Spano Kicks Off Race Saturday

The major-party conventions are over, but there's still a busy Saturday in store.

State Senator Nick Spano, a Republican from Yonkers, will kick off his re-election campaign today at a Polish-American club in Yonkers.

Spano won his race last time by 18 votes over Andrea Stewart-Cousins. In fact, the election was not finally decided for four months, due to challenges to the election-night results. Cousins, a Westchester County legislator representing Yonkers, is lined up to give it another try this time around.

Spano is expecting another tough challenge. In fact, in an interview we did with the Senator early this year, Spano said he expects to be the "number one target" of the Democrats as they try to gain seats in the state Senate this fall.

Spano said at the time that he was hopeful the Republicans' woes on a national level wouldn't affect his bid. Spano stressed that he disagrees with the national party on most social issues, singling out "choice" (abortion), gay rights and "support of working men and women and the labor movement."

TWO OTHER CONVENTIONS

The Working Family Party and the Independence Party of New York State both hold their conventions today.

Democratic gubenatorial choice Eliot Spitzer will give the keynote address at the WFP gathering and his running mate David Paterson will also give a speech.

As Capitol Confidential reported yesterday, the Independence Party's slate of endorsements is likely to be a carbon copy of the Democrats' slate, except for Republican Jeanine Pirro, who is expected to get the nod as the party's choice for attorney general.