Clinton, Spitzer, Cuomo, Have Strong Leads In First Post-Primary Poll

Sienna Research Insitute has itsl first post-primary statewide poll out today. The bottom-line results are predicatable, but there is a surprise or two in the numbers.

In the race for governor, Democrat Eliot Spitzer leads Republican John Faso by 51 points. That's the not-surprising part. One number does catch the eye in this race. Among Republican voters, Spitzer leads Faso by 8 points.

"Likely voters overwhelmingly say Spitzer would be better than Faso in addressing crime, education, energy, health care, job creation, state spending, and taxes," said Steven Greenberg, a spokesman for the Sienna New York Poll. "Even Republicans give Spitzer the edge on those issues, although on spending and taxes Republicans are close to being evenly divided. Voters say that taxes, health care and job creation are the three most important issues for the new Governor to address," Greenberg said in a press release.

In the race for attorney general, Democrat Andrew Cuomo leads the Republican in the race, Jeanine Pirro by 53% to 36%, up from 50% to 35% in August.

Again, there's little new here. But the eyecatching number in this race is Pirro's numbers in the New York City suburbs - her home turf literally and ideologically. In the 'burbs, the two candidates are tied at 47% each. Perhaps even more noteworthy is Cuomo's 18-point lead in the traditionally Republican upstate region.

In the race for the U.S. Senate, incumbent Democrat Hillary Clinton has improved her numbers against Republican John Spencer, the former Yonkers mayor.

Clinton leads Spencer 62% to 33%, up from 58% to 32% in August. Aside from Clinton's money tree, Spencer's biggest challenge is getting his name out there. Less than two months from the election, Spencer remained unknown to nearly two-thirds of those polled.

Democrat Alan Hevesi leads Republican Chris Callaghan in the race for comptroller, 56% to 23% (ZZzzzzzz.....).

HALL CALLS FOR FIVE DEBATES IN DISTRICT 19 RACE

Democrat John Hall is calling on Republican Sue Kelly to debate him five times, one debate in each of the 19th Congressional District's five counties.

Hall issued the invitation today, through the media:

"There are profound differences between me and Sue Kelly
on the issues, so presenting our ideas in open forums
and giving the voters a chance to weigh those contrasts
for themselves makes a lot of sense," said Hall.

Hall suggested that college students from the district to moderate one of the debates. "after all," said Hall, "it's their future we are concerned with."

We're putting out an e-mail to Kelly campaign staffers to see if she is interested.

AFL-CIO BACKING MORE DEMS THIS TIME AROUND

The New York State Democratic Party has an interesting post today. The party has posted a press release saying the giant labor federation is backing more Democrats in this year's Congressional elections than Republicans. The release offers up New York as one example in this quote from a Gannett news article:

Of the eight New York House Republicans seeking re-election, only one -- John McHugh, who represents the North Country region -- won the valuable AFL-CIO endorsement this year compared with four who were backed two years ago and nine in 1998. -- Gannett.

In the article, the AFL-CIO's political director said candidates like Hall in New York's 19th District and Kirstin Gillibrand of the 20th may get extra funding from the labor organization if they can demostrate their races are close.

STATE DEMS ACCUSE PIRRO OF BACKING OFF OF "NO-NEGATIVE" PROMISE

The state Democratic Party today also put out a press release accusing GOP attorrney general candidate Jeanine Pirro of going negative with a new TV ad, just days after suggesting that she and Andrew Cuomo keep the campaign clean. Click here to see the ad in question and decide for yourself. To me, the ad is pretty tame and presents something very close to just facts. I'm going to predict the race will get a lot muddier than what we're seeing in this ad.