If you saw the clip of Paladino and New York Post editor Fred Dicker getting in each other’s faces, you have most — but not all — of the background you need for this. The press has been hounding Paladino about the daughter he had with his mistress 10 years ago, leading the Republican to wonder, loudly and often, why they aren’t as concerned with Andrew Cuomo’s alleged dalliances. Dicker claimed that no one’s ever heard of any such dalliances; Paladino counters that that’s a lie and is prepared to prove it. Which brings us to this Politico item, the source for most of Kelly’s questions here. Here’s what Paladino told the Buffalo News:

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.

So he wasn’t really accusing Cuomo of an affair, he was just frustrated at the double standard. But wait. Here’s what he reportedly told Politico:

I asked if it was ever proven that something had happened with Cuomo, adding that we knew his wife had had an affair, and Paladino said, “Want me to go get affidavits from the women? Is that what you want?”

I asked if he knew who the women were and he said, “Three of the four.”

Kelly wants to know: Which is it? Does he have evidence about Cuomo or not, and if so, when is he going to roll it out? I’ll leave you to the clip for his answer, but I think he’s better off at this point sharing what he has so that he can move on to talking about policy. He has a compelling narrative, potentially, even as a Republican in New York: No one thinks Albany is up to the task of dealing with the state’s budget problems and reinstalling the heir to the liberal Cuomo throne is only bound to make things worse. If this turns into a “whose affairs are worse?” contest, it ends up a wash and most New Yorkers will trust their liberal instincts and vote Democratic. I sympathize with him in trying to protect his daughter, and no doubt he’s right about there being a double standard, but how does this line of attack help him, ultimately? Exit question: Note that Kelly asks him near the end of the clip whether it’s appropriate to fight fire with fire. Is MK … a RINO?