With the fall of Eliot Spitzer, one question nobody in the press is likely to ask is what financial effect this will have on the state Democratic party and campaign committees.

A recent article in the NY Times talks about Spitzer's ability to raise large donations for the state party. With his departure, will that money dry up, or will he continue to work behind the scenes?

The other question that we'll probably never get an answer to (partly because nobody will ask) is whether Spitzer's decision to resign was based in any part on input from his donors.

Not to harp on one topic, but the only way to get past this pestilential money chase is full public funding of elections, known as "Clean Money, Clean Elections." Stay tuned for major announcements on this topic.

The emails started after the New York Times piece came out on February 16th. Aptly titled In State Senate, Aging Fingers Cling to Power, authored by Danny Hakim, it was a fairly standard meditation on the challenges facing Joe Bruno's caucus as the blue tide washes over New York's last republican bastion.

Problem was, in an article that started with a reference to an aging state senator, Caesar Trunzo, there was no reference to Trunzo's actual, declared Democratic candidate, Jimmy Dahroug. Instead, Hakim featured an undeclared former Nixon/Bush/McCain republican who may or may not run for the seat as a Democrat.

Christopher Bodkin, an Islip Town Board member and a Democrat, is considering challenging Mr. Trunzo, who is 21 years his senior. Mr. Bodkin likened the situation with the Senate Republicans to the United States Senate: “Look at Strom Thurmond: They just kept him going and going because they needed to hang on to a slim majority.”

“I certainly won’t challenge Senator Trunzo on his age,” he said. “He’s there and going back and forth to his district and so forth. I will run on the theme that it’s absolutely time for a change.”

The last significant change in Bodkin's life was his switch from republican to Democratic affiliation.

In politics, it's the small things that can sometimes make all the difference; look no further than what was once called a butterfly ballot, used in Palm Beach County, Florida.

Witness, say, this. Readers of the New York Times front page this morning were treated to a piece by Danny Hakim - awesomely titled In State Senate, Aging Fingers Cling to Power - on the efforts by New York Democrats to liberate the State Senate from its unnatural state as the last republican bastion in New York. This is a big deal for anyone who cares about how New York is governed.

Problem is, on the day the Senate Democrats get some major frontpage mojo, their site kind of doesn't work. Here's the front page:

This is what you get when you click on the link that offers to tell you more about the New York Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee:

Awesomeness: apparently, the DSCC has no mission. Come on, people. This is ridiculous.

In the State Senate special election taking place in the upstate 48th District on February 26th, Democratic contender Darrel Aubertine has been running this banner ad since January 24th:

His opponent, republican Will Barclay, just started running this banner ad a day or so ago:

Clearly, original ideas do not flow from the republican side of the aisle.

On the web: Darrel Aubertine for State Senate

Pity Fred Dicker.

No, really. Witness this:

November 16, 2007 -- ALBANY - Gov. Spitzer said at a private fund-raiser that he wants a Democratic-controlled state Senate to legalize gay marriage - a highly divisive and controversial issue - as one of its first priorities in 2009, a witness to the remarks told The Post.

"Everybody applauded when he said that," said the witness, who was among senators, Democratic activists and lobbyists at a fund-raising event for the Senate Democratic Committee. It was held in the library of the elegant West 13th Street home of HBO's "Oz" creator Tom Fantana.

Okay, look, I was there. I missed the speech - actually ran into the governor as he was leaving and I was coming, shook hands, winced from the pain of Albany's greatest handshake, mingled, chit-chatted with a lot of people, gay and straight alike.

Nobody said a word about a new top-tier front-burner legislative push for gay marriage. This because, for starters, we call it "marriage equality", and then, because no such push was announced.

In case you missed the Pride Parade this year - I'll confess, I did - check out Senator Tom Duane's podcast, complete with a chat with Scott Stringer. And if the idea of listening to a chat between two of the funniest politicians in New York isn't enough for you, check it out for the fantastic production values and fab musical score alone.

Oh, and snort. Here's a quote, from Albany, meet Podcast.

"It turns out not everyone in New York State or in Albany even knows what a podcast is".

How. Totally. Awesome.

Our friends over at The Albany Project make note of an online offensive by the republicans, and that in turn requires some comment.

Maybe it's a variant of Sun Tzu that I've missed so far, but one doesn't normally pick battles where one is weak. And the simple fact is that in the online world, New York republicans are spectacularly weak.

The state of play is as follows: the republican Senatorial campaign committee has put out a web site, NYinJeopardy.com, which takes aim at a raft of Democratic incumbents in the State Senate. What's interesting about the content is that the attacks made on their various targets come mainly from the left - for example, Liz Krueger is painted as being soft on women's health issues. Simple observation: you're not going to beat the Senate Democrats from the left, and that you try says everything that needs to be said about your underlying weakness.

The greater weakness, however, is in the correlation of forces online. Simply put, it's no contest: New York has a thriving, independent, linked and networked Progressive blogosphere - networked not just locally and statewide, but nationally. There is nothing on the other side of the aisle that can even be compared to what we have, independently of the party, built up over the last few years - nothing.

Unnoticed by the chattering classes, the playing field for the 2008 battle over the State Senate is taking shape. The DSCC already has field teams on the ground in Long Island, softening up various incumbents; now, Jimmy Dahroug, running for Senate in the Third District, just released some truly remarkable fundraising numbers.

Dahroug:

I'm writing today to thank you for your support, enthusiasm, and kind words in the early months of our campaign. Also, I wanted to share some great news.
With your help, we've collected over $40,000 in receipts for our first filing! We did this in less than 8 weeks! Imagine what we can do by January.

This is a truly remarkable feat, but we haven't done it alone. The outpouring of support we've received - both financial and otherwise - sends a strong message that the people of Suffolk County are ready for a change.

Brooklyn Attorney Steve Harrison and Staten Island educator Mark Zink will announce the forming of the non-partisan SIBRO Civic Association in a 7 PM July 18 press conference at the Staten Island South Beach Boardwalk Gazebo overlooking Southwest Brooklyn. For disclosure purposes, I'm SIBRO's acting corresponding sec.

SIBRO (Staten Island/Brooklyn) Civic Association is dedicated to narrowing the Narrows and bridging the gap between people who live on opposite sides of the bridge, focusing issues that impact Staten Island and Southwest Brooklyn residents together.

They brainstormed the idea in January 2006, before Steve ran for congress, in popular Staten Island hangout Schaffer's. Schaffer's is one of my favorite Staten Island bars because of their extensive beer selection (I'm a beer geek) although I'm always puzzled how they can close before midnight on Saturdays.

The NYSDC launched an effort today to gently prod Joe Bruno's caucus back to work. Cool thing: the campaign is being run exclusively online and spread out to newspaper web sites, blogs and other sites across the state. The ads will point to a site where readers can see a presentation by the governor laying out the unfinished agenda the voters sent him to Albany to enact.

The fun part: the Dems are naming names. Some of the ads are personalized for individual markets, calling out Senators Alesi and Robach in Rochester, DeFrancisco in Syracuse, plus all the Long Island Senators.

And Joe Bruno in Albany himself.

“We wanted to let New Yorkers know that Joe Bruno’s GOP Senate left early last week and left the people’s business unfinished. They were so excited to get to the golf course, or to the La-z-boy that they couldn’t manage to finish their jobs,” said State Dem Co-Chair David Pollak.

Chairwoman June O’Neil added, “It’s disgraceful that when they could find the time to vote themselves a pay raise, Senators like Kemp Hannon, John DeFrancisco and Jim Alesi couldn’t vote yes on vital pieces of legislation – including an important power plant siting bill and publicly agreed-to Wicks Law reform. These bills are key components of Governor Spitzer’s plan to revitalize our upstate communities.”

Wait, did we say ad? Here's an example, after the jump: