Senate Minority Leader Malcolm Smith thinks so.
According to an attendee at Councilman Joe Addabbo's midtown fundraiser last night, which officially kicked off his challenge to GOP Queens Sen. Serf Maltese, Smith said the 15th SD would be the lynchpin race in the Democrats' effort to take control of the Senate this fall.
"The tipping point to winning the election. The tipping point to winning the Senate. There is no race more important than this one. We should all eat, sleep and dream. Joe Addabbo, Jr."
(No pressure or anything).
Maltese has been the Democrats' top target since Al Baldeo came out of nowhere to come within less than 800 votes of toppling the 10-term senator without receiving any help from the Democratic Party. The only problem is that Baldeo has not yet agreed to step aside for Addabbo, whom the Democratic establishment prefers.
Baldeo, who is almost entirely self-financed, has even insisted he will create his own third party line on which to run in the general election if he runs and loses to Addabbo in the Democratic primary. Last I checked, he didn't seem to care that by doing this, he would increase Maltese's chances of holding on to his seat.
With the elevation of former LG David Paterson to the governor's office, the Senate Democrats now need to pick up two seats to flip the Senate, whereas they were previously hoping to need only won to tie up the chamber (the tie would have been broken by Paterson, who presided over the Senate as LG).
There is a disagreement between the Democrats and Republicans over how many votes Senate Majority Leader Joe Bruno, who is now imbued with all the powers of the LG, would have in the event of a tie. If that occurs, the whole mess is sure to end up in court.
Addabbo had $77,709 on hand as of mid-January. Maltese had $89,694. Baldeo had $309,023, most of which is his own money, plus $343,000 worth of debt (all of which he owes to himself).
With the departure of ex-Gov. Eliot Spitzer, the Senate Democrats lost their best fundraiser and chief cheerleader in the quest to gain control.
Candidates are now going to have to shoulder a bigger burden when it comes to fundraising, and sources close to Paterson say it's unlikely he'll campaign hard for Democratic hopefuls like Spitzer did.
