He hasn’t even taken office yet, and already Eliot Spitzer is working his magic:
Governor-elect Eliot Spitzer stunned the state’s political establishment yesterday when he announced he had crossed party lines to appoint state Sen. Michael Balboni, an influential Long Island Republican, as his homeland security czar.
Just some cabinet appointment, right? So what, you say? Not so slow:
What elevates Balboni as a master political stroke is that his seat has a great chance to go Democratic in an upcoming special election. The GOP recently lost every statewide race. With its Senate majority down to three seats – Balboni caved in to party pressure last year not to run for attorney general – the loss of his seat could hasten the fall of the state’s last GOP bastion of power.
Republicans currently hold a slim 34-28 advantage in the state Senate. That means we need just three more seats to take control of the body. (The Lt. Gov., soon to be a Dem, gets to break ties.) If we can take Balboni’s seat, then we’d only need two pickups (though more would be better, of course) before redistricting. And winning here is very possible.
New York’s 7th state Senate district has a voter registration breakdown (PDF) of 38D-35R-23I, with minor parties making up the rest. A special election will likely take place soon, in February. (Because this is New York and everything has not yet changed on Day One, there won’t be a primary.) Newsday offers up a list of names being considered by the establishment on both sides.
Undoubtedly the state GOP will throw everything it has into this race, since the Senate is its last remaining bastion. But the Dems will do the same, and given how unpopular Republicans have become of late throughout the state and especially on Long Island, this race may even tilt Dem ever so slightly.
(Hat tip to The Albany Project for the links in this post.)
Spitzer had spent all of campaign cash on GOTV in key senate districts (or U.S. House seats), instead of sitting on more than $5 million.
I predict victory for our side. Long Island has fallen out of love with Republicans.
Besides being a very effective politician (he did amazing work as Attorney General), Spitzer is also a very smart and savvy politician. Rumor has it that he wants to run for President some day, and boy let me tell you, he would be tough to beat.
As for the state senate race, I too predict a win for Dems – in ’05 the county legislatures in Long Island, a longtime Republican stronghold, switched over to Democratic control. Factor in the registration advantage and general anti-Republican environment, and this should be an easy win.
I think we win that one.