Give Democrat Andrew M. Cuomo some credit for his willingness to venture in the heart of "Carl Country" when he brings his campaign for governor to Cheektowaga on Friday.
Cuomo will be at the Creekside Banquet Facility on Union Road at 4:30 p.m. in a town that has always proven a bellwether for gubernatorial campaigns. Since 1942, Cheektowaga has gone with a winner in almost every election. Its only real miss was 1970 when the town supported Democrat Arthur J. Goldberg and Nelson A. Rockeffer won. It also missed in 1982 when it picked Lewis E. Lehrman over Mario M. Cuomo -- but just barely.
So after a Goldhaber Research Associates poll on Tuesday showed Republican Carl P. Paladino posting a healthy lead in his home county of Erie, Cuomo will charge right into what is thought to be the heart of -- as the Paladino signs say -- Carl Country.
--Robert J. McCarthy
