The race between longtime Republican State Senator Frank Padavan and Democratic Councilman James Gennaro remains unresolved. A week ago, the New York Times reported that Padavan was leading by about 502 votes with 8,000 absentee ballots that needed to be counted.

Now Democrats are accusing Republicans of racism, alleging that they are trying to disqualify votes from minority districts.

If Padavan goes down, New York City will have only two Republican State Senators, Martin Golden of Brooklyn (who did not have an opponent) and Andrew Lanza of Staten Island.

If Padavan survives, the district no doubt will be the top Democratic target in 2010.

Now that this grueling campaign for the U.S. Presidency and Congress is over I cannot help but think of my young adult days when my anti-hero, Albert, of Pogo fame, said while with one benign alligator claw in the air: “We have met the enemy and it is us!”

And so it is.  Ramesh Ponnuru’s recent offering in National Review (November 17, 2008) states:  “Many of us believe that Republicans have suffered electoral defeat not because they have failed to demonstrate sufficient compassion for lower-middle-class voters but because they have failed to show how conservative policies can benefit those voters.” 

The division that was seen at first opaquely in the late 90’s and more clearly during President Bush’s term between the social and economic conservatives now is recognized as some possible deep fissure not capable of repair.  There is talk of replacing the social conservative leg of the 3 legged stool, which constitutes the Republican Party.  But with what?  And more importantly, how?

Since the recent election, a lot of ink's been spilled over whether the Republicans got what they deserved. After all, they had majorities in Congress since winning national elections in 1994, a year into the Clinton administration, and they had the presidency since 2000 when Bush v. Gore was decided by the U.S. Supreme Court.

But in 2006, the Republican Congressional majority finally collapsed and now, in 2008, Republican presidential candidate John McCain went down in flames before Democratic political shooting star Barack Obama. With the consequent enlargement of the Democratic legislative majority the tides seem finally to have turned against the GOP. The post mortems in the media from pundits and politicians on both sides have been fast and furious.

Writing in the Wall Street Journal, resident liberal columnist and author of What's the Matter with Kansas? (analyzing why Americans seem receptive to a conservative message), author Thomas Frank couldn't help crowing over what he deems the conservative collapse in the aftermath of the Obama win.

The Washington Post is reporting that Ted Stevens, the longest serving member of the U.S. Senate, and the only person to hold that seat since Alaska became a state, has lost his bid for reelection to Anchorage Mayor Mark Begich.

 This gives the Democrats a 58 seat majority with two more seats still up in the air. Should professional blowhard and unfunnyman Al Franken successfully steal the seat from Norm Coleman in Minnesota and if Saxby Chambliss in Georgia loses the december runoff, the democrats will have a fillibuster-proof 60 seat majority.

Brace yourselves America, things could get scary.

It's the topic of conversation every where I go. What will Republicans stand for in the future, and how will they rebuild the Party?

Not an easy question, especially when many Republican office holders still don't quite seem to get it. Still opposing cutting government spending, even for hugely wasteful programs like healthcare and social welfare spending.

The NY Observer has written a story about the Manhattan Institute and the role it may play in helping republicans get their message together. With a laser-like focus on fiscal conservatism, they have helped republicans with their message before, helping launch Rudy Giuliani into the mayoralty of NYC with their focus on strong policing, education reform and welfare reform.

So I finally got an email from someone at the state YR office. Seems a few people in Bronx had expressed some desire to get involved before the election. The state YR sent this email to me and all the others who expressed an interest in organizing. A few people replied all to it. So that is a good sign. Well not that they replied all but that they simply replied.

 I sent him back an email stating that I would be more than willing to take the lead since I've actually started up a club before. Starting one isn't all the difficult. Keeping it active however can be. However since the Bronx GOP is in such pathetic shape there should be plenty to do.

Anyhow the point to all this is we absolutely will be needing someone with legal skills to help file a few things so anyone who might be game for doing a bit of pro bono for this new group hit me up with an email.

chance@haywood.name

As the 110th Congress nears its conclusion, inside the Beltway mag Roll Call is preparing to recognize members of both houses of Congress who defined the past two years on Capitol Hill. They've selected nominees across nine categories and have opened the voting online.  Categories include Most Valuable Player, Freshman of the Congress, Best Macaca Moment and the Squeaky Wheel Award.

http://www.rollcall.com/110thcongressawards/

So vote now and nominate your favorite NYC-area pols and recommend categories in the comments below.  We'll put together a special year end poll for Urban Elephants!

President elect Barack Obama is an enigma, despite the fact he has gone through a grueling two year campaign for the presidency.  The sealing of his birth certificate, Columbia and Harvard transcripts and even his baptismal certificate suggest he has something to hide.  However, all of that is probably behind us now.

What lies ahead is another conundrum.  Is Barack Obama a pragmatist who merely used affiliations with his church, community groups and questionable friendships to advance his career or is he an ideologue who was influenced by Farrakhan, Ayves, Wright, Khalidi and others on the hard left?

If the former, then many (most?) of the promises made during the campaign will have to be postponed or forgotten.  Realists in the Obama camp, even the Keynesians, know that raising taxes in a recession only exacerbates economic conditions.  Similarly, an attempt to redress the structural dislocation of some workers by redrafting trade agreements such as NAFTA is the equivalent of a 2009 Smoot-Hawley tariff.