NYS Senate

[Nite Owl]

How did the dems do?

Bruno was on and he said that his party has a 3 seat majority. I think it was 7 so where did we pick up seats?
Did Spano lose this time?

[Smarmie Doofus]

1. Spano trails by abut 1500 but is looking for....

... the court system to save him again.

[Nite Owl]

2. I heard he had lost but

can't find anything on this or the others. It looks like we picked up some vacant seats but didn't kick out any incumbents.

[Smarmie Doofus]

3. I believe there was a net gain of 1 (one) seat.

That would be Stewart-Cousins victory ( 2,100 vote margin) over Spano. ( He won't concede... pending recount; but no one thinks he'll win)

Apparently, Spitzer has no coattails; or perhaps there is no such thing as "coattails" anymore.

The state senate is a paradox. People voted 2-1 for a DEM governor; and routinely elect a 2 to 1 DEM assembly but the senate remains forever in solidly republican control.

It would seem that one branch of state government is less reflective of the popular will than the others.

[PATRICK]

4. Many reasons

but one sure sign is when there are NO Dems running in the districts the way they are set up. It is probably as expensive to even try as it is to field a federal campaign. To KEEP them from trying the senate courts moderates and labor(getting endorsements!!!) in a state where some "liberalism" is not only permitted but necessary. This is the longest running institutional strength of the GOP and they don't fiddle with success that gives one leg on the three legged dog that determines the budget. Our guy Nozzoli seems nice and is sympathetic to labor votes, but in character, as usual is another creep from stories I have heard but that the public never will. Without the national spotlight it takes a deep local scandal or extreme bad legislative behavior to unseat an incumbent.

IF the national GOP followed their example, playing to the district and state rather than outside kingmakers, giving people bones or what they want in some bread and butter issues, the GOP would be democratically dominant instead of a gutted fraud, but now there is no tradition in many states to even try to build up this kind of situation.