Yes, Carl Paladino makes for exciting copy.
Yes, he makes a boring contest interesting, but at the end of the day New York is looking at lay-offs and other serious consequences of the times we live in.
Entertainment can be a good thing, but who gets the last laugh here? You can call Paladino everything but a child of God, but (in less than a month now) Paladino returns to his million dollar Buffalo development company, and New York State is left holding the bag. 
New York has real problems. A dire fiscal situation that is only getting worse by the day, and instead of us looking at Mr. Paladino’s and more importantly Mr. Cuomo’s plans, (since Cuomo is the likely governor) the voters of this state have been forced to spend this entire General Election Campaign like it’s one bad endless episode of Saturday Night Live. The jokes in this episode are no longer funny. They are offensive and it's time to change the channel.
The latest self inflicted wound. Paladino rails against gay marriage and calls the “bumping-and-griding” at gay pride parades disgusting.
What momentum he could have had, following his come from behind victory in the primary, but since then Paladino has made one mistake after another.
Timing in Politics is everything, and unfortunately for him, it looks like Mr. Paladino’s 15 minutes are up.
His poll numbers have been slipping since a few weeks ago, when he was caught on video loudly attacking Fred Dicker of the NY Post over Paladino's unsubstantiated claim that Cuomo had extramarital affairs.
If that’s not enough, a political website, WNYMedia.net, has released pornographic e-mails forwarded under Paladino's company account; it's the second batch of embarrassing messages linked to the candidate, who has already apologized for forwarding racist and sexist e-mails regarding the President and First Lady of the United States.
The latest conflict began Sunday, when Paladino told Orthodox Jewish leaders that he opposes gay marriage and doesn't want children being "brainwashed into thinking that homosexuality is an equally valid and successful option." He also told the rabbis, "That's not how God created us, and that's not the example that we should be showing our children."
Paladino has apologized for using harsh words, such as "brainwashed," but not his opposition to gay marriage. In his words:
"I sincerely apologize for any comment that may have offended the gay and lesbian community or their family members. Any reference to branding an entire community based on a small representation of them is wrong," he said in a statement. "The portrayal of me as anti-gay is inconsistent with my lifelong beliefs and actions and my prior history as a father, employer and friend to many in the gay and lesbian community."
It’s time we pay less attention to Paladino and much more to Mr. Cuomo. At this point, it’s almost inevitable that Cuomo will be running this state for at least the next four years.
If we want to continue to focus on laughs, Monday's debate between the candidates will be quite interesting, but no matter what Paladino says, Cuomo will ignore him and the others. All Cuomo has to do now is coast to election day.
You have to tip your hat to Cuomo. It wasn't handed to him or given to him on a sliver platter. He had to work hard and remake himself. At the end of the day, Andrew Cuomo is the next Governor of the Great State of New York.