Suoz contra Spitz

Did anyone living Upstate find the debate to be exactly fiery or interesting? A consensus seems to be, at least over in NYCO's corner of the world, that we were forced to listen to a NYC-centric agenda. I recognize that both candidates were vying for the favor of 8 million folks in the City. However, there are 18 million New Yorkers and 55% of us live outside of the City.

Frankly, I was appalled at the dearth of questions related to issues near and dear to those of us living upstate. For example, would it have hurt to ask either candidate:

Do they support NYRI’s powerline application?,
What should be done to solve the problems caused by the flooding in the Southern Tier?,
How will they rectify the appalling lack of racial and ethnic diversity among SUNY's faculty and professional staff?, or
What is their take on agriculture’s future?

Upstaters did not get a sense that either candidate has a program for solving Upstate’s economic, educational or social woes. The bon mot tossed out to Upstaters by Mr. Suozzi that “Take everything north of Putnam and Rockland and you’d have the poorest state in America” is not exactly trenchant policy analysis. Downstate politicos and their handlers need to quit thinking in purely parochial terms. They are, after all, engaged in a gubernatorial contest and not for Uber Mayor of New York City.