The New York Times: The Nassau special election has officially surpassed all records for a state legislative race, with a price tag now above $5,000,000.

Underscoring the importance of the race: both the republican and Democratic Presidential frontrunners campaigned in-district yesterday:

Hillary...

...and Rudy, sans Bernie Kerik (all images NYT).

Newsday reports remarks by Senator Malcolm Smith that winning this race, with some party-switchers, could wrest the Senate from the enfeebled republican clutches. He mentions a 'zone of potential agreement', 'ZOPA', on which we'll have a few things to say when the time comes.