Republican gubernatorial candidate Carl P. Paladino today said he's not accusing Democratic rival Andrew Cuomo of having had an extramarital affair.

Paladino, speaking from his Buffalo office, said he has been subjected to so many questions about his personal life that he recently questioned whether the media, in fairness, is also posing personal questions to Cuomo.

However, Paladino said, he wasn't accusing Cuomo of having an extramarital affair.

"I'm sick and tired of people asking me about if I've had affairs," Paladino said. "I was talking to [a reporter with Politico.com] and said 'Why don't you ask Andrew Cuomo if he has had extramarital affairs. It's not that I was accusing him."

In addition, Paladino misspoke Wednesday night when telling a New York Post reporter that he would provide proof of a Cuomo affair "at the appropriate time," Paladino campaign manager Michael Caputo said today.

Paladino misunderstood the question he was being asked by New York Post reporter Fred U. Dicker, and the context of the question, Caputo said.

Dicker was very "in your face" and poking Paladino, Caputo said. Dicker, he said, was asking Paladino questions about an interview that appeared in Politico.com that Paladino had not seen.

In addition, Caputo noted, Dicker is the Post staffer that Paladino has accused of sending a reporter to the home of his 10-year-old daughter, trying to take pictures of the child through a window.

In an interview with Politico.com posted Wednesday, Paladino is quoted as saying: "Has anybody asked Andrew Cuomo about his paramours?" And Caputo is quoted as chiming in with: "When he was married."

Paladino continued, "When he was married -- or asked him why his wife left him or threw him out of the house? Has anybody ever done that? What are they doing intruding on my life?"

Paladino had made similar comments in the past to Newsday, the Long Island newspaper.

"Do we know what caused Cuomo to break up with his wife? Do we know?Why isn't somebody asking that?" Paladino had said to Newsday. "These arethe questions the public wants to know. Let's vet him, vet him veryvery carefully."

Wednesday evening, at a campaign event in Lake George, Dicker, from the Post, asked Paladino if he had evidence supporting his allegation that Cuomo had an affair when he was married to Kerry Kennedy.

"Of course, I do," Paladino snapped. "You'll get it at the appropriate time."

The confrontation between Paladino and Dicker then continued, featuring shouting, pushing and campaign aides hustling Paladino into a bathroom to escape the scene.

"I want to know why you sent goons after my daughter," Paladino shouted at Dicker, referring to photographers at the home of his young daughter.

At another point, Paladino told Dicker he would "take him out."

Paladino today said the comment was not a threat, but rather a continuation of a campaign theme.

Throughout the campaign, Paladino said, a theme has been: "I'm going to take out the governor. I'm going to take out Sheldon Silver. I'm going to take out the trash."

While the Cuomo campaign declined comment, the political world was abuzz as insiders debated whether the confrontation would hurt or help Paladino's campaign. Will it depict Paladino as someone who comes unglued in the heat of the moment or as someone willing to stand up to the press -- an industry that has its public relations issues, especially with Paladino's base of support among conservatives?

One supporter said voters will see the incident as involving an unconventional candidate living up to his convictions and take-no-prisoners style. "He's absolutely standing up for what he believes in," said Nick Langworthy, the Erie County GOP chairman. "He believed Fred Dicker and the New York Post put his daughter in harm's way and he didn't back down."

But others noted the outburst came at a time when Democrats have been trying to build up a public image of Paladino as "unfit" for the important office of governor. "Of course it will sell with some voters," said Douglas Muzzio, a political scientist at Baruch College. "But who are those voters and what are their numbers?"

"I think a larger number of people are saying, 'This guy in an hour smeared a gubernatorial candidate without evidence and then threatened a member of the press," Muzzio said.

sschulman@buffnews.comnull