Source:
MSNBCDem Cuomo wins NY governor's seat his father held
By MICHAEL GORMLEY
updated 30 minutes ago
NEW YORK — Democrat Andrew Cuomo coasted past tea party Republican Carl Paladino after an exceedingly nasty race to win election Tuesday as governor of New York — the same job Cuomo's father, Mario, held in the 1980s and '90s.
Cuomo, 52, led in the polls from the start of his well-funded campaign and helped the combative and conservative Paladino sink himself by shifting the focus from economic issues to Paladino's opposition to abortion and gay marriage.
The Cuomos now join the exclusive club of father-and-son governors, whose members include the Browns, Edmund and Jerry, of California; the Romneys, George of Michigan and Mitt of Massachusetts; and the Folsoms, John Sr. and John Jr., of Alabama.
Paladino, a 64-year-old millionaire developer and political novice, made some major missteps during the campaign. He got into a shouting match with a newspaper reporter, and hinted at one point that the divorced Cuomo had had affairs while married — accusations that Paladino later backed away from. He also created a furor when he said children shouldn't be "brainwashed" into thinking homosexuality is acceptable. He said being gay is "not the way God created us."
Read more:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/39977841