On his weekly conference call this morning, Dan Donovan was asked how much his campaign collected at that big ticket fundraiser held in his honor last week.

"The campaign's told me we exceeded our goal," Donovan said. "I don't know the exact dollar amount, but we exceeded our goal. And we have enough money not only to be competitive, but to win this thing."

As The Politicker noted yesterday, the Donovan campaign had collected only about...

The Eric Schneiderman campaign for attorney general did a conference call with reporters this afternoon featuring Council Speaker Christine Quinn, who did her best to sway wavering women voters to their side.

Quinn hit Donovan over his pro-life views, and in particular, his oft-repeated line that the Schneiderman's campaign focus on choice issues is a "red herring."

"As a woman New Yorker I grow increasingly concerned every time I hear Dan Donovan say that the issue...

The world was awakened to some of New York's zany characters--and zanier political parties--at the governor's debate earlier this month. 

But those some of those parties aren't just fielding candidates for the state's top job. They are also stacking the ballot on some down-ticket races.

While we don't think that The Rent Is Too Damn High Party or The Green Party or even the Anti-Prohibition Party are likely to take over state government anytime soon, we...

The world was awakened to some of New York's zany characters--and zanier political parties--at the governor's debate earlier this month. 

But those some of those parties aren't just fielding candidates for the state's top job. They are also stacking the ballot on some down-ticket races.

While we don't think that The Rent Is Too Damn High Party or The Green Party or even the Anti-Prohibition Party are likely to take over state government anytime soon, we...

If Carl Paladino stands to tamp Republican turnout, Rudy Giuliani hasn't seen it.

"Not what I've detected," said Giuliani, on a conference call with attorney general candidate Dan Donovan this morning.

"I detect a tremendous amount of enthusiasm for a lot of our Republican candidates," said Giuliani, who has been stumping for candidates across the state. "Can't say for all of them. But for a lot of them, particularly for Dan and for Harry Wilson. I...

If Carl Paladino stands to tamp Republican turnout, Rudy Giuliani hasn't seen it.

"Not what I've detected," said Giuliani, on a conference call with attorney general candidate Dan Donovan this morning.

"I detect a tremendous amount of enthusiasm for a lot of our Republican candidates," said Giuliani, who has been stumping for candidates across the state. "Can't say for all of them. But for a lot of them, particularly for Dan and for Harry Wilson. I...

Yesterday in Long Island, Carl Paladino called Senator Kirsten Gillibrand the "little girl" of senior Senator Chuck Schumer.

And, just to confirm it wasn't a slip-up, he repeated the charge in Albany that afternoon.

"She does exactly what Schumer tells her to do," Paladino told the Daily News' Ken Lovett. "If that's the kind of government you want, well, she'll probably be very good. She follows in whatever he wants her to do, so she is...

A reader from the Brooklyn Tea Party passes along the following to The Politicker.

What it shows is Staten Island congressional candidate Mike Grimm getting into a heated argument with a McMahon supporter when they both try to court the same voter. The thing gets pretty heated around the 2:50 mark, with a Grimm aide having to separate the candidate from his...

Not everybody involved in the decision to portray soda as disgusting yellow fat loved the idea.

White House funds $12 million ground zero health study.

Tom DiNapoli's campaign has garnered more than $340,000 from law firms.

McCain robocalls for New York GOP .

The city wants $3 billion in funds tagged for the now-dead ARC tunnel.

A movement to arm bodega operators gains support.

The City Council investigates catcalls.

MTA takes steps to make buses quieter.

Paladino...

With GOP gubernatorial candidate Carl Paladino, it's always business--even where family is concerned.

The Times reported yesterday that the Buffalo developer bought his aunt's $87,000 home in 1995 for only $10,000 three years after she was diagnosed with Alzheimer's. He then transferred the property to his son, then a family trust, and finally Suzanne Brady, the woman who would father a child with the married man a few years later. According to the Post, Aunt...

A new debate strategy: Mike McMahon brought Mike Grimm's ex-wife--and her parents--to their debate.

Chris Christie gets a little touchy when he's the butt of late night jokes.

Congressional Quarterly looks at NY's congressional races.

Al Sharpton is pro-MTA.

Senate candidate Greg Ball says he is the Malcolm X of Duchess County.

If there is no one else out there with that common sense, conservative, pro-Constitution passion, then Sarah Palin will run for President

Chuck Schumer...

America's Finest Satirical News Source is out today with their Midterm Election Guide and fortunately, the wrap-up includes a head-to-head comparison between Andrew Cuomo and Carl Paladino.

Among some of the gems:

Eyes:

Mother's meatball recipe:

Top adviser:

"I became a villain for doing the right thing," BP chief Tony Hayward said this July in a huge interview, in which he intermittently spoke in the third person, and disclosed that in London strangers send over glasses of brandy to his table. Following suit, successor Bob Dudley complained this month that BP had been the victim of a "great rush to judgment." He continued: "I hope for everyone's sake that over the next months...

Senate Majority Leader John Sampson held a fundraiser Tuesday at the Renaissance Ballroom and netted $114,500, mostly from real estate and development interests.

The figure marks a decent haul a few days before the election, except that Sampson has only token opposition against a woman named Rose Laney.

Political operatives here and in Albany give a few explanations for Sampson's stockpiling, none of which are mutually exclusive:

One, he is preparing to send the money to embattled...

Not very, according to the most recent campaign finance reports. 

The original estimation was that the fundraiser--which featured bold-face political names like Chris Christie, George Pataki, Mike Bloomberg and Ed Koch--was that it would bring in $1 to $2 million. The day of, the campaign was speculating that the event at the Midtown Sheraton would net them closer to $1 million. And the campaign would need it as well--they reported less than $400,000 on hand...

Mayor Bloomberg has made no secret of his disasatisfaction with the Board of Elections, calling it a modern day Tammany Hall rife with incompetence.

New York City switched to electronic voting machines for the most recent primary, and as expected, voters at numerous polling sites encountered problems with poorly trained staff and malfunctioning machines.

"We have virtually no information on what went wrong and at which polling places," a City Hall source told me. "Because the...

Mayor Bloomberg has made no secret of his disasatisfaction with the Board of Elections, calling it a modern day Tammany Hall rife with incompetence.

New York City switched to electronic voting machines for the most recent primary, and as expected, voters at numerous polling sites encountered problems with poorly trained staff and malfunctioning machines.

"We have virtually no information on what went wrong and at which polling places," a City Hall source told me. "Because the...

Mayor Bloomberg has made no secret of his disasatisfaction with the Board of Elections, calling it a modern day Tammany Hall rife with incompetence.

New York City switched to electronic voting machines for the most recent primary, and as expected, voters at numerous polling sites encountered problems with poorly trained staff and malfunctioning machines.

"We have virtually no information on what went wrong and at which polling places," a City Hall source told me. "Because the...

Tom DiNapoli announced this afternoon that his campaign just received the backing of Empire State Pride Agenda.

The announcement should not come as too much of a surprise, since ESPA often backs Democrats and DiNapoli's opponent in the comptroller's race, Harry Wilson, is against same sex marriage. (Wilson does back civil unions.)

"I have committed myself to ensuring that for as long as I am in public service, I will stand for equal rights," DiNapoli...

The New York League of Conservation Voters is preparing a blitz to help Democrats maintain control of the state Senate. 

UPDATE: NYLCV spox Dan Hendrick writes to me to point out that even though these mailers are targeting Republicans, the group will will G.O.Pers who they view as sufficiently environmentally-friendly. They have endorsed Sen. Frank Padavan in Queens, he notes.

The group is out with mailers touting the environmental record of two candidates locked in tight...