Steve Levy sounded bullish and upbeat about his newfound momentum as he spoke to The Post’s state editor Fred Dicker on the radio this morning, citing a Rasmussen poll his campaign eagerly distributed showing his standing improving.
He also expounded on the $8 million to $10 million he has cited in closed settings that the Republican Governors Association promised him in the race – he said RGA Executive Director Nick Ayers made the pledge in a meeting with him and Ed Cox.
And he defended Cox, claiming a Knickerbocker report about his comments suggesting Levy may not get 50 percent at a women’s GOP forum were “distorted” during the Talk 1300 interview on “Live from the State Capitol.”
He noted the poll showed him faring better against Democrat Andrew Cuomo than Rick Lazio does in a head-to-head matchup, and noted he’s only been in the race “about a month.” Cuomo is at 50 percent in a head-to-head in the poll against Levy, while he’s several points higher against Lazio.
Levy told Dicker he has been doing targeted paid media to the roughly 400 state committee members whose support he’s trying to garner to secure the 50-plus percent he needs to get on the ballot.
He said he may end up doing targeted radio or cable buys as well, but nothing broadbrush that would essentially be wasted money.
He also said the RGA loves his “great storyline” as a potential Scott Brown in wave year, saying it’s similar “to the Ted Kennedy seat … they see me in that Scott Brown role.”
“Nick Ayers, one of the high-up persons for (RGA chairman) Hailey Barbour,” made the money pledge, he said, adding, “They said, we love what you’re talking about.”
He also insisted that Cox’s slip of the tongue at the GOP women’s federation event in Albany a week ago Monday was taken out of context by us, insisting the question the state GOP chairman was responding to was whether he was twisting arms for Levy within the party.
Levy backed away from that when Dicker noted that some there said the question was actually about why Cox is backing a Democrat, saying it was his understanding from the chairman that there was “an implication” about twisting arms.
In fact, Levy has had a strong week – optically and in scraping points together – as he’s started to gather more support, after a sluggish few weeks in which his backers started privately questioning whether his momentum was stalled.