Spin Cycle

A new NY1/Newsday poll shows Hevesi's lead over Callaghan down to ten, but pollster Mickey Blum predicts he'll have enough to hang on.

Meanwhile, Hevesi cuts a new ad in which he tells voters he'll have them to thank -- not the politicians -- if they return him to office. That's a stretch, because Hillary Clinton and Chuck Schumer gave him big time cover by saying his use of a state worker as his wife's chauffeur wasn't enough to stop them from voting for him, his campaign has since featured similar comments by other Dems in its press releases, and Eliot Spitzer will have to chicken out on a removal effort if Hevesi is to stay in office after January.

Nonetheless, notes Capitol Confidential, it's not the kind of rhetoric that supports the notion that Hevesi's only function is to hold the office for the Democrats: "That doesn’t sound to me like a man who’ll be willing to go quietly if his fellow state officials seek his removal after his potential re-election."

UPDATE: A new Siena College poll shows the race much closer than the Newsday/NY1. They have Hevesi's lead down to 39-35, with a 27-46 favorable-unfavorable. But this poll uses a smaller sample, with a 4 pct. margin of error compared to 3 pct. in the NY1/Newsday poll.