The Buffalo News’ Bob McCarthy, expert on all things political in WNY, penned a fascinating column today on the back story of Democrat-turned-Republican Senator-elect Mark Grisanti’s highly unlikely win over Democratic incumbent Sen. Antoine Thompson.

McCarthy notes the overwhelming Democratic enrollment edge in the 60th SD – 103,653 to 21,681. “Wow,” he says, stressing that Grisanti’s win – particularly coming on the heels of his failed 2008 primary challenge to Thompson – was “nothing short of unbelievable” and something that only could have occurred in a perfect storm.

Sen. George Maziarz told McCarthy the importance of this win for the Senate GOP, and perhaps even the party as a whole, cannot be overstated.

“This really may have preserved the two party system in New York State and saved the Republican Party,” the senator said.

Of course, the question now is whether the GOP will be able to hold onto this seat come 2012 – that’s a presidential year, remember, and will bring out a lot of voters who don’t habitually show up in off-year elections and so simply vote down the line out of habit. That’s bad news for the Republicans in a district that’s so Democrat-dominated.

BUT! If the Senate Republicans back the chamber, which appears highly likely at this point, considering yesterday’s development in the 7th SD, they’ll control the redistricting process, and that could help Gristanti’s cause.

Of course, if he really pisses them off during his two-year tenure, they might have to dig deep to find the desire to protect him. Grisanti made it clear, along with his fellow WNY Senate newbie, Patrick Gallivan, that he’ll be marching to the beat of his own drum in Albany.

That means possibly following in the footsteps of outgoing Sen. Bill Stachowski and holding up big-ticket items, like, say, the budget, in hopes of getting deals on issues of utmost importance to his WNY constituents, like UB 2020.

In other words, Senate GOP Leader Dean Skelos, who was so skilled at holding his 30-member conference together during the two years he was in charge of the minority, might find himself in a similar – and unenviable – position as Democratic Conference Leader John Sampson as head of the majority in a 32-30 chamber.

The TU’s Rick Karlin had a good piece on that yesterday. Check it out here.

Share|