CLINTON ‘CLOCKS’ CHATTY CUOMO
‘Self-centered’ Andy hit for a ‘way too long’ convention speech
Put a sock in it, governor. Hillary Clinton’s campaign was enraged by Gov. Cuomo because he talked too long at the Democratic National Convention, pushing her out of prime time, and didn’t mentioning her until the end of his speech, sources said.
When Cuomo left the stage at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia, the sources said, a top Clinton lieutenant flagged a Cuomo aide and unleashed a verbal tirade, saying, “We’re done with your f--king boy!”
The campaign had allotted Cuomo six minutes in the 7 p.m.-hour slot on July 28, the final night of the convention.
But Cuomo ignored the limit and spoke for 15 minutes and 15 seconds.
He opened by devoting nearly two minutes to his late father, Gov. Mario Cuomo, who gave a stirring keynote address at the 1984 convention.
The governor then spent the next 11 minutes lambasting Donald Trump and highlighting his own record of passing marriage-equality and guncontrol laws.
It wasn’t until 13 minutes and one second into the speech that Cuomo finally uttered Clinton’s name.
The former secretary of state and her daughter, Chelsea, were supposed to begin speaking at approximately 10 p.m. that night, the peak of prime time, according to a DNC rep.
But because of mounting delays, including Cuomo nearly tripling his time at the podium, Clinton didn’t take the stage until 10:30. Subsequently, her acceptance address didn’t end until well past prime time, at 11:26 p.m.
The overtime flap came after the Clinton and Cuomo camps tussled all week over logistics.
Cuomo had hoped to speak later in the evening, when TV ratings would be higher, a state party source said.
The governor also asked the Clinton campaign to run a three-minute video tribute to Mario Cuomo produced by his sister, Maria Cuomo Cole, before his address, according to the source. But the video was aired Monday, before Cuomo was in town.
Cuomo joked about his reduced role to a small audience of state delegates having breakfast the morning of the speech.
“What am I going to try to talk about tonight in my 47 seconds that they give me?” he said, according to a transcript. “They gave us a great slot. They gave us no time in the slot, but
they gave us a great slot.”
The pique over the podium leaves New York in the uncomfortable position of having a potential Clinton White House irked at the state’s two top Democrats — Cuomo and Mayor de Blasio.
The mayor, who withheld his endorsement of Clinton for six months, was relegated to a 5 p.m. time slot Wednesday at the convention, while ex-Mayor Mike Bloomberg was handed a prime-time 9:40 p.m. spot.
Cuomo stumped for Clinton throughout the state this spring.
But Clinton has not employed Cuomo as a national surrogate, a role she bestowed upon prominent Dems, Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack and Labor Secretary Tom Perez.
Convention planners were unaware Cuomo’s speech irritated Clinton’s team, but acknowledged that it delayed the night’s programming.
“Obviously we were running a little behind but that’s not atypical at a convention,” said Democratic National Convention spokesman Lee Whack.
A Clinton spokesman said the campaign has a “great working relationship with Andrew Cuomo,” and had no further comment.
Cuomo spokesman Rich Azzopardi said the Clinton staffer’s remark “never happened.”
Some Democrats don’t blame Cuomo for stretching out his speech.
“Six minutes goes by in no time,” said political consultant George Arzt.
“Giving the speech after his father died and being compared with his father was an overwhelming burden for him,” Artz said. “You can’t nitpick him for doing what he did.”