Could NY-Gov have been competitive if the GOP spent money on it?

[jaichind]

With a better candidate, maybe, but that candidate doesn't exist in New York right now.

Astorino and Hawkins did as well as they did because people who dislike Cuomo were more enthusiastic about voting against him than anyone was about voting for him. A more visible campaign probably would have brought more low-information Democrats to the polls, and almost all of them would vote for Cuomo.

My thoughts exactly.  In fact the main GOP goal was to win the NY State Senate which a higher Dem turnout would destroy any chance of that, especially in places outside of NYC.  So the GOP knowing that they could not win anyway, decided to keep it a low profile and ergo a low turnout election where their NY State Senate candidates could sneak through and capture some Dem seats.  It worked.

[jaichind]

http://nypost.com/2014/11/10/cuomo-had-a-secret-re-election-pact-with-republicans/

"The state’s most powerful Republican secretly worked for months to help Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo win re-election — in exchange for Cuomo’s promise not to aid Senate Democrats in their Long Island races, a top New York GOP leader has charged."

- Not sure about this one.  I think Cuomo not helping Dems in the NY State Senate race was more about getting back at de Blasio than a deal with the GOP to win.  For one thing he did not need the GOP support to win.  And if he did then he got a bad deal since Astorinio actually over-performed expectations. 




"But Lawler noted that ironically, Skelos would likely become leader of the new Republican-led Senate because Astorino’s presence at the top of the ticket helped three upstate GOP challengers defeat Democratic incumbents." 

- Which is what I contended.  That from the GOP point of view Astorino's campaign was mission accomplished.