With a critical Senate race tomorrow in northern New York, there’s speculation that if Democrats can win and lower the Senate majority to just one seat, Gov. Spitzer will try to flip one Republican senator to switch parties and thus bring about a tie.

The New York Post addresses that possibility today and says such a move would lead to the ouster of Republican Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno. Democrats, the story says, would seek a rules change that would allow Democrats to pick a new majority leader, if they can win the race tomorrow between Democrat Darrel Aubertine and Republican Will Barclay.

But one potential flipper, Republican Sen. Joseph Robach of Greece, Monroe County, suggested this morning he’s not going anywhere, pointing out that he was approached by the Spitzer administration last year to take an administrative post and declined.

“My focus is on the budget, doing what I can for my constituents,” Robach said. “That will come first and foremost before any outside politics, or people’s agenda.”

The Post mentions that one senator being targeted is Sen. John Bonacic, R-Mount Hope, Orange County. He could not immediately be reached for comment.

In a case with national implications, Monroe County officials said this morning that they will appeal a state appellate court ruling in Rochester earlier this month that said New York must recognize same-sex marriages legally consecrated elsewhere.

The ruling is considered the first of its kind in the country.

The ruling comes from a recent case against Monroe Community College employee who sought  medical benefits for her same-sex partner. The couple had a civil-union ceremony in Vermont and later married in Ontario, Canada, where same-sex marriages are legally recognized.

The couple demanded the foreign marriage be recognized in New York and that
they receive medical benefits from the college. But the county contends that state law mandates that marriage is an institution that exists strictly between a man and a woman, and foreign marriages are recognized so long as they are not contrary to state law.

“This is a clear case of misinterpretation of the law,� said Monroe County Executive Maggie Brooks in a statement. “We must appeal this decision in order to protect Monroe County taxpayers. We can not simply extend benefits to unmarried couples and we certainly can not ignore the definition of marriage that currently exists under state law.�

The state will keep its hands off federal income-tax rebates millions of New Yorkers are slated to receive this year, Gov. Spitzer announced today.
Taxpayers will begin to receive from the federal government in May checks of up to $600 to individuals and $1200 for married couples as part of a stimulus package designed to give the nation’s economy a boost.
Normally such income would be subject to state income taxes, but Spitzer has decided to forgo the tax revenue in this instance.
“During these challenging fiscal times, it is particularly important for all New Yorkers to know that they will retain the full amount of this rebate, and will not be taxed on these amounts next year,’’ he said.
To get the payments, taxpayers must file a 2007 federal tax return regardless of whether they owe federal income taxes. No other action is necessary.
For information about the federal rebate program, visit the IRS website at www.irs.go. Information about filing New York income taxes is available at http://www.nystax.gov or by calling 1-800-225-5829.

The latest Zogby International/Reuters poll today shows that Barack Obama has a sizable national lead over Hillary Clinton in the Democratic race for president and would also beat Republican candidate John McCain in the general election.

And to help Obama’s argument to be the party’s candidate, Clinton would lose to McCain 50 percent to 38 percent. Obama would beat McCain 47 percent to 40 percent, the poll found.

In the Democratic matchup, Obama leads Clinton 52 percent to 38 percent, and Obama leads Clinton among likely voters ages 50 to 64 by a whopping 57 percent to 29 percent margin.

Obama also erased Clinton’s edge among female voters; the two are tied at 44 percent, the poll found. Among men, Obama leads 61 percent to 32 percent.

“There are lots of significant numbers here, but what really caught my eye was Obama’s gains among those age 50 to 64, a group which captures most of the Baby Boomers,” Zogby said.
“Did Caroline Kennedy’s endorsement and campaigning for Obama effectively remind Democratic Boomers of her father?”

“Also, the differential among African Americans is striking,” Zogby continued. “By an 80 percent to 3 percent margin, they support Obama over McCain. But, in a Clinton-McCain contest, just 58 percent of African Americans say they will support Clinton, compared to 18% who support McCain, which makes me wonder: could there be disaffected African Americans who support Obama but who will be reluctant to support Clinton in a general election?”

The Reuters/Zogby telephone survey was conducted Feb. 13-16 and included 1,105 likely voters nationwide, and carries a margin of error of 3.0 percentage points.

Here’s some of Hillary Clinton’s speech this morning at Hunter College in New York City, where she tried to point out the differences between herself and Barack Obama, who recorded his 10th straight victory last night.

“We’re asking to compare our records. We’re asking to compare our years of service. We’re asking to compare our ideas, our solutions,” she said during the fundraiser.

Barack Obama’s camp this morning has Obama up 159 pledged delegates over Hillary Clinton after yesterday’s wins in Wisconsin and Hawaii.

The campaign has Obama with 1,199 delegates and Clinton with 1,040 delegates.

The Associated Press had Obama leading with 1,336 delegates, including superdelegates. Clinton had 1,251. So by their count Obama has a 85-delegate edge.

Gov. Spitzer lost whatever bump he received with voters last month, according to a new poll today, that shows the Democratic governor’s favorability rating fell this month.

Spitzer’s favorable/unfavorable rating is 41 percent favorable, 46 percent unfavorable, down from 44-41 percent in January, a Siena Poll found.

The poll shows that voters continue to give the governor a two-to-one negative job performance and twice as many voters say they would “prefer someone else� rather than re-elect Spitzer.

When given three options for closing a potential state budget gap, more voters – nearly one-third – chose increasing taxes over cutting either education or health care spending.

“The way voters view Gov. Spitzer is the same in February as it was last November. After a modest improvement last month, when more voters had a favorable view of the Governor, this month more voters view him unfavorably,” said Steven Greenberg, spokesman for the Siena poll.

A new poll today in the Watertown Daily Times on the heated special election for the 48th Senate seat shows a dead heat between Democrat Darrel Aubertine and Republican Will Barclay.

The district includes St. Lawrence, Jefferson and Oswego counties. The race is a critical bellwether on whether Republicans can maintain their two-seat majority in the Senate.

And the fact that the $2 million race appears to be a dead-heat is troubling for Republicans because the district has about 30,000 more Republicans than Democrats.

But Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno dismissed the poll this morning on an Albany radio show, saying “polls, especially in special elections, don’t mean much.”

Gov. Spitzer defended against new attacks today by the state Catholic Conference over an abortion rights bill that he is seeking the state Legislature to approve.

The measure, called the Reproductive Health and Privacy Protection Act, was introduced by the Democratic governor last year and seeks to update antiquated abortion rights laws in New York and fall in line with federal guidelines.

For example, New York’s law still technically considers abortions in New York as a criminal act, but offers discretion that allows abortions to continue legally.

Spitzer told reporters today said the legislation “captures and enacts into New York state law what we think the United States constitution has said is national law.”

But the Catholic Conference is undertaking a major lobbying push in Albany, according to the New York Sun.

The conference says on its website that the measure “makes abortion a ‘fundamental right,’ like freedom of speech or religion.”

It also released a nearly 10-minute video on YouTube protesting the bill that can be viewed here.

Republican strategist Roger Stone, who last year was fired by state Senate Republicans after allegedly leaving threatening phone messages for Gov. Spitzer’s elderly father, says John McCain may want to tie Barack Obama to Spitzer’s failed effort to give drivers’ licenses to illegal immigrants.

Obama has supported the measure in prior presidential debates. The issue hurt Hillary Clinton’s presidential bid last fall when Spitzer announced that New York would soon begin offering drivers’ licenses to illegal immigrants. Clinton initially wavered on whether she supported the idea.

Spitzer later dropped the plan under increasing political pressure. Clinton has since come out against the proposal as well.

Obama, however, continues to support the idea, and McCain could use the issue to hurt Obama’s campaign in a general election, Stone wrote today on his website.

“Obama, like Spitzer, will argue that giving licenses to illegals will actually improve security – a position which defies the facts,” Stone wrote. “If John McCain needs a wedge issue to demonstrate his superior grasp of National Security issues and Senator Obama’s lack of serious credentials to be President – this is it.”