Republican gubernatorial challenger Rob Astorino’s hope of at least one statewide televised debate one-on-one with Governor Andrew Cuomo seemed to fade even further on Monday, as he declined an invitation to a radio debate which Cuomo had previously accepted.  Astorino announced that he has accepted five televised debate invitations from a variety of hosts and sponsors, but which Cuomo has not accepted, plus an additional multi-candidate debate on Buffalo’s public television station that Governor Cuomo has accepted.

Astorino characterized the invitation which he declined as “not even a debate, it’s a joint radio appearance, an interview.”  He’s been pressing for one-on-one televised debates with Cuomo (here, here and here for example), but the governor has largely ignored those demands. Here’s what Astorino had to say Monday:

N.B.  What would a one-on-one televised debate between Cuomo and Astorino look like? Here’s our version.