Spin Cycle

A slice of the inner politics of Nassau County are aired in the trial of former parks clerk and political activist Shomwa Shamapande, which seems to winding toward a conclusion. Stay tuned for more tonight and tomorrow.

Hillary Clinton may still be doing her best to avoid Iowa, New Hampshire and the like, but Barack Obama isn’t. He’s the guest of honor at the New Hampshire Democrats’ victory fete in Manchester on Dec. 11.

Glenn Thrush

Hillary hating ain’t the cottage industry it once was, but Dallas businessman Dick Collins has thrown his cash behind stophernow.com, a one-stop, one-sided Clinton site whose unabashed, late 1990s-style vitriol for New York’s junior senator seems a wee bit anachronistic. (The notion that it’s Clinton who must be stopped from destroying the country seems quaint coming days after an election in which the country seemed to deliver its stophimnow.com message to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. But, hey, it’s Dick’s dime).
Far, far better and far, far more fun is JustHillary.com, an even-handed, comprehensive stalker site run by New York Post political honcho Gregg Birnbaum, who’s a news hound, not an attack dog.

Glenn Thrush

For a political player, there is really no free boost like presidential speculation.
Think about it: In the short and shallow conversations that abound in the electoral world, the first association one makes within a half-second of hearing the player's name sets the tone of the chat. Mention the name George Pataki, for example, at a gathering of casually-interested government wags, campaign consultants or media types, and there's a good chance someone will ask just why he's running around Iowa and New Hampshire and does he really think he can win and oh, maybe he's making himself available for veep and blah blah blah.
Now imagine if Pataki spent his time on the chill in Garrison. The half-second semi-thought in the buzz-world might produce: What year did he really leave office and why did spending go up so much on his watch and look how the GOP ran down under him, an gee, hadn't he been sick -- thus spawning a more negative dose of blah-blah-blah. If you were the gov...

Continue reading "Cover Story" »

Republican Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno is expected to announce shortly that Jeffrey Lovell, one of Gov. George Pataki's closest advisers, will take over for Mary Louise Mallick as the Senate Finance Committee's secretary. In that role Lovell will be the chief fiscal adviser for the GOP side of the chamber.

Errol A. Cockfield Jr.

It was a little tense around the legislative horseshoe in Suffolk County last night after the Democratic majority upheld a veto from County Executive Steve Levy, a Democrat, that resulted in community groups in primarily GOP districts not receiving funding in the 2007 operating budget.

GOP lawmakers joked about being punished by Levy for speaking out against some of his proposals, and the “tyranny” of the Democratic majority. But the worst outburst occurred between two veteran legislators, Presiding Officer William Lindsay (D-Holbrook) and Legis. Cameron Alden (R-Islip), during a debate over establishing a group to look for relocation sites for the controversial trap-and-skeet shooting range in Yaphank.

Majority Leader Jon Cooper (D-Lloyd Harbor) asked Alden a question about his objections to the task force. And when Alden attempted to answer, Lindsay cut him off for speaking out of turn.

Alden erupted, “Good way to run a meeting.”

Lindsay responded, “I will call a recess of this meeting [if lawmakers' outbursts continued].”

Alden replied, “Do what you have to do.”

Lindsay, banging his gavel several times, shot back, “You aren’t going to disrupt this meeting anymore.”

Later, Legis. Edward P. Romaine (R-Center Moriches) warned his colleagues that if they really angered Democrats the shooting range might end up in a Republican district. “Where are we going to put the trap and skeet? Every member of the minority should live in fear of the tyranny of the majority.”

Romaine and other GOP lawmakers also torpedoed several capital projects pushed by Levy by withholding their votes or voting against the required bond financing.

James T. Madore

Suffolk County Executive Steve Levy invited reporters from News12 and Newsday to meet him in his office on Monday at 12:30 p.m. to discuss his vetoes of the 2007 budget.

Two reporters and a cameraman showed up for the meeting, only to find out that Levy hadn’t issued any vetoes, except for the one he inked for the camera.

A Levy spokesman, Ed Dumas, said the vetoes wouldn’t be ready until 5 p.m.

Then why did his boss call the press to talk about actions he had not taken?

“No comment,” Dumas said.

Chau Lam

Outgoing Gov. George Pataki is expected today to sign an executive order that would allow a special counsel to subpoena witnesses as part of an investigation of state Comptroller Alan Hevesi.

This comes after Gov.-elect Eliot Spitzer signaled through a targeted leak last week that he is leaning toward asking the state Senate to remove Hevesi once he takes office.

Errol A. Cockfield Jr.

During the waning days of her re-election campaign, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton was ahead by miles, but that didn't stop her hyperactive fund-raising operation from continuing to collect cash in the final 10 days of the race.
Friends of Hillary, which raised about $50 million for her Nov. 7 trouncing of Republican John Spencer, reported contributions from model Ivanka Trump and her brother Donald Jr. ($2,100 each), authors Sidney Sheldon ($2,000) and Erica Jong ($2,000), "American Gigolo" Richard Gere and his actress wife Carey Lowell ($2,000 total) and $2,100 from Stanley Zabar, who runs the world-famous Manhattan bagel-and-lox emporium of the same name.
Clinton, whose 1990s medical reform package was killed, in part, by the health-care industry, has continued to benefit from their political patronage this year. In October alone, Clinton's HILL PAC received $12,000 from a half-dozen health-care providers in Georgia, Arizona and Pennsylvania, according to campaign records.

Glenn Thrush

Which was the most fevered lunge for self-promotion by a power player? Vote at newsday.com/spincycle.

1. State Comptroller Alan Hevesi, under fire for using a state worker to chauffeur his wife, released audits last week that included one about a former top administrator of an upstate school district who allegedly charged at least $11,500 in personal expenses to his school district.

2. Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) established a committee to explore a presidential campaign a few days after Rudolph Giuliani did the same.

3. Rep. Charles Rangel apologized for remarks about Mississippi that some saw as derogatory.

CLICK HERE to vote

Election Day has come and gone, but there is still a major unresolved electoral battle going on between the state’s Conservative and Working Families Party that won’t be decided for another week when the recanvassing of ballots is complete.
At stake is Row D on the ballot line.
According to unofficial returns, the labor-backed, 8-year-old Working Families Party was only 1,200 votes behind the Conservatives, who now hold Row D after losing Row C to the Independence Party in 1998.
Those returns show that Conservatives pulled 128,007 votes statewide, with Conservative Republican John Faso at the head of their ticket, while Working Families netted 126,797 votes with Eliot Spitzer on their line. The Independence Party had 146,456 on election night, but that is far below the more than 600,000 votes it pulled four years ago when billionaire businessman Thomas Golisano spent millions on his campaign.
What makes the outcome unsettled this time is that 238,500 absentee and military ballots, most of which are usually counted on election night, were put aside by court order for a later count because of concerns that the state comptroller’s race would be very close.
“They are ahead of us, but not by much,” said Dan Cantor, Working Families Party executive director, noting his party got nearly 50 percent more votes than the 90,000 it received in 2002. “They’re heading down while we’re headed up ... It’s just a matter of time till we pass them.”
However, Michael Long, state Conservative chairman, said he’s confident his party will keep Row D. He attributed the increase in the Working Families Party numbers to $250,000 the Spitzer campaign dumped into their coffers and the phoning and mailing the party did in the final days before the election. “It’s easy to do when you have a candidate that gets a large vote,” he said.

Rick Brand

Already bloodied from the last election, the Islip GOP looks like it’s in for a new round of internal battles as John Cochrane Jr., son of the former town and county GOP leader, appears poised to enter the fray as an anti-organization candidate.
Cochrane, according to sources, is exploring the possibility of either a run for supervisor or a race against Legis. Thomas Barraga (R-West Islip), who lost the GOP supervisor primary but ran on a minor party line attacking Republican candidate Pamela Greene, who lost the supervisor race.
Cochrane, 47, a Naval reserve captain who owns an insurance agency down the street from town GOP headquarters, declined to comment about his plans, but his father acknowledged his son is testing the waters. “It’s absolutely true, but he’s his own man,” said the elder Cochrane, who was allied with Greene forces last year in a losing attempt to oust state Sen. Caesar Trunzo as town GOP leader. “God knows the town needs a new generation of leaders,” the elder Cochrane said.

Rick Brand

Suffolk Legis. Jon Cooper (D-Lloyd Harbor) is known around the legislative horseshoe for attempting to defuse tense debates with a light-hearted comment or two. But earlier this week, his attempt at humor backfired.
The legislature’s Budget and Finance Committee was debating whether to give $10,000 to the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals for equipment and supplies to be used in disasters to aid animals in distress.
The measure, sponsored by Legis. Kate M. Browning (WFP-Shirley), drew questions from Republicans Cameron Alden of Islip and Daniel P. Losquadro of Shoreham. Both said the money should have been included in the recently-adopted 2007 operating budget.
“No pun intended, but this sounds like a pet project,” said Losquadro, the minority leader.
Cooper, the majority leader, replied, “That was intended.”
The men then squared off, with Losquadro stressing the need to be fiscally prudent, particularly in years when money is tight, and Cooper pleading for animals caught in hurricanes and other disasters.
A motion to table the bill failed due to Democratic opposition on the seven-member committee. The measure then was forwarded without recommendation to Tuesday’s meeting of the full legislature, a move opposed by Republicans.
After the vote, Cooper, looking at the Republicans and smiling, said, “Animal haters – just joking, Dan.”
Alden shot back, “Wasteful, big spenders.”
Losquadro, looking stern, added, “There appears to be a double standard in terms of budgeting requirements.”

James T. Madore

After his third election, Rep. Timothy Bishop is finally feeling safer and is about to retire the long-standing debt from his first win in 2002.
Aides say that in the next several weeks, Bishop will pay off the last $30,600 he owes to Doug Dodson, who managed that first campaign. That’s down from an original debt of $96,000, which Bishop has been slowly paying off.
Bishop, who first beat incumbent Felix Grucci by a scant 2,000 votes, increased his margin to 35,000 this year, winning every town in his district, including conservative Smithtown, where he got 54 percent of the vote. He also ended the election with $400,000 in his campaign account, cutting back on his last-minute spending against Republican Italo Zanzi because he was comfortably ahead.

Rick Brand

Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) is being elevated to a newly-created, number-three slot as vice chairman of the Democratic Conference in the Senate Majority as a prize for spearheading the stunning Democratic takeover of the Senate.
The current number three, Michigan Sen. Debbie Stabenow, is stepping down as secretary of the Democratic conference in exchange for a plum committee slot, according to a Senate staffer. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) will announce Schumer's new title at a Capitol Hill news conference.
Schumer, 55, who raised more than $100 million as chairman of the Democratic Senate Campaign Committee, ranks behind Assistant Majority Leader Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), Reid's number two.
Washington Sen. Patty Murray will take Stabenow's slot, which will now be the fourth most powerful position in the Senate leadership.

Glenn Thrush

Another sign she’s clearing the decks? Hillary Rodham Clinton is quitting her job as chairwoman of the Democratic policy steering committee in the Senate, a job she’s held for four years, Newsday has learned.
The committee is responsible for channeling ideas from advocacy groups and think-tanks into the Democrats’ platform. Clinton reportedly felt she’d served long enough and was feeling pinched by other time pressures, according to a Democratic staffer.

Glenn Thrush

There’s an intriguing news nugget in the Times’ Monday profile of Howard Wolfson, Hillary Clinton’s ubiquitous consultant.
Wolfson, reports Ray Hernandez, "will oversee the fabled Clinton war room as Mrs. Clinton steps further onto the national stage. The operation has a pivotal task: researching the records and backgrounds of opponents, writing Mrs. Clinton’s policy statements, responding to criticism from opponents and keeping tabs on the legions of reporters whose coverage of her shapes her public image."
So why set up a war room (a phrase that Clinton herself coined during the ’92 race) if you ain’t going to fight a war?

Glenn Thrush

Republican Attorney General candidate Jeanine Pirro may have lost statewide, but she edged out Andrew Cuomo in Suffolk.
Pirro topped Cuomo 49.25 percent to 48.8 percent countywide. Even Alan Hevesi, who became embroiled in a scandal over state employees driving his wife, did better than Cuomo, pulling 51.4 percent to GOP foe Chris Callaghan’s 44.9 percent.
Hillary Clinton, who six years ago lost Suffolk to former Rep. Rick Lazio (R-Brightwaters) 56 percent to 40 percent, not only won in Suffolk this year, but topped the hometown Lazio’s percentage this year with 59 percent of the vote to 39 for Republican John Spencer. Clinton did not lose a single Suffolk town.
In Nassau, Cuomo bested Pirro 53.2 percent to 45.2 percent; Hevesi drew 53.8 percent and Callaghan, 43.4 percent; and Clinton won with 60.3 percent to Spencer’s 38.4 percent. Six years ago Lazio beat Clinton in Nassau 52.3 percent to 44.2 percent.

Rick Brand

Which was the most fevered lunge for self-promotion by a power player? Vote at newsday.com/spincycle.
1. U.S. Rep. Charles Rangel (D-Manhattan) saying Mississippi gets more than its fair share of federal money and adding: “But who the hell wants to live in Mississippi?”
2. U.S. Rep. Chip Pickering (R-Miss.) demanding an apology from Rangel for insulting and slandering the state.
3. State Comptroller Alan Hevesi defying prospective removal, vowing on the night of his re-election despite scandal to “serve and work hard for the people of New York every day of my next four years.”
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In the aftermath of an election where Democrats claimed newfound power on the state and national level, Gov.-elect Eliot Spitzer’s visit to Puerto Rico was viewed as a rebirth in relations between the commonwealth and New York, the main gateway for Puerto Rican migrants.
Yesterday morning, during Spitzer’s first trip away from the U.S. mainland since his victory, the governor-elect and his wife, Silda Wall, had breakfast with Puerto Rican Gov. Anibal Acevedo-Vila and his wife, Luisa Gandara, in the ornate governor’s mansion overlooking San Juan harbor.
Outgoing Gov. George Pataki had a good rapport with Puerto Rico. But the island’s leadership views Spitzer as someone who will be more in tune with Puerto Rico’s symbiotic relationship with New York and would lobby for its share from Washington as much as he would advocate on the state’s behalf.
“With the shifting power structure in Washington, we are hopeful that both Puerto Rico and New York will benefit from the opportunity now to get what we view to be our fair share of federal dollars . . . for health care, education or housing,” Spitzer said during a news conference at the governor’s office.
Both men noted that two of their congressional allies — Reps. Charles Rangel (D-Harlem) and Nydia Velazquez (D-Brooklyn) — are slated to take control of two important House committees, Ways and Means and Small Business Services.
“We all are sure that the new policies that are going to come out from Congress are going to help New York, are going to help Puerto Rico,” Acevedo-Vila said.

Continue reading "Puerto Rico's Happy, Too" »

After chomping down a burger at the Ritz Carlton's Ocean Bar & Grill, Gov.-elect Eliot Spitzer headed over to a beach chair to take in some sand and surf on Day 2 of his post-campaign vacation..

"I haven't had a burger in a while," he said, patting his full stomach.

Alongside him was George Fox, a friend and political donor who is president of Titan Advisers, a hedge fund consulting company.

- Errol A. Cockfield Jr.

Gov.-elect Eliot Spitzer and his wife, Silda Wall, were wowed by the Spanish colonial architecture and the views of San Juan harbor from the governor’s mansion in Puerto Rico, where they had breakfast this morning with Gov. Anibal Acevedo-Vila and his wife, Luisa Gandara.

“The governor did show us the spectacular views upstairs in the private residence," Spitzer told reporters after breakfast. "I must say it was one of those iconic pictures of the bay and the fort (San Cristobal) ...”

But before Spitzer could finish his glowing comments, Acevedo-Vila interrupted him and quipped, “No offense, but it’s not Albany.”

Then, defending the state Capitol, Spitzer said, "You’re invited to Albany anyway.”

Errol A. Cockfield Jr.

Crossing borders, Babylon Supervisor Steve Bellone and town party leader Robert Stricoff helped raise $20,000 for Islip Democrat Philip Nolan in the final days of his winning supervisor campaign.
The money helped Nolan pay for TV and radio spots in the campaign’s final week. Stricoff said $12,000 came from donors that do business with he town and the remaining $8,000 came from individual contributors.
The 7,000-member AME union, which represents county white and blue collar worker, made a last-minute $15,000 donation to help appointed Republican County Clerk Judith Pascale finance a final radio blitz.
Cheryl Felice, union president, said the clerk’s office employs more than 200 of her members and the Riverhead county center from which Pascale operates has more than 450 employees. “We needed to show we could make a difference,” said Felice.
Statewide, Thomas Golisano, the mega-bucks former Independence Party gubernatorial candidate, gave $50,000 to the Senate Republicans in the campaign’s last 11 days, while the Cablevision PAC gave $40,000 to the GOP Senate campaign committee.

Rick Brand

Former City Council Speaker Gifford Miller may have lost his bid for mayor last year but this afternoon we spotted him chatting up City Comptroller Bill Thompson at the Somos El Futuro conference in San Juan, Puerto Rico, another sign he is contemplating some kind of political comeback.
The fall gathering of New York's Hispanic lawmakers is hosted each year by the state Assembly's Puerto Rican/Hispanic Task Force.
Governor-Elect Eliot Spitzer, who is vacationing in Puerto Rico, will visit the group tomorrow after having breakfast with the commonwealth's governor, Anibal Acevedo-Vila.

Errol A. Cockfield Jr.

There’s a new sheriff in town — or at least a new Republican leader, in the predominantly black Village of Hempstead. Actually, there are two new GOP leaders in the state’s largest village.
Well, neither of these two co-leaders are new as the village’s top Republicans. Last year, James Garner, Long Island’s first black mayor, ended his 16-year tenure as government leader of the 60,000-population village. In that role, he had been the party’s real top dog. And Billy Sammon was the party’s titular chief most of that time.
But the mostly black committeemen and women wanted a black leader and, with the support of Nassau County Republican Chairman Joseph Mondello, they chose one for the first time ever at the end of 2003: Raymond Rhoden, the current Hempstead Town Deputy Commissioner of Parks and Recreation.

Sid Cassese

Continue reading "Talk of Hempstead Village" »

You can now actually make a case that George Allen’s "Macaca" comment was responsible for handing Congress over to the Democrats.

Glenn Thrush

The City Council of Long Beach finally passed a bond issue Tuesday night to help repair city roads and public structures, but some residents are getting tired of prodding the politicians into action.
Richard Stuts, who lives on an often-flooded section of Barnes Street, complained that he had to come to the council meeting two weeks ago to urge passage, and had to take another night away from home and sit through a three-hour council meeting this Tuesday.
“This is what we elected you people to do,” Stuts chastised the council members, who did not respond. “This is your job. This is not my job. I should be home watching ‘Dancing with the Stars.’ You should be getting the job done.”
Stuts said he and other Long Beach residents would keep the council’s actions in mind when they vote next year. If he had stayed home, he could have voted that night — but it would only have been for dancers.

Bill Murphy

Still plenty of info, spin and speculation for your blogging purposes, stemming from Tuesday.

Spitzer and Hevesi: where’s that mess going?
What’s next, now that Suffolk GOP lost another town?
Who’s going to be running around the second floor of the Capitol come January?
And, now that the die in Iraq is cast, how much difference does it really make that Rumsfeld’s out?

It seems Gov. George Pataki's camp didn't have much faith in Republican gubernatorial nominee John Faso because before the polls closed Tuesday, Pataki's staff had already made plans to meet with soon-to-be Governor-Elect Eliot Spitzer yesterday morning. But then Spitzer did claim 69 percent of the vote over Faso's 29.
Both men met over coffee in the morning before a noon press conference where they had glowing words for each other.

Errol A. Cockfield Jr.

After claiming a record victory in last night's election, Governor-Elect Eliot Spitzer and Gov. George Pataki appeared together today and said their staffs are working together to ensure a smooth transition for leadership of the state.
"I have absolute confidence that the state of New York will be in very good hands for the next four years," Pataki said at a noon press conference where he also spoke favorably of Spitzer's record as attorney general.
Though both men were jovial in welcoming Spitzer to the club of New York governor's, Spitzer said, "The issues ahead are significant and serious." He said he will turn to Pataki for guidance because he trusts Pataki's judgment.
Errol A. Cockfield Jr.

Continue reading "Transition" »

Congratulations to the Winners! E-mail me at michael.rothfeld@newsday.com and let me know how you'd like to claim your prize.

1) King beat Mejias, rounding to the nearest point, 56-44.
This race is a tie: "Kent Mets" and "Ken" both guessed 55-45. Could you be one and the same?

2) Hevesi 56, Callaghan 39.
"LI Dem" guessed 55-40.

3) House and Senate. These results are obviously not final, but at this moment it looks like Democrats have picked up 28 seats in the House, and four to six in the Senate.

But based on the responses, I can declare "J" the winner. He or she guessed 27 seats in the House and 5 in the Senate, which is likely to be only one or two off, unless things change in the House. The runners up (sorry, no prizes) were were "Anonymous 2:45 p.m." and "LI Dem," either of whom could be off by as little as five, depending on the final results.

631 Jelly Bean Winner, you didn't make it this time, but I'm saving your primary night beans for you.

Alan Hevesi's name wasn't uttered from the podium at the state Democratic Party's victory celebration last night in midtown Manhattan.

But while party leaders didn't speak about him in public, they included him in a news release touting the Democratic sweep of statewide offices.

James T. Madore

Here's the release:

Continue reading "Remembering Hevesi - sort of" »

The Senate is almost certainly going to be up in the air overnight. Democrat Harold Ford has lost in Tennessee. Democrats have to win all three outstanding races -- Virginia, Missouri and Montana -- to take the Senate. Virginia and Missouri are both almost dead even, and Democrat Jon Tester leads in early returns in Montana.

CNN Democrats/talkers Carville and Begala seem to think there are a lot of absentee ballots out in Dem areas in Virginia, which bodes well for Jim Webb, but the consensus seems to be this race will end up in a recount, which is automatic when the margin is less than 1 percent. In Missouri, Democrat Claire McCaskill leads by about 14,000 with 80 percent counted.

The House, of course, belongs to the Democrats. Not clear by how much, though. .. Chris Shays and Rob Simmons still seem to be hanging on for the GOP in Connecticut, Marilyn Musgrave in Colorado.

With 97 percent of precincts, Hillary Clinton has 66.71 percent. Bragging rights, however, belong to Spitzer, who has 69.71 percent. And neither one caught Chuck Schumer, who got 72 percent in his re-election in 2004.

Andrea Stewart-Cousins is claiming victory in her state Senate race against Nick Spano, a big coattails race for Eliot Spitzer. But no sign of a Spano concession yet ....

The Journal-News also reports that Democrat John Hall has taken down Republican incumbent Sue Kelly in the Hudson Valley house race, and Kirsten Gillibrand has been declared a winner over GOP incumbent John Sweeney in the 20th CD. Michael Arcuri, a Democrat, has won retiring Republican Sherwood Boehlert's seat.

So that's three Democrat pickups in the New York delegation. But CNN has declared that Republicans Jim Walsh, Randy Kuhl, and Foley-tarred GOP leader Tom Reynolds of Erie County all survived, but the skin of their teeth.

One of Albany’s “three men in a room” is now claiming he is not in favor of the status quo.
Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, who has led the Democratic-controlled body for more than a dozen years, refused last night to acknowledge he was part of the Albany power structure that Governor-elect Eliot Spitzer has vowed to reform.
"No, I consider myself a 13-year speaker. That doesn't make me part of the status quo," Silver told reporters.
Silver also said he supports campaign finance reform and public financing of campaigns. "I hope we can have everyone in lock step because we have to change the way the principles of Albany work," he said.

James T. Madore

J. Christopher Callaghan conceded to Hevesi, but said he was puzzled by the voters' verdict.

"I cannot help but regard the decision of New York voters as odd. They don’t owe me an explanation.... They returned to office a man who by his own admission misappropriated funds. It’s not like there’s a lot of mystery here. He pony-ed up some of the money. They’re fine with that, so, O.K."

Things continue to look up for Alan Hevesi. Not only did he win big at the polls tonight (57-39), he's getting some love from Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, too. Silver told our James T. Madore that the Ethics Commission report and the findings of Pataki special counsel David Kelley were a "political charade."

Silver said the key to Hevesi's future is the determination of whether he committed a crime.

"A political charade is what has gone on so far," Silver said. "I have confidence that the final determination will be with the Albany County District Attorney, and hopefully he will make that final determination within an appropriate amount of time."

One of the year's most closely watched state Senate races is in Westchester, where Andrea Stewart-Cousins, with considerable help from Eliot Spitzer, is trying to reverse an 18-vote defeat to Republican incumbent Nick Spano.

According to the Journal News, with 75 percent of the precincts counted, she leads Spano 51-49, 31,491 to 30,675.

Eliot Spitzer was so certain of a win that he was already making plans for a transition. Within minutes of his victory speech his transition office sent out an email saying he would be meeting with outgoing Gov. George Pataki tomorrow at noon to discuss handing over the reins.

Errol A. Cockfield Jr.

Hundreds of Democrats in the grand salon of the Islandia Mariott erupted in loud cheers when Rep. Steve Israel announced that ABC was projecting that Democrats will take control of the House of Representatives.

Erik German

David Paterson, Democratic lieutenant governor elect:
"This has been a hard-fought campaign."

Errol A. Cockfield Jr.

All the precincts haven't been reported, but Peter King is leading David Mejias by about 17 or 18 points, looks like, so appears headed to an easy victory, although perhaps not as cushy a victory as some of his Long Island congressional colleagues.
Update: The margin is about 15 points.

In the only seriously contested NYS statewide race, Comptroller Alan Hevesi is leading Republican J. Christopher Callaghan, 58.7 to 35.9 percent with 12 percent of the votes counted.... Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver made some more supportive comments to the Observer about Hevesi's chances of long-term survival, despite the chauffeur scandal.

Nassau election officials are disputing an ABC News report suggesting intimidation of female and minority voters on Long Island.

Here's what ABC News reported:
Lawyers for the Democratic Party report that in Long Island there have been systematic challenges to female and hispanic voters challenging their citizenship and making them swear oaths of their U.S. citizenship. Poll watchers dispatched on site have been defending voters, the Democrats said.

Here's what Nassau Democratic Elections Commissioner William Biamonte said. If a voter shows up at a polling place and their name is not on the list of registered voters, they can vote through an affadavit ballot. To get the affadavit ballot, they have to swear an oath that they are a U.S. Citizen, a registered voter and eligible to vote. After election day, election officials go through their records to see if the person really is registered. If registered, the vote is counted. Biamonte said this is what election law calls for and is not new. He said the board had received a handful of calls complaining that about this from people who didn't understand the process.

Celeste Hadrick

A glowing Silda Wall Spitzer just walked into the Democrats' party at the Sheraton which means her husband, governor-elect Eliot Spitzer, can't be far behind. How did the couple spend the day? "We campaigned in all five boroughs and ended it with a ride on the Staten Island Ferry," Wall Spitzer said. "It was fun."

Errol A. Cockfield Jr.

The scene at the New York Dems' victory fest is a marked contrast from primary night, when Eliot Spitzer was in Harlem, at a street fair outside a rib joint, Dinosaur Barbecue.
Tonight at the Sheraton New York Hotel, at 7th Avenue and 53rd Street, the Democrats are in a classic ballroom, plush red and blue, large and open, without tables.
The backdrop for the victory speeches is a mural of an American flag fluttering in the wind. On the translucent podium, is a sign, visible to all cameras, “Leadership for New York” in white lettering with blue background, underlined with red stars. They expect 2,500 to attend, and 150 media outlets, from Europe and the Far East. More than a dozen T.V. trucks are parked outside.
Balloons and confetti will be released. There was no liquor on Primary night, but plenty here - and plenty expensive. Imported bottle of beer $9. $9.75 for a glass of red or white wine, and water is $6.50.
$11.75 to $13 for mixed drinks. People are lining up and drinking. No one complains. One person wonders what the big deal is, why a reporter is writing down prices. “Hey. This is New York,” he says.

James Madore

Keep checking out the big Virginia Senate race here. At this moment, Allen has 49.43 percent and Webb has 49.37 percent, with 86.6 percent of the vote counted.

UPDATE: The other biggies. Republican Jim Corker leads Democrat Harold Ford in Tennessee, 52-47 with 41 percent of precincts reporting. And Jim Talent leads Democrat Claire McCaskill 53-43 in Missouri, with only 11 percent reporting.

"The news media in general kind of preordained Eliot Spitzer, so that made it even more of an uphill climb than what you ordinarily have when the person who is in your party is stepping down and creating an open seat," state GOP Chairman Stephen Minarik told reporters at the party's election night gathering at a local Albany hotel.

Melissa Mansfield