| Republican leader Dean Skelos is already plotting his course for 2010 and hoping that the so-called anti-incumbent wave that swept certain areas of New York will help his conference retake the New York State Senate.
Courtesy of Liz:
There were also Republican successes, albeit slightly less high-profile, in Monroe, Erie and Onondaga counties, Skelos noted, all of which are home to marginal Democrats who have been in the GOP crosshairs in the past.
"If you're Bill Stachowski, Dave Valesky, Darrel Aubertine, Andrea Stewart-Cousins, Craig Johnson or Brian Foley, I think you have some cause for concern," Skelos told me yesterday.
"We've had people approaching us and asking to run against Democratic incumbents whereas in the past we've had to go out and seek candidates to run," the senator continued. "Even some candidates who maybe fell a little short, we're going to look at all of them. Some of them ran terrific campaigns and perhaps are ready to go for the Senate."
So if we go by what Skelos is saying, his targets are clear: SD-3, SD-7, SD-35, SD-48, SD-49 and SD-58.
Without challengers, it will be tough to gauge just how vulnerable those six seats are. Keep in mind that Skelos gave us Barbara Donno in SD-7 last year, so it's not as if Skelos has a good record to work with. He was, after all, the leader when the Republicans lost the majority last year. |
