The Republican attorney general candidate, Jeanine Pirro, attacked the Democratic front-runner in the race, Andrew Cuomo, as underqualified, telling viewers in her first television advertisement that she is “like Eliot Spitzer,” the wildly popular state attorney general who is running for governor — as a Democrat.

In the advertisement, released on Ms. Pirro’s Web site Wednesday, a narrator describes her as a “prosecutor, judge, district attorney.” Then, with ominous music in the background, the narrator continues: “Andrew Cuomo? Fourteen months as a junior prosecutor 21 years ago. Little courtroom experience.” Showing an image of Mr. Cuomo’s state Ethics Commission filings, the narrator continues: “He even admits he’s a nonpracticing attorney.”

That line made a spokeswoman for Mr. Cuomo, Wendy Katz, gasp when it was played for her byThe New York Sun.

Mr.Cuomo was a federal housing secretary under President Clinton and most recently worked at a real estate development company, Island Capital, before announcing his candidacy.

“Seven months ago, Jeanine Pirro was attacking Hillary Clinton and defending the Bush administration. Her negative attacks against Andrew and his lifetime record of fighting for justice will fail just as miserably,” said Ms. Katz, referring to Ms. Pirro’s aborted senatorial campaign. Ms. Pirro is also a nonpracticing attorney, as she is a fulltime candidate, Ms. Katz said.

Ms. Pirro, a former district attorney of Westchester, appears on screen in a blue blazer. Looking straight at the camera, her first words to viewers are, “Like Eliot Spitzer, I’m an experienced prosecutor.”

This is not the first time the Pirro campaign has invoked the name of Mr. Spitzer, who has consistently held an edge in fund-raising and opinion polls over his Democratic opponents: the Nassau County executive, Thomas Suozzi, a Democrat, and a former Assembly Republican leader, John Faso.

During a television appearance early last month, a consultant to Ms. Pirro, Michael McKeon, said, “If you like Spitzer, you’ll like Jeanine.”Mr.McKeon is a partner at Mercury Public Affairs, a lobbying and consulting firm. Also employed there as a client relations manager, Matthew Watson, who founded and writes for www.spitzerblog.com, a Web log unaffiliated with, but wholly supportive of its namesake.

Ms. Pirro’s focus on one line of Mr. Cuomo’s Ethics Commission filing is not without irony. It is Ms. Pirro’s signature on the taxes she filed with her husband, Albert, that has hounded her campaign. Mr. Pirro was convicted of federal tax fraud in 2000 and spent 11 months in prison. Ms. Pirro now files separately.

One of the Democratic attorney general candidates, whom Ms. Pirro’s campaign is pre-emotively ignoring, criticized the advertisement. Through a spokeswoman, attorney Charlie King, who released a television ad earlier this year, said, “Charlie looks forward to actually discussing the substantive issues that the next Attorney General will face — like health care, education, civil rights and criminal justice.”

Also running in the Democratic primary are a former public advocate, Mark Green, and a former White House aide, Sean Maloney, who was the first candidate with a television advertise. Representatives for both candidates, and for Ms. Pirro, could not be reached yesterday.