Click on photo to enlarge...Photo courtesy of flickr dnblog1
Although the Democrats push to take over the state Senate sustained a serious setback with the loss of its main proponent - and chief fundraiser - ex-Gov. Eliot Spitzer, Minority Leader Malcolm Smith is continuing to raise money and court would-be candidates considering challenges to GOP incumbents this fall.
A reader sent in this photo of Democratic City Councilmen Joe Addabbo and Jim Gennaro with fellow Queens pol, Smith, at a March 20 fundraiser for the minority leader at Caffe on the Green in Bayside.
Neither Addabbo (thinking of taking on Sen. Serphin Maltese) nor Gennaro (thinking of taking on Sen. Frank Padavan) have formally announced their respective candidacies yet, but both are raising money and working to build bases of support.
The event was held three days after the swearing-in of Gov. David Paterson, a former minority leader and close Smith ally, and amid the ongoing fallout caused by the new governor's revelations about his extramarital affairs.
A Democratic senator recently insisted to me that the Spitzer debacle had not significantly hurt the minority's effort to wrest control of the chamber from the Republicans, and even asserted that more would-be candidates are "coming out of the woodwork" than every before.
One thing the Democrats still have going for them is the fact that this is a presidential election year, which will boost turnout in the increasingly Democratic state. But some Republicans are hoping if the Democratic nominee is Barack Obama, there will be a higher turnout for the GOP in the more conservative pockets of upstate.
