Politics on the Hudson

Polls show Hillary Clinton and John McCain with sizable leads in New York, so that may explain why none of the major candidates for president have scheduled any appearances in the state this weekend.

But that doesn’t mean their campaigns wont be at work here as we head toward the Super Tuesday primary. Both the Clinton and Obama campaigns have rallies and other events planned throughout the region.

In Westchester, the Clinton campaign has scheduled a Saturday afternoon rally featuring members of Congress Nita Lowey, John Hall and Eliot Engel. The event begins at 2 p.m. at 1133 Westchester Avenue – The Atrium – in White Plains.

Barack Obama’s supporters will gather at noon Saturday on the Bedford Village Green. That rally will feature Ted Sorensen, a former speech writer for President John F. Kennedy.

McCain’s campaign doesn’t have any events planned in the region this weekend, says Westchester Coordinator Jim Colman. Volunteers will staff telephone banks throughout the weekend, he added.

And McCain is also expected to attend a rally at Sacred Heart University in Fairfield, Connecticut at 1 p.m. Sunday.

Barack Obama’s supporters are riding a fresh wave of optimism today following his rout of Hillary Clinton in South Carolina. That optimism should be on display this evening when the Obama campaign opens its first campaign office in Westchester.

“It’s contageous,” Ashley Craig, Obama’s Westchester volunteer coordinator said of enthusiasm for Obama. “It’s because he has the ability to influence 300 million people.”

Craig said interest in the Obama campaign is building among Westchester residents, even though Clinton lives in the county and the local Democratic Party remains solidly behind Clinton’s campaign.

“I’m looking at my e-mail right now, the e-mail is just pouring in,” Craig said. “I never thought I would need a Blackberrry before. Now I wish I had one.”

The campaign office is located at 931B East Boston Post Road, Mamaroneck, NY. A reception is being held from 6 to 9 p.m. tonight.

Obama’s campaign, thought, still faces an uphill battle in New York. A USA Today/Gallup poll released over the weekend showed Clinton leading Obama 56 percent to 28 percent. John Edwards had 10 percent.

Also today, Clinton received the endorsement of the Albany Times Union.

UPDATE – Obama supporters in Rockland County will open a campaign office Wednesday night at at 250 Route 59 in Spring Valley.

New York’s Democratic Party hierarchy has been a staunch supporter of Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign since the earliest moments of her candidacy. That is especially true of party leaders in Westchester.

So it shouldn’t be too surprising, then, that Hillary’s Westchester campaign operations will be run out of the county’s Democratic Party headquarters on Post Road in White Plains.

Westchester Democratic Party Chairman Reginald LaFayette said he reached an agreement with Clinton’s campaign this week for them to use the space. The campaign, he said, will pay rent to the party and pay for extra telephone lines to be installed as it gets set for New York’s Feb. 5 primary.

“We will follow all federal guidelines,” LaFayette said.

Westchester County District Attorney Janet DiFiore made the rumors official today: She has changed her party affiliation, registering as a Democrat.

DiFiore joins Assemblyman Mike Spano of Yonkers as the second major Republican in the county lately to abandon the GOP.

Asked by my colleague Glenn Blain if he expected DiFiore to be the Democratic nominee for District Attorney in the next campaign cycle, Reginald LaFayette, chairman of the county Democratic Party, said: “Of course I do.”

Her statement, after the jump.

While Andy Spano and other Democrats have publicly endorsed Democratic challenger Suzanne Berger for Greenburgh Town Supervisor over 16-year incumbent Paul Feiner, State Sen. Andrea Stewart-Cousins is staying neutral.

“I’ll be sitting this one out,” the Yonkers Democrat said.

Stewart-Cousins said she has a “good history” with both Berger and Feiner. Berger, the former chairwoman of Greenburgh’s Democratic Town Committee, has been one of Stewart-Cousins most ardent supporters, helping her raise money for two hard-fought campaigns against former state Sen. Nick Spano. Meanwhile, Stewart-Cousins office has been working with Feiner on helping the flood-damaged businesses on East Hartsdale Avenue.

“Whoever wins the primary is my candidate,” she said.

However, Stewart-Cousins has endorsed Town Clerk Alfreda Williams and Town Board members Steve Bass and Eddie Mae Barnes in their re-election bids. She said their incumbency, coupled with the Democratic Town Committee’s backing of the trio, led to her endorseme the underticket.

Feiner has the incumbency but Berger has the Democratic Town Committee’s designation. Apparently, a candidate needs both — or a primry victory — to win Stewart-Cousin’s support.

Meanwhile, Berger and her slate have been endorsed by Brodsky (another candidate she raised money for), County Executive Spano, George Latimer, Amy Paulin and Adam Bradley, Westchester County Clerk Tim Idoni, County Board Chairman Bill Ryan and Westchester County Legislators Lois Bronz and Ken Jenkins.

The July financial statement for the Westchester Democratic Committee is finally online at the state Board of Elections website. It shows that the party has a healthy fund balance of $86,691.95.

Aided by former President Bill Clinton’s appearance at a fundraising breakfast in February, the party took in more than $151,000 in contributions during the first six months of the year.

The party’s positive financial report is another plus for Westchester Democratic Chairman Reginald LaFayette and a stark change from previous years, when the party — led by David Alpert and later George Latimer — struggled to raise money and pay its bills.

It also puts the party far ahead of the Westchester GOP, which reported a fund balance of just over $600 after the first six months of the year.

Flanked by Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver and many of Westchester’s top Democrats, Assemblyman Mike Spano confirmed to a crowded prsss conference today that he was leaving the Republican Party, saying the national GOP had simply moved too far to the right for a moderate like himself.

Spano said his decision to switch parties was not related to the Democratic Party’s soaring enrollment in Westchester and the ever-tougher road faced by Republicans trying to win election in the county. He also said it was not affected by the loss suffered last year by his oldest brother, former Sen. Nicholas Spano.

More and more, he said, he found himself siding with the Assembly’s Democratic majority on issues like health care and education.

“This is where I belong,” Spano said about being a Democrat. “This is where I feel comfortable.”

Silver welcomed Spano to the party’s caucus but stopped short of saying that the former Yonkers Republican would be rewarded for his move with any leadership posts or prime committee assignments. He noted that he introduced Spano as the “newest” member of the caucus, referring to his lack of seniority among Democrats.

Gov. Eliot Spitzer returned to Westchester County this evening to attend the county Democratic Party’s annual dinner, but he did not use the occasion to continue his assault on the Republican-controlled state Senate.

Instead, Spitzer simply thanked county Democrats for their support and spoke in general terms about his administration’s efforts to re-shape Albany, saying they were “slowly but surely” turning around the government. He also mocked the Bush administration and Vice President Cheney’s refusal to provide data to national archivists.

“They are living in a world that defies logic,” Spitzer said in his relatively brief remarks.

Perhaps the most noteworthy part of Spitzer’s remarks came at the end, when he was recognizing the handful of party members who were slated to receive distinguished service awards at the dinner.

One of them was Assemblyman George Latimer of Rye, who Spitzer had criticized in February for supporting the selection of Tom DiNapoli as state comptroller and even suggested he might oppose his re-election.

Last night, though, Spitzer praised Latimer service to the party and urged him to stand and take a bow.

“It’s nice to hear nice things said about you,” a smiling Latimer said afterward. “The last few months, since the budget, there have been a lot of different issues…We’ve been on the same page, working together.”

Gov. Eliot Spitzer, who has used his various travels around the state this week to further his campaign against the Republican-controlled state Senate, will visit Westchester County tomorrow night.

Spitzer’s office confirmed today that he is still planning to attend the Westchester Democratic Committee’s annual gala dinner at the V.I.P. Club in New Rochelle, where he is to be honored by the party. Attorney General Andrew Cuomo is also expected to attend.

The dinner was planned weeks before Spitzer’s feud with the Senate and Majority Leader Joe Bruno erupted, but he could still use the occassion to lob a few more barbs at GOP lawmakers.

Westchester Democratic Chairman Reginald LaFayette expects more than 400 people to attend the party’s annual dinner.