Escape from New York

Republican Tom Foley is giving new meaning to the term outer boroughs.

Foley’s exploratory committee for governor — emphasis on Connecticut — is out with its first video of the 2014 campaign.

Its target audience? New Yorkers.

The 30-second spot opens with footage of a newspaper press run and shows the front-page of a recent edition of the New York Post with the headline, “Back in the USSR,” and a photo of newly-elected New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio.

“Hey New York City, with your new mayor I know many of you are thinking about leaving,” Foley speaks into the camera.

Foley proceeds to warn viewers that Gotham is about to take a left turn with de Blasio, much like Connecticut did when voters chose Democrat Dannel P. Malloy over Foley in 2010.

Though he hasn’t formally declared his candidacy, Foley acts very much the part in the video, saying that Connecticut will once again be a desirable place in the Northeast when it elects a new governor next year.

New Yorkers can ride it out for the next year and then relocate, he suggests.

“Then come join us in Connecticut under new leadership heading in a better direction,” Foley says.

Connecticut Democrats are lampooning Foley’s strategy.

“Tom Foley continues to pursue the most bizarre political strategy known to man,” the party said in a statement Monday. “At the rate he’s going, he won’t even be his party’s nominee, much less become governor.”

The commercial is airing on NY1 and Fox in New York and cost around $2,000, according to Foley, who stood by the theme in an interview with Hearst Connecticut Newspapers.

“They need to get a sense of humor,” Foley said of Democrats. “It doesn’t surprise me that they don’t understand the humor.”

Foley said there are parallels between de Blasio and Malloy, whom he characterized as presiding over misguided economic policies.

“It’s an economic disaster,” Foley said of Connecticut.

Neil Vigdor