Edwards running with Paladino and Lazio

BUFFALO, N.Y. (WIVB) - An orange-colored tidal wave of outrage has transformed the political landscape of New York State. Carl Paladino defied all expectations by walloping former Long Island Congressman Rick Lazio by a landslide in the GOP primary for governor.

It was a 2 to 1 margin statewide, and 9 to 1 in most of Paladino's home turf of western New York. Chautauqua County Executive Greg Edwards won the lieutenant governor primary to create an all western New York Paladino-Edwards ticket on the GOP line, but Rick Lazio is still on the Conservative line with Edwards. How does that affect the race?

Edwards said, "Only New York State could have this convoluted of an elections system."

Edwards was on the losing GOP ticket with Rick Lazio, but Edwards actually got more Republican votes for lieutenant governor than Carl Paladino's running mate Tom Ognibene. So as of Wednesday, Edwards is both Paladino's running mate on the GOP ticket, and Lazio's running mate on the Conservative ticket in November.

"There's a lot of issues in play and so there's a lot of decisions that need to be made collectively amongst the candidates," said Edwards.

The big question now is whether Rick Lazio will stay in the race as a Conservative.

Erie County GOP Chairman Nick Langworthy said it would be "absolutely" in the best interest of the Republican party if Rick Lazio dropped out. Langworthy says New York is almost 2 to 1 Democrats, and Paladino could use the Conservative votes.

"The best opportunity we have is for Rick to step aside," said Langworthy.

But it's not so easy. If Lazio simply throws his support behind Paladino, Lazio's name is still on the Conservative ballot, and if Lazio doesn't get at least 50,000 votes in November, the Conservative party won't even have a line in the next few New York elections. If Lazio were to run for something else, the Conservatives could put Paladino on their ticket and give even more momentum to Paladino, who calls himself the little guy from East Lovejoy.

Paladino said, "I don't need money. I don't need power. I don't have an ego to fulfill, all right. I'm just Carl Paladino and my chief of staff here is Duke (his dog)."

>>>In his reporter's notebook, George explains why the task of getting Lazio off the Conservative line with Edwards is a complicated matter