[VIDEO IN EXTENDED ARTICLE] With less than three weeks to go before Election Day, Republican mayoral candidate Joe Lhota is shifting his campaign theme from fending off Mr. de Blasio’s constant charges that he’s line with the national Republican Party to defining his opponent in an offensive manner.

“As long as Bill de Blasio continues lying about me, I’ll expose the truth about him,” Mr. Lhota told YWN at a campaign stop in Borough Park.

Asked why he wasn’t as decisive about charging Mr. de Blasio would turn NYC backwards, at the debate, as his TV ad released today articulated, Mr. Lhota said, “I was as decisive as I thought I should be, but I realized how vacuous Bill is. All he wants to do is bash me and characterize me as something I am not. Not once did he talk about issues. Not once did he give his vision for the City of New York.”

“Look, people in New york City turned on their television last night for the purpose of seeing his vision against my vision. And all they got was this 6-foot-6 guy saying things about me that weren’t true,” he continued.

YWN: “How do you counter that?”

“I am going to keep talking about the truth. I am going to continue to have ads that show him to be exactly who he is,” Mr. Lhota responded. The next debate and the next ads are all going to be on the cutting edge, and they are all going to be able to talk about who I think Bill de Blasio is.”

Speaking to reporters outside Masbia Kitchen, Mr. Lhota continued throwing the kitchen sink at Mr. de Blasio, defending the negative TV ad released today. “I think the ad was as truthful as you can possibly imagine. Bill de Blasio’s public safety policies — If that’s what you want to call them — will throw us back to a different period of time,” he charged. “He lied about me, last night non-stop. When he had nothing to talk about, he lied about me and about me shutting down the government. He lied about this and about that. He never talked about his vision for the future of New York.”

Mr. Lhota promised to release more TV commercials that will in his view define and describe who the real Bill de Blasio is. He also acknowledged that he should have gone a “little farther (at the debate) in describing my feelings” as he continued to double down on the facts mentioned in the ad.

“There is nothing in this ad that is false. There is nothing in this ad that engenders fear. The only thing the ad does is tell you what the city will be like if that man is elected mayor,” he explained. “The people of New York should no longer be snookered by the fact that all he wants to do is blast his opponent. No vision. No goals. No objectives. Just blast me.”

“You know what? He wants to continue lying about me, I’m going to tell the truth about him,” Mr. Lhota sought to reach to the point of going negative in the last phase of the campaign.

(Jacob Kornbluh – YWN)