Yesterday, a New York Times profile of New York Governor Andrew Cuomo with Charles Blow beginning to leak out – caught my eye. The profile was almost entirely focused on the machinations of Andrew Cuomo’s wife, Ann-Sofie, with very little on the Governor himself. Today, Ann-Sofie got her own New York Times profile, concluding on a very ominous note. It turns out that her husband’s focus on the media’s reporting of a “gun control” campaign in which New York state troopers were working for the Cuomo campaign had as much to do with him as it did with Ms. Cuomo. Having read both of these profiles, I can tell you that Chris Cuomo was an extraordinary force in driving home how Andrew Cuomo would frame his case for gun control during his campaign, and during the second half of this year – his coverage of this effort involved lots of interviews with Chris Cuomo’s father.
The Times piece notes that Andrew Cuomo didn’t really take the lead on gun control, and in fact, that the campaign – which got deadlocked – was driven more by Chris Cuomo than by the Governor. By October, Ann-Sofie went on Andrew Cuomo’s radio show and noted that nothing about his proposal had been approached on “a bipartisan basis.” Clearly, Ann-Sofie thought there would be an element of bipartisanship in her husband’s proposed reforms, but instead, the Governor continued to go it alone.
Chris, as a “token” Republican – and we knew for a long time that he is one, in his contacts with Rick Lazio, with the former Newt Gingrich operative whose consulting firm was paid $250,000 to “legalize life” for New York State Republicans – was clearly Cuomo’s go-to guy on this. His advocacy in those interviews and at public events had the impact that a Republican would get – which is to say that Mr. Cuomo used Chris Cuomo to get out the message that a Democratic Party did not want to be perceived as “soft” on gun control in New York. Chris Cuomo played outsize role in the Cuomo campaign against these efforts.
CNN is talking to Chris Cuomo about this situation at this moment.
Lester Holt is heading to Sacramento at the end of the week. On Friday, Jim Acosta will be covering the death penalty trial. Greta Van Susteren will be reporting on the Ten Commandments in California.
Cnn will be covering Donald Trump’s rally in Ohio on Friday night.
CNN is following up on several stories from The Daily Beast today, from Ayatollah Khamenei’s threats to deal with the United States, to Richard Sherman’s off-field tirade against the Washington Post. Andrew Kaczynski is providing relentless reporting on the Russia story. Brian Stelter is bringing the day’s pop culture trends to you as part of the Essential Politics package on CNN.
Fox News will cover the Donald Trump rally in South Carolina this evening. Brit Hume will have special coverage starting at 6:00 pm EST. Megyn Kelly is reporting on President Trump’s response to the investigation into his campaign’s relationship with Russia and of the investigation that resulted in Jeff Sessions recusing himself from that effort.