Molinaro & gov to debate Tues.

ALBANY — Let the debate begin.

Gov. Cuomo and GOP gubernatorial candidate Marc Molinaro will square off in a oneon-one televised debate Tuesday that will be taped in the afternoon and aired in the evening on WCBS radio and CBS television in the city and its affiliates across the state.

Molinaro said he will participate in the debate after what he called Cuomo’s decision to cave.

“The voters of New York won an important victory (Sunday) night,” Molinaro said in a Monday morning call with reporters. “The governor finally agreed to what we believe is his first one on one televised (general election) debate as governor.”

For weeks, Cuomo would not say if he would debate.

On Friday, he said he would do an early morning Saturday morning debate on WCBS radio. Molinaro refused, saying the lack of notice and the fact it would not be televised is a deal breaker.

Cuomo’s camp Sunday evening agreed to a Tuesday debate that would be televised statewide.

Molinaro agreed Monday morning, but called for two additional debates to take place in Buffalo and the state’s southern tier that focus on upstate issues.

“Andrew Cuomo seems to think debates are about he and I,” Molinaro said. “They are not. … They are about the voters.”

He said voters deserve to hear about “forgotten” upstate as well as discussion about state government corruption and the state’s high taxes.

For Molinaro, who trails Cuomo badly in both the polls and with fund-raising, Tuesday’s debate perhaps lends him his best chance of landing a knockout punch against the twoterm governor.