Lazio Loses Mustache, Audience At LCA Show

GOP gubernatorial hopeful Rick Lazio’s LCA Show response last night is unlikely to help dispel persistent speculation that his campaign isn’t firing on all cylinders as he gears up for a likely floor fight at the GOP convention next month.

Lazio gamely took to the stage to offer the Republican rebuttal after reporters finished their annual skewering of pols on both sides of the aisle – including a song to the tune of “Anything You Can Do, I Can Do Better,” that portrayed Lazio and his primary opponent, Suffolk County Executive Steve Levy, as two bratty school boys in a race to the bottom.

Lazio started by riffing off the e-mail scandal of his other primary opponent, Carl Paladino, releasing a host of his own fake messages that gently poked fun at reporters and detractors like state GOP Chairman Ed Cox.

Things fell apart for the former Long Island congressman, however, when he launched into a version of Air Supply’s “All Out of Love,” which he said he wanted to dedicate to Cox.

Lazio turned his back, rooting frantically around in his tux pockets for something that turned out to be a false mustache (finally provided to him by a helpful aide) remarkably similar to the real one that graces the face of Cox’s preferred candidate, Levy, who was in the crowd.

One observer was overheard to remark: “If he can’t find his mustache, how can he govern the state?”

Lazio then bumbled his way through the song, forgetting most of the words and rushing from the stage.

Cox, with whom Lazio had enjoyed a friendly and lengthy chat earlier in the night, later joked that he had wanted to run up to the stage and blow Lazio a kiss, but the candidate departed before he got the chance.

After the show, a few members in the crowd were heard comparing Lazio’s performance to the rebuttal by then-Assembly Minority Leader John Faso, who also had trouble with his lines. (If I remember correctly, it turned out a staffer was holding his cue cards upside down).

After that disastrous performance, Faso ran an unsuccessful challenge to then-AG Eliot Spitzer in the 2006 governor’s race.

AG hopeful Sean Coffey fared far better than Lazio in delivering the Democratic response. He poked fun at his opponents and aired a spoof version of his TV ad (the first aired by any of the would-be AGs).

The current AG, Andrew Cuomo, was a no-show last night, giving LCA President Brendan Scott, of the NY Post, ample opportunity to slam Cuomo in his introduction.

Gov. David Paterson also didn’t attend the event, although he did show up on the scene after yesterday’s Staten Island ferry crash. Mayor Bloomberg was at neither the show, nor any of the post-crash pressers.