Colby Hamilton

Today on "The Capitol Pressroom":

Governor Andrew Cuomo will join the show at 11:06 am.

The AP’s Michael Gormley and Bloomberg’s Freeman Klopett will update us on the status of the budget; the challenge behind passage of health insurance exchanges; the trouble with Cuomo’s so-called transfer language. Plus their analysis of this week’s legislative races & the fracas over funding for Somos.

According to more than one analysis, the Governor’s decision to include transfer language in his budget means that unless the two legislative leaders stand their ground – to the point of shutting down state government – Andrew Cuomo may leave Albany this session as the most powerful Governor New York State has seen in recent history. We speak to “the woman who stopped the Westway”, Marcy Benstock of the NY Clean Air Campaign about her latest quest.

And then some music for the weekend. Ruth Pelham, the founder of the Music Mobile, joins us with Pulitzer Prize winning author William Kennedy to talk…and sing…about the role of music in education.

For show archives, please visit The Capitol Bureau's website here.

(h/t to Politicker's Colin Campbell for spotting some things in need of fixing.)

New York’s congressional maps solidified earlier this week and that meant the prognostication battle over which seats were competitive and how red or blue the congressional delegation would be next year got kicked off.

In the spirit of friendly, informed crystal ball gazing, the Empire reached out to the CUNY Mapping Service at the Center for Urban Research for help number crunching and data visualizing. Thanks to the center’s Steve Romalewski and his amazing mapping staff, we’ve cobbled together a number of different pieces of data to get our best analysis of the coming battle for the US House here in New York. (Want to see where we got our figures from? A link to an spreadsheet with the data is at the end of this post.)

There are two things in particular we wanted to look at. First, which seats, based on the data, are the ones to watch this year. Second, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee sent out a memo earlier this week that said “no such thing as a safe Republican seat in New York.” We thought it’d be fun to test that statement.

The answer, we found, was that at least three of New York’s new 27 districts where Republican have potentially a good shot based on the data--one of which is already held by a Republican--with two others leaning in the Republicans favor.

Overall we identified six districts that may be hotspots in the coming election. Two of them are currently held by Democrats.

The seat likely to stay in the R column is Congressman Richard Hanna who is expected to be on the ballot in NY-22. If you cross reference the enrollment data compiled by the state legislative task force, who were originally drawing the districts, with the lines drawn by the judge, Republican registration in NY-22 is some of the highest in the state at 41.3 percent. And the new district has a higher percentage of Republicans than Hanna’s current district. (See how Hanna's district has shifted here.)

If you look at the local votes for congress in the new district from 2008 and 2010, the new district would have voted for a Republican in both years (see the maps below--for info on the methodology click here). And in this district, Obama got 48.5 percent of the overall vote to McCain’s 48.6 percent. The DCCC, which only looks at the votes case for the two major party candidates, says Obama wins by a higher margin, 49.9 percent.

While the National Republican Congressional Committee might be thrilled about Hanna’s district, the scenarios for four other Republican congress members in New York aren’t as clear cut:

NY-11 – Michael Grimm (R)

• Current Republican enrollment: 27.6 percent
• New district enrollment: 27.2 percent
• New district Democrat enrollment overall went up 1.1 percentage points to 47.9 percent
• Then there’s the intangibles of allegations leveled against the congressman

NY-18 -- Nan Hayworth (R)

• Percentage of Democratic enrollees in the new district increased 1 percentage point while Republicans fell .6 percentage points
• New district’s enrollments are split pretty evenly: 35.4 Dem, 34.0 Rep
• Obama beat McCain narrowly overall, 51.6 to 46.4 percent (DCCC: Obama - 52.7%)

NY-19 -- Chris Gibson (R) -- See how Gibson's district has changed here.

• New district boundaries far different than Gibson’s current one
• New districts enrollees are pretty evenly split: 31.4 Dem, 33.9 Rep
• Gibson’s current district is 40.5 percent Republican
• Obama beats McCain overall, 52.4 to 44.8 percent (DCCC: Obama – 53.9%)

NY-24 -- Ann Marie Buerkle (R)

• New district Republicans retain a 1.1 percent edge on Democrats
• There are more Republicans, percentage-wise, in the new district than Buerkle’s current one
• But congressional vote projections show a Democrat winning in the new seat in 2008 and 2010
• Obama beat McCain overall, 55.4 to 41.5 (DCCC: Obama - 57.2%)

But Congressional Republicans aren’t the only ones who may have concerns this election cycle.

The first is Congressman Bill Owens who is likely to run in the new NY-21. The new district has the highest Republican enrollment percentage in the state at 44.8 percent. That’s more than the 42.5 percent in Owens’ current district right now. And based on the 2008 and 2010 congressional voting pattern projections, a Republican would have been projected to take the new district in both years. (See how Owens' district has changed here.)

Then there’s the seat that’s more or less represented by Congresswoman Kathy Hochul (see how it's changed here). Under the new lines, she technically lives in the same district as Congressman Brian Higgins. Were she to run in the new NY-27 out in Western New York, she might not have the easiest of times:

• Republicans have an enrollment edge at 40.3 percent, versus 32.9 percent of Democrats
• Obama lost to McCain overall, 44.1 to 53.4 percent (DCCC: Obama - 45.3%)

There are a couple other races of note:

• NY-02 – Peter King: while popular and well known, his new district is made of almost none of his current seat. Republicans retain a small 2.7 percent enrollment edge, but the overall percentage is done from 40.1 percent in his current seat to 36.6 in the new one.
• NY-25 -- Louise Slaughter: while Democrats enjoy a nearly ten-point enrollment advantage, the overall percentage for Slaughter drops from 55.4 percent in her current district to 40.2 percent in the new one.
• Both candidates are or could face strong challengers. Nassau County District Attorney Kathleen Rice is considering a run against King, while Monroe County Executive Maggie Brooks has declared she’s running against Slaughter.

The biggest issue that will likely affect the outcomes in this year’s congressional elections will be the people at the top of the ticket. In a presidential year with an incumbent Democrat on the ballot in a Democratic state, there’s reason to believe the results of Election Day in November could look more like the 2008 map than the 2010.

The data compiled by the CUNY Mapping Service at the Center for Urban Research that was used for this article has been compiled in a single spreadsheet. Click here to download it.

Yesterday, in the midst of all the SD-27 election discussion, I emailed the Orthodox Pundit to get his sense of what had happened. The discussion led to a post on his website today that argues Storobin's near-win--a victory in many ways, even if he ends up the loser after paper ballots are counted next week--is the continuation of a voting pattern that's seen the Orthodox Jewish community resist the conventional wisdom of the front-runner.

"[M]ore than anything, the last few elections showed that there is a strong anti-establishment mood in the Orthodox community. There is an insurgent segment that hates the inevitability mantle created by politicians around their candidates," OP writes.

The pattern, according to OP, started back in the 2009 city council contest between Brad Lander and John Heyer:

Dov Hikind – and if I recall correctly Agudah leaders -- supported Lander, but a group of activists, notably Shia Ostereicher from Belz, supported Heyer, pointing to his traditional marriage stances. Lander is today our councilman and Heyer ended third in the district overall. Still in [another] staggering defeat for Hikind and Agudah, Heyer won Borough Park 74-13 against Lander.

Ostereicher and company were seen as the new kingmakers in town, and some started to count Hikind’s days, believing [he was] losing out to the Hasidim who long ago overran the Hikind types in the Borough Park.

Shortly afterwards a special election for Simcha Felder’s seat came up. Hikind decided to align with the new Hasidic powers, and they settled on Joe Lazar as their candidate. Ostereicher worked hard for him, even pushing out others from the race[.] Hikind, Lander and Heyer, Agudah leaders and a ‘who is who’ list of the community also banded together to back Joe Lazar, creating an environment of inevitability. Result: David Greenfield, the insurgent, went on to a landslide in the district, and even the Hasidic BP split their vote almost evenly.

...

In the current election, Councilman David Greenfield was trying his magic, cloaking Fidler with the inevitability mantle, while Storobin didn’t have too many Orthodox Jewish political leaders publicly supporting him. Fidler also had the support of the highly celebrated [Russian kingmater], Gregory Davidzon, whose star rose dramatically thanks to the Turner upset.

I, for one, sensed an atmosphere a lot like the lead-up to the Greenfield-Lazar race, but thought that Greenfield had the advantage of the Bloomberg machine and that he led a more sophisticated targeted campaign than Storobin’s. For these reasons, I still felt that Fidler will win the seat and the establishment will win for a change.

OP's time line and thesis were mentioned in more than one conversation I had yesterday. If OP and others sense of things is correct, this should be good news for Democrats. At the very least, it will allow voters--not the county organization--to decide on a candidate. OP sketches out what could be the election strategy for both parties heading into this year's elections.

"My sense is that there is an active Orthodox electorate that hates to be told what to do and that the outcome is pre-determined," OP writes. "They rather like beaten down candidates who fight for their votes – it doesn’t matter if it’s with substance or with dirty attacks, as long they don’t come with high-profile names directing to them how to vote. I’d advise the next candidate to take a more humble approach."

Today on "The Capitol Pressroom":

Assembly members Hakeem Jeffries and Rory Lancman will join us--separately--to talk about their runs for Congress.

And Susan Lerner of Common Cause interprets the new Congressional Maps for us.

For show archives, please visit The Capitol Bureau's website here.

David Storobin, the next State Sentor from Brooklyn (maybe) (Courtesy of the Storobin Senate campaign)

The later it got on Tuesday night, the more it became apparent that the special election in Brooklyn's Senate District 27 wasn’t going to be decided in one night. In fact, the neck-and-neck race that has Republican David Storobin with a 120 vote over Councilman Lew Fidler, the Democrat, probably won’t be finalized until next week, when the Board of Elections counts the more than 700 absentee and affidavit ballots.

The seat might not yet be won, but the race had a clear winner. David Storobin and his Republican allies will have knocked off—or come very close to knocking off—the Democratic Party pick who was seen as the front runner and likely winner throughout the campaign.

“Tonight, we’ll go to bed as winners when nobody outside believed that we had a shot to even compete, when every story about this campaign began with Lew Fidler, the heavy favorite,” Storobin said after the election.

Republicans in southern Brooklyn are now two for two. Congressman Bob Turner’ upset win over Democratic Assemblyman David Weprin last September happened because southern Brooklyn turned out for the Republican. Now, conservative Orthodox Jews and the immigrant Russian community (itself heavily Jewish) have upset yet another candidate handpicked by the county Democratic organization (i.e. The Machine) in a special election.

What’s happening in Brooklyn in the last two years is as much a story of a few, at-times overlooked, and increasingly assertive communities fighting to be heard, as it is a partisan realignment. The muscle flexing is a story as old as New York City politics. But two special elections don’t mark a permanent political trend, Democrats and observers say. A special election, a divisive social issue like same-sex marriage and a 15 percent turnout may add up to a Republican victory in District 27, but is it the exception or the rule?

Today on "The Capitol Pressroom":

Assemblywoman Grace Meng is running for the New York City Congressional seat being vacated by Gary Ackerman. She joins us to discuss her decision to run, and reflects on her time in the legislature.

This morning the Deputy Secretary for Public Safety Elizabeth Glazer is scheduled to join members of the New York State Coalition Against Domestic Violence to discuss expansion of the state’s DNA Databank. State Senator Dan Squadron is the lead sponsor of a bi-partisan bill in that house that would establish the crime of aggravated domestic violence. What is it? We will find out.

When we last checked in with our Energy Committee Chairmen, State Senator George Maziarz was much more interested in seeing such a ‘highway’ span from western NY, rather than come down from Canada. The reason? He says it could utilize the underutilized New York State energy companies that populate upstate. He is also adamantly against shutting down Indian Point’s aging nuclear facility.

Meanwhile, across the aisle and down the hall, Assembly Energy Committee Chair Kevin Cahill is equally determined to shut down Indian Point, and replace that energy with a mixture of conservation efforts and clean power, like hydro… perhaps from Canada.

For show archives, please visit The Capitol Bureau's website here.

SPECIAL ELECTION RESULTS FOR THE STATE SENATE

SPECIAL ELECTION RESULTS FOR THE ASSEMBLY

Courtesy of CSPAN

Governor Andrew Cuomo and legislative leaders have relatively few remaining differences in this year’s budget, though ironing out all of the details will likely now prevent passage of the spending plan until later next week.

State Comptroller Tom DiNapoli has been at odds with Cuomo over pension reform, but praised the governor and lawmakers for being both conservative in their revenue estimates and prudent--so far--in their spending plans. Lawmakers are working on closing a $2 billion budget deficit, which is down from last year’s $10 billion gap.

“We don’t see the gimmicks that we’ve seen in past years. That’s good,” said DiNapoli.

The Comptroller does take issue, though, with the governor’s proposal to eliminate pre audits that his office conducts on some state contracts, saying “it takes away the opportunity” for his office to look out for taxpayer interests and the “best value” for the state.

The state Comptroller has largely sided with the unions in the fight over a pension reform package approved in all night session March 15. DiNapoli has said the plan, which required future public employees to pay more towards their pensions and receive less in return, won’t save state and local governments money in the short run.

But the Comptroller says now that the law has been enacted, his office will do its job and implement it. He says he questions the claims by Cuomo and lawmakers that the new pension tier will save $80 billion in future decades, saying there are “a lot of ifs” in that assumption.

He says one of the “key drivers” will be how many new workers are hired in a continued depressed economy.

“I don’t think you’ll see a robust hiring season for a while,” said DiNapoli.

DiNapoli says he’s pleased that Cuomo’s proposal to offer the option of 401(k)-type plans for all new hires was ultimately dropped. Only non-union hires who make more than $70,000 a year are eligible for the 401(k) option now.

Unions continued to express their displeasure.

Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (Colby Hamilton / WNYC)

The article was updated to correctly state where Wendy Long attended law school. As was pointed out by Michael Gaynor, Dartmouth has no law school.

Inside a union hall near Times Square on Monday, New York’s junior senator, Kirsten Gillibrand, stepped onto a wobbly wooden platform to accept her party’s nomination to keep her job. Surrounded by “Gillibrand/Senate” posters and gleeful supporters, the Senator spoke of the how much she’d done since being appointed by then-Governor David Paterson in early 2009, and of the values that underlie her reasons for wanting to get back to Washington DC.

“It was only two years ago that we were all together in Rye,” Gillibrand said. “We know how much work we have to do in Washington. We know--all of us--that Washington is broken. But together we are bound by a sense of core, common values that bring us together; convictions of what we care about--that shared vision of equality, justice, and fairness that we have to make progress on.”

Gillibrand spoke about her fight for the 9/11 health care bill and her desire to see the DREAM Act passed. She spoke about bringing manufacturing back to America and fighting for women’s rights in the face of a new onslaught.

Wendy Long (Karen DeWitt / NY State Public Radio)

Meanwhile, as Gillibrand spoke about women’s issues, another woman a few blocks further north was waiting for the results of a key vote in her quest to be the Republican to challenge the Democratic incumbent. Wendy Long, a Manhattan-based attorney, received the most votes at her party’s convention on March 16, but her 47.4 percent wasn’t enough to get her party’s official backing.

Now, as she begins the primary sprint against Congressman Bob Turner and Nassau County Comptroller George Maragos, Long was on the verge of receiving the Conservative Party’s backing, making her the clear front runner to challenge Kirsten Gillibrand for US Senate in November.

“If we can be sure of anything, it's that the immense challenges faced by our country and our nation cannot be solved by the same people in the same offices, casting the same votes for the same failed policies,” Long told Republicans in a speech at the convention. She cast herself as the fresh face in the race, looking to take Senator Gillibrand on her desire to see more women in politics.

Long may have joined the race late last month, but she has long been heavily involved in conservative activism and politics.

A native of New Hampshire, long attended undergrad at the local Ivy, Dartmouth, before studying law there and at Harvard and Northwestern. She went on to clerk for conservative Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas before joining the conservative Judicial Confirmation Network (the URL for which now goes to the Judicial Crisis Network) in 2005. An active supporter of the Supreme Court nominations of both John Roberts and Sam Alito, Long became the group’s lead voice of opposition to President Obama’s nomination of Justice Sonia Sotomayor.

“Judge Sotomayor is a liberal judicial activist of the first order who thinks her own personal political agenda is more important that the law as written,” Long wrote in a piece appearing on the National Review’s website in May 2009. She didn't limit her criticism to print:

In her letter announcing her run, Long says her experience working as a lawyer for “clients whose businesses were struggling against government overreach and overregulation – the things that choke opportunity and entrepreneurship, kill jobs, and undermine our constitutional freedoms” pushed her to get into the race.

We will fight with everything we’ve got against Barack Obama, Kirsten Gillibrand, and the Democratic Establishment in Washington, whom I believe are the real “one percent” – the elite liberals who think they are smarter than the rest of us, who want to take our hard-earned money and tell us how to spend it instead of letting us take care of our own families and communities, who think that government and not private enterprise creates jobs, and who if not stopped will destroy our Constitution and limited self-government.

Speaking with reporters on the floor of the Republican convention, Long pointed to the similarities that she and Senator Gillibrand share.

“Kirsten Gillibrand and I are very similar in our biographies. We’re both mothers, we’re both lawyers. But we couldn’t be more different in our beliefs, in our principles, in our politics,” Long said. The appeal of Wendy Long for New York Republicans and conservatives could be the total package of similarities and differences in a year when women may be the one of the biggest issues.

The congressional primary will be held on June 26.

Seems that "Governor 1%" label is sticking.

Karen DeWitt / NY State Public Radio

Today on "The Capitol Pressroom":

Comptroller Tom DiNapoli speaks out on the budget, pension reform and Tier VI; tightening up the rules for local development corporations; and the pre-audit function of the Comptroller’s office.

It’s Sportsmen & Outdoor Recreation Lobbying Day here at the Capitol. Assembly Minority Leader Brian Kolb and NRA Board Member Tom King join us with their legislative agenda.

Plus, Agriculture and Markets Commissioner Darrel Aubertine with an update on the Farm Bill, the mystery behind NY Maple syrup production, and the “Buy from the backyard act”.

Courtesy of the Eastern District Court.

As expected, Magistrate Judge Roanne Mann's proposed congressional map plan today. With only a few minor changes, the three-judge court accepted the 27 districts where candidates seeking to be on the primary ballot June 26 will be able to begin collecting signatures tomorrow.

"In the face of an outdated congressional districting plan, the application of which
would plainly violate the requirements of federal law, and of the New York legislature’s
complete abdication of its congressional redistricting duty, this court is obliged not only to
recognize a violation of law but also to create a new redistricting plan to ensure against the
disenfranchisement of state voters in the 2012 congressional elections," the judges wrote in their judgement.

The changes made by the three judges can be seen below after the jump.

Plaintiffs in the case, in particular the lawyers working on behalf of the Senate Republicans, had argued before the three-judge court that Mann should have taken the present districts' cores and incumbents into account in her maps. Additionally, a number of arguments before the court sought for specific communities--namely the African American community in Harlem; the Dominic and Latino communities in northern Manhattan, the Bronx and northern Queens; and the Jewish community in southern Brooklyn--to get districts they felt were fairer. The court rejected all these arguments.

Congressman Joe Crowley, left, Assemblywoman Grace Meng and Comptroller John Liu. (Colby Hamilton / WNYC)

It must have been an amazing four days for Assemblywoman Grace Meng of Queens.

On Thursday March 15, late in the afternoon, 30-year incumbent congressman Gary Ackerman announced his retirement at the end of this session. She quickly let it be known she was interested in the new seat being drawn in Queens by a federal court—as did a number of other folks, such as Councilman Mark Weprin, Senator Tony Avella, Assemblyman Rory Lancman, Councilwoman Elizabeth Crowley and others.

The Queens County Democratic organization decided to take the weekend to talk with the candidates and their supports, but late yesterday the news leaked: the county organization chose Meng as their candidate.

This morning at Queens County Democratic headquarters in Forest Hills they made it official.

“It is rare in this business to meet someone like Grace Meng. She’s hard not to love and she has character, commitment and confidence without a hint of arrogance—and in this business, that’s rare,” Councilman Mark Weprin said before officially nominating Grace to be the county organization’s pick for the new 6th Congressional District.

“Grace, it seems to me, you are the future of the Democratic Party,” said Senator Senator Toby Ann Stavisky in her seconding of Meng’s nomination.

The future, past and present appeared to all be taken into account in the choice of Meng. In his remarks on the nomination, Queens County Democratic Party chairman and Congressman Joseph Crowley pointed out that not since Geraldine Ferraro had Queens sent a woman to congress (both Representatives Maloney and Velazquez have parts of Queens in their districts, but both live in other boroughs).

“To have someone from Queens running is incredibly important this year, especially when I believe women have been attacked so much in recent weeks,” Crowley said.

And it’s the growing Asian American community in Queens that opened up the door for a future potential Congresswoman Grace Meng.

“It really is, I think, time for the Asian American community to have this opportunity,” said Crowley.

“Our greatest strength has always been our diversity,” Meng said in her remarks after getting the nod. “Queens is famous throughout the world for diversity and tolerance. But really it’s what we have in common that makes our neighborhoods work, our students succeed, and our families able to care for children and grandparents as they can.”

Getting the county’s endorsement won’t mean Meng makes it on the ballot in November. At least one of the other candidates interested in the job, Assemblyman Rory Lancman, is still planning on running. He’s scheduled a press conference for 3 pm this afternoon to officially launch his campaign for the job.

Congressman Crowley said he hopes the historical importance of Meng’s potential election against whomever Queens Republicans run in November will dissuade Lancman and others from challenging her.

“Having an incredibly divisive primary will not be helpful to that cause,” Crowley said.

Given the proposed district’s demographic breakdown that seems unlikely. While the district’s voting age population would be 60.1 percent minority voters, including the 38.8 percent Asian population in the district, it’s still 39.9 percent white and most of those voters are Jewish. Democratic enrollment is high in the community, which could work to Lancman’s advantage.

Today on "The Capitol Pressroom":

We will listen to a spirited dialogue about New York’s future with Michael Kink of Strong Economy for All (SEFA) and Michael McKeon of the Committee to Save NY (CSNY).

Dr. Rick Timbs of the Statewide School Finance Consortium is leading a last ditch effort to reallocate more money to low-wealth schools in the state budget.

Editor Adam Lisberg of City & State New York joins us with analysis of last week’s deal-making, winners and losers, and a preview of the current edition of City & State.

For show archives, please visit The Capitol Bureau's website here.

Three Republican candidates vying for the chance to take on Democratic United State's Senator Kirsten Gillibrand have secured spots on the GOP primary ballot in June.

Nassau County Comptroller George Maragos, Manhattan attorney Wendy Long, and freshman New York City Congressman Bob Turner all secured at least 25 percent of the vote at the party's convention today in Rochester.

Here's the official breakdown:

Wendy Long -- 47.4 percent
George Maragos -- 27.4 percent
Bob Turner -- 25.3 percent

Candidate statements:

Bob Turner

This was an amazing victory for a campaign that began just 72-hours ago.   I am enormously grateful for all the support I received at the convention and I am energized to deliver my message of job growth and fiscal responsibility in every corner of this state.  Senator Kirsten Gillibrand does not deserve re-election. She defrauded the voters of this state with promises that she would act as a moderate.  Instead she has governed from the far left, and is now ranked the most liberal senator in America. That is a firing offense.

This campaign has just begun.  My team and I will be working non-stop from now until Election Day to address the critical jobs and economic issues of our times.

An endangered species: Senate District 27 (Courtesy of the New York State Senate)

Next Tuesday voters in southern Brooklyn will go to the polls to pick who will replace disgraced former state senator Carl Krueger in the 27th District. The race between Democratic City Councilman Lew Fidler and Brooklyn county GOP vice-chair David Storobin has been short and anything but sweet.

The tone of the campaign might lead a casual observer to see this as a big deal. But the race is only a formality. Whoever wins on Tuesday will see the district they represent disappear at the end of this year. With Governor Andrew Cuomo and legislators coming to an agreement on new state senate lines, next Tuesday’s election is really just the start of an entirely new campaign.

The actual issues in the race have spoken to the divide in the district’s large Orthodox Jewish community. Same-sex marriage has been a major issue, as has school vouchers in a community with a high religious parochial school presence.

But whether on the issues or off, the race has been an ugly one. Both candidates are Jewish, but that hasn’t stopped accusations of ties to neo-Nazi groups, hints of insufficient Jewishness via a kosher reference, and a general ugliness that's made what was always going to be a quick race seem slowed up by the amount of mud getting tossed around.

While the candidates have been busy bashing each other’s brains in (in a political sense, of course), Senate Republicans were slicing and dicing Brooklyn’s political terrain. When the redistricting proposal was done the Senate had carved out a promised “super Jewish” district, while cutting the current 27th between four new districts.

Whether Stororbin or Fidler wins, each will have to make a decision—or they may have already—as to which district they want to run in. City and State pointed out recently that Fidler is debating between running in the new “super Jewish” 17th District, or challenging long-time Republican Senator Marty Golden. Golden’s new district is one of the four that cannibalizes the current 27th.

Meanwhile, Storobin, who wouldn’t be a resident of the proposed 17th district, has saidhe’s interested in running for it. Either way, the winner of next week’s election will look for the victory to catapult them into the next election this November—something that has in many ways already begun.

Today on "The Capitol Pressroom":

Liz Benjamin of YNN’s Capitol Tonight updates us from Rochester on the GOP Convention.

Seneca President Robert Odawi Porter joins us with reaction to the agreement on the constitutional amendment on casino gambling.

Analysis of what transpired at the Capitol on Wednesday night/Thursday morning: First up, Bill Samuels of the New Roosevelt Institute focuses on the process.

Then, former Assemblyman and current DEMOS fellow Richard Brodsky focuses on the substance.

For show archives, please visit The Capitol Bureau's website here.

Congressman Bob Turner (Courtesy of the Congressman)

The New York State GOP convention is taking place in Rochester today. But before he could even get there, Rye town supervisor and prospective US Senate candidate Joe Carvin ended his campaign this morning.

"My number one goal in entering the race was to ensure that the Republican Party had a nominee capable of defeating Ms. Gillibrand in November," Carvin said in a statement announcing the end of his campaign. "But in the last several days - after Ms. Gillibrand was ranked the most left-wing senator in America by National Journal and after she voted for higher gas prices by opposing the Keystone XL Pipeline - I believe any of the candidates in this race can beat her."

The news is a boon for freshman congressman Bob Turner of (mostly) Queens. Not only did he lose a competitor, but he got back the team who had helped him win his surprise congressional victory last September. Communications wizard Bill O'Reilly and his former campaign manager E. O'Brien Murray. Both had previously been doing work with the Carvin campaign.

Turner has been on an endorsement roll since announcing earlier this week. This morning it was announced the Queens GOP switched its backing from Nassau County Comptroller George Maragos to Turner.

"Bob has taken on the status quo and fought hard to reverse Washington's reckless spending," Queens County chair Phil Ragusa said in a statement. "We worked hard to help elect him to congress and we look forward to doing the same in his race for U.S. Senate."

The primary for congress is scheduled for June 26.

Assemblyman Rory Lancman has announced he won't be pursuing a primary challenge against Congressman Gary Ackerman in the new 6th District in Queens.

"My enthusiasm for running against Republican Bob Turner on a platform of leveling the economic playing field for working people doesn't extend to running against fellow Democrat Gary Ackerman,” Lancman said in a statement. “Gary Ackerman is a solid progressive who is, if the Democrats take back the House, poised to assume important leadership roles in protecting the integrity of our financial system and strengthening the U.S.-Israel relationship as a senior member of the House Financial Services and Foreign Affairs committees. I have enjoyed a great relationship with Gary over the years, from interning in his office when I was a high school student to having his support in all of my campaigns for public office, and I'll be supporting Gary this year in the new Sixth congressional district."

Governor Andrew Cuomo talks about his policy program passed last night in Albany.