ALBANY — Rick Lazio has just $689,000 left in his campaign bank account to run

against Andrew Cuomo, whose remaining funds total nearly 35 times that.

The Republican candidate's financial condition came to light this morning with the filing at

the state Board of Elections of his campaign activities over the past six months.

The filings also reveal Gov. David Paterson, who is leaving office at the end of the year,

spent $700,000 on a law firm to represent him in an investigation by Cuomo's office about a

domestic abuse case involving a former top Paterson aide. The probe is trying to determine if

Paterson used his influence to get the former girlfriend of the aide, David Johnson, to drop

the case.

Paterson also spent nearly $170,000 on a crisis public relations firm — the same

company former Gov. Eliot Spitzer used in his prostitution scandal.

Lazio, a Manhattan Republican, raised $1.67 million, but spent $1.61 million since January.

Cuomo raised $9.2 million since January, spent $1.7 million and has $23.7 million on

hand, according to numbers his campaign released Thursday.

Carl Paladino, who is trying to force a Republican primary against Lazio, reported raising

$1.7 million during the past six months - but $1.6 million of that came from his own personal

funds. He has $53,000 on hand, and has vowed to spend up to $10 million of his own money.

The Paladino campaign wasted little time poking at Lazio's financial performance. "It's a real

accomplishment: not many candidates cam come roaring out of winning a convention and fall so

flat so fast," said Michael Caputo, Paladino's campaign manager.

Caputo noted Lazio loaned his campaign $200,000 to bolster the account. "Rick Lazio's

embarrassing finance report is another boldface reminder that he can't win," Caputo said.

Barney Keller, a Lazio spokesman, was unfazed by the disparities between fundraising and

remaining cash on hand to the Cuomo camp. "Following Rick's commanding reception at the state

convention, we had a dramatic increase in fundraising," Keller said of the GOP gathering in

May that nominated Lazio. He said 70 percent of the campaign's money has come in during the

past six months.

"We expect it to increase," he said, noting Lazio's schedule is "packed" with upcoming

fundraisers.

"The campaign has a new energy," he said.

But Lazio will need to dramatically pump up his fundraising numbers if he is to have the

kind of money on hand to be able to run advertisements in a big state with several media

markets, not to mention one of the most expensive markets in New York City.

Meanwhile, Paterson's use of campaign funds to pay for lawyers is not unusual.

The history of campaign money to pay for legal fees is a long one for New York politicians

in trouble. Former Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno spent well over $1 million from his

campaign fund on his federal corruption case.

Besides the $700,000 in payments to the Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison law firm,

Paterson also refunded $638,000 in money previously given to his campaign by a variety of

interests, including real estate developers in New York City and groups representing everyone

from doctors, cable tv companies and insurance firms.