NY Governor Debate: How To Watch Cuomo, Molinaro Face Off

NEW YORK — After a week of chicken suits and haggling, Gov. Andrew Cuomo and Marc Molinaro will face off Tuesday in the New York gubernatorial race's only scheduled televised debate. The hastily arranged showdown between the second-term Democratic governor and the Republican Dutchess County executive comes just two weeks before the Nov. 6 general election.

CBS 2 and WCBS Newsradio 880 are hosting the hour-long debate at the CBS Broadcast Center in Midtown. The two major-party candidates will take questions from Marcia Kramer, the TV network's chief political correspondent, and longtime WCBS reporter Rich Lamb.

As with Cuomo's feisty primary debate against Cynthia Nixon, the event will be taped in the afternoon for broadcast on TV and radio at 7 p.m. Tuesday evening.

Seeking a third four-year term, Cuomo has stood on his liberal credentials, such as the state's tough gun-control laws and progress toward a $15-an-hour minimum wage, while casting Molinaro as a "mini-me" of Republican President Donald Trump.

Molinaro, on the other hand, argues the state needs a change after eight years corruption scandals. He's run on his long career as a public servant — he was first elected to the Board of Trustees in his home village of Tivoli at age 18, and became the nation's youngest mayor the following year.

The debate grew out of an on-the-spot invitation to the governor from WCBS's Wayne Cabot during a Friday radio interview. Cuomo appeared on the station the same morning that he appeared on the New York Post's front page in a chicken suit for the second straight day as the paper lambasted him for not having the guts to debate Molinaro.

Cabot offered to have both candidates talk issues over the phone on Saturday morning. That didn't materialize, as Molinaro sought an in-person showdown on a weekday. Cuomo the chicken appeared on the Post's Page One for a third time on Saturday and again Sunday.

The pair eventually settled on the drama that New Yorkers across the state will see Tuesday evening as they prepare to cast their ballots. What they won't see, though, are the three minor-party candidates also running for governor: The Libertarian Larry Sharpe, the Green Party hopeful Howie Hawkins, and former Syracuse mayor Stephanie Miner, who's campaigning under the "Serve America Movement."

Here's what you need to know to catch Tuesday's debate.

Who, where and when

The debate between Gov. Andrew Cuomo and Marc Molinaro will be taped at 1:30 p.m. Tuesday at the CBS Broadcast Center in Midtown.

CBS-2 also sponsored the Democratic gubernatorial primary debate between Cuomo and Cynthia Nixon in August.

How to watch

The debate will air at 7 p.m. on TV on CBS 2 and will be simulcast by WCBS Newsradio (AM 880). CBS 2 will also stream the debate on its website, as will WCBS. It will be available in Spanish on WCBS-TV via SAP.

(Lead image: AP Photos/Bebeto Matthews, left, and Julio Cortez, Files)