Astorino — who is county executive of affluent Westchester County, just north of New York City — slammed Cuomo's $40 million war chest as "dirty pay-to-play money."
"He gets $25,000 and $50,000 checks every day, but we're getting average New Yorkers," Astorino said.
Astorino was badly stung when
Christie, governor of New Jersey and chairman of the Republican Governors Association, failed to get behind him, reportedly saying, "We don't invest in lost causes."
Jindal, who is supporting Astorino, serves as vice chairman of the Republican Governors Association, just a notch under Christie.
Astorino called Cuomo's coming trip to Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic "the panic and pander tour."
"He has not done well and he has completely avoided the Latino community," Astorino said.
While Cuomo remains way ahead in the polls, "things are starting to change," Astorino insisted.
"I was talking to [former New York Gov.] George Pataki, who won a big upset in '94 against another Cuomo, [Andrew's father]," he said.
"Pataki said to me it all comes together the last two or three weeks, you start to feel it and it happens. I'm feeling it now."
But Astorino will need an injection of cash if his campaign has any chance to chip away at the double-digit lead Cuomo holds in the latest Quinnipiac University Poll.
The survey released Oct. 8 shows Cuomo with a 51 percent to 31 percent lead over Astorino among likely voters. The liberal Green Party candidate claims 9 percent of the vote, and 8 percent said they were undecided.
In his interview with host Steve Malzberg, Astorino also weighed in on the growing Ebola crisis in the United States.
"Let's use common sense, let's be on the side of caution, because I'm sick of bowing to political correctness," he said, urging a 30-to-60-day ban on flights to and from west Africa.
"[Let's] send humanitarian aid over there, and send our CDC and epidemiologists and officials over there," he said.
"The World Health Organization said we got a real potential epidemic on our hands here. Why are we hands-off?"