Cuomo on his victory stage. (Jimmy Vielkind / Times Union)

NEW YORK — As speakers blared Bon Jovi, Andrew Cuomo took the stage here at the Democratic victory party victorious, speaking for eight and half minutes about the path ahead and

“My friends, the people have spoken tonight and they have been loud and clear,” Cuomo said. “They are angry that they are paying for a neconomic recession that they didn’t cause. They are frustrated when they look at the dysfunction and dgradation in Albany. They are disgusted, and they are right.”

“The mandate tonight is to clean up Albany and to have eleted officials who represent the people of this state and not the special interests, and not the lobbyists. The people want a government of competence and performance and integrity, a government that can manage its finances and balance its budget, just the way they have to balance their budget at home.”

“You have to get taxes under control in the state of New York.”

“The people of the state of New York want a government that they can trust, a government that they can be proud of once again, the government they deserve and they’re going to get it,” he said.

“They were trying to exploit the fear, they were trying to exploit the anger,” he said. “They tried to put wedges in the beautiful mosaic that is New York. And they thought that they could separate it. They thought they could divide us. They thought they could take our diversity and make it a weakness, but they can’t. My friends, they really didn’t know who they were talking with and who they were dealing with.”

“We are upstate and we are downstate, but we are one state, because we are New York,” he said. “Yes we are rich, and we are poor, but we are one state because we are New York.”

‘That’s what this state proved. The people of this state listened to their better angels,” he said. “You’re not going to separate us. You can try that somewhere else, but you’re not going to do it here in New York.”

“We’ve faced worse than this before, but we are going to do it together. We’re going to be united. That’s what made this state this state, and that’s what’s going to make this state the Empire State once again.”

“The politics are over. It’s not about being a Democrat, it’s not about being a Republican, it’s not about being an independent. We are New Yorkers first and we are going to leave here as New Yorkers. We are going to be more united than ever before, committed to reinventing this government.”

(Rick Karlin/Times Union)

He’s barely spent a dime on ads, mailers or other such media advertising in his re-election campaign but Albany Democratic Assemblyman Jack McEneny did have this jacket made up, which sports the New York State Assembly logo.

A lawmaker who is not at all embarrassed to be an incumbent in this supposed anti-incumbent year, McEneny says he’s proudly worn the jacket as makes his daily rounds through Albany.

What is his campaign strategy? Showing up at every event, lecture, debate, or other public happening where he can meet the voting public. McEneny does have a high level of name recognition and a reputation for constituent service, I recall one time a few years ago when I called him on his cell phone, he said he was in the car taking an elderly constituent somewhere — basically giving someone a needed ride.

As of this writing, McEneny appears to be coasting to re-election, which either says something about his appeal with Albany voters, or the district’s deep Democratic loyalties, or both.

With more than 1,200 of roughly 16,000 precincts reporting, Eric Schneiderman is leading Dan Donovan by 4 points, 51 percent to 47 percent. In the Comptroller’s race, Tom DiNapoli is trailing Harry Wilson by 10 points.

Update: With slightly less than a third of results in, Wilson’s lead has narrowed to 6 points, while Schneiderman’s has grown to 6 percent.

NEW YORK — Sen. Chuck Schumer is the first candidate to take the stage here at the Sheraton victory ballroom.

“Tonight, New Yorkers, you have given me the opportunity, it’s a sacred opportunity, of fighting for you for the next six years,” he said, promising he’ll “continue to find ways to stretch that middle class paycheck so that you arnd your families are rightly rewarded for the hard work you do every day.”

“I believe in you. I believe in the future of this state. I believe in the future of this nation and the American people,” Schumer concluded. “By working for New York and its middle-class, the best is yet to come.”

NEW YORK — Sen. Chuck Schumer is the first candidate to take the stage here at the Sheraton victory ballroom.

“Tonight, New Yorkers, you have given me the opportunity, it’s a sacred opportunity, of fighting for you for the next six years,” he said, promising he’ll “continue to find ways to stretch that middle class paycheck so that you arnd your families are rightly rewarded for the hard work you do every day.”

“I believe in you. I believe in the future of this state. I believe in the future of this nation and the American people,” Schumer concluded. “By working for New York and its middle-class, the best is yet to come.”

GOP Comptroller candidate Harry Wilson says the at least 30 newspaper endorsements he gathered appear to be helping him a lot, especially, he said, since many voters didn’t know much about the comptroller’s job. As a result, people relied on endorsements for that race.

“A lot of people who I met today based their voting decisions on editorials because they said they (newspapers) had a lot of time to do the resesarch,” said Wilson.

Also helping, NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s endorsement. “A lot of the city’s problems are driven by the mess in Albany,” said Wilson.

Wilson also echoed other Republicans who say they are seeing heavy turnout in their areas of strength: “All the anecdotal reports were are getting is that turnout is strong upstate and in the suburbs.”

GOP Comptroller candidate Harry Wilson says the at least 30 newspaper endorsements he gathered appear to be helping him a lot, especially, he said, since many voters didn’t know much about the comptroller’s job. As a result, people relied on endorsements for that race.

“A lot of people who I met today based their voting decisions on editorials because they said they (newspapers) had a lot of time to do the resesarch,” said Wilson.

Also helping, NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s endorsement. “A lot of the city’s problems are driven by the mess in Albany,” said Wilson.

Wilson also echoed other Republicans who say they are seeing heavy turnout in their areas of strength: “All the anecdotal reports were are getting is that turnout is strong upstate and in the suburbs.”

All the major media that have been tracking the statewide races marked the arrival of 9 p.m. by declaring victory in the three races long predicted to be blowouts: Sens. Kirsten Gillibrand and Chuck Schumer have been re-elected, and Andrew Cuomo has been elected governor.

The stage at the Sheraton. Gone are the "New Democratic Party" signs. Interesting. (Jimmy Vielkind / Times Union)

NEW YORK — I’m over at the Sheraton Hotel, where VIPs and elected officials are starting to trickle into the Democratic victory celebration.

There’s a main ball room with a cash bar, but the cool kids are walking upstairs to candidate holding rooms. I got bounced when I tried to go up.

There’s an ante room, where I found former Attorney General Bob Abrams. He’s been a big endorser of the Democratic candidate for that office, Sen. Eric Schneiderman, and said “It’s certainly not a slam dunk for a Democrat to become attorney general” when he’s not an incumbent.

Otherwise, it’s an “everybody’s here” situation, from AFL-CIO President Denis Hughes to Schenectady Mayor Brian Stratton.

No idea when Cuomo will appear; I suspect it won’t be until late.

Appearing on WNYC radio, Gov. David Paterson told Brian Lehrer that he hopes New Yorkers will be able to place his term in the context of sweeping economic hard times — noting, for example, that his swearing-in coincided with the collapse of Bear Stearns.

“I didn’t ask for this, but I was ready to lead,” he said.

Looking to his successor, he said “I hope the public will give the next governor a chance,” noting that no can talk about the need for cuts and then turn on the executive charged with making them.

“Only the unemployed seem to understand the severity and the gravity” of the economic downturn, Paterson said, adding that knowledge will have to become more general before things will change.

Paterson said a Republican Senate might not help the next governor — he predicted a Cuomo win — make those tough choices, and charged that both parties in the chamber have resorted to gimmicky accounting on issues such as tax collection of tobacco sales on native reservations.

Lehrer noted that so far in the evening Republican candidates for U.S. Senate Rand Paul and Marco Rubio had won, while Christine O’Donnell had gone down to defeat.

“She has a way that she can change the results,” Paterson said archly.

(Rick Karlin/Times Union)

Norman Seabrook, who heads the 9,500-member NYC Correction Officers Benevolent Association, is among the few union officials supporting GOP AG candidate Dan Donovan. A Democrat himself, Seabrook, who is at the Hilton with Donovan, said he’s not overly optimistic about Democrats’ chances tonight, at least if the turnout among minority voters is any indication.

“The turnout is not very high in the minority communities,” said Seabrook who pointed to a pronounced lack of 2008′s Barack Obama excitement as the main reason.

“That makes me believe that a lot of the Democrats are staying home and a lot of the Republicans are angry and they are going to come out and they are going to support the Republican(s),” said Seabrook.

Seabrook, who WNYC’s Azi Paybarah said has a knack for being ahead of the curve in political prognostications, also observed that candidates are running their own campaigns — which I took to mean they are running without close identification of their parties, be it Republican or Democratic.

“I think the Rent is Too Damn High, Jimmy (McMillan) is doing his thing I think that (Charles) Barron is doing his thing, Cuomo is doing his thing, and Dan is doing his,” said Seabrook.

This makes sense given the liabilities that candidates have visa vi their parties this year. Senate Republicans, for example, have lately ignored Carl Paladino, trying to put distance between him and their candidate while Cuomo only recently came out and stumped with a few Senate Democrats.

There’s a definite disconnect this year between candidates and their traditional party support systems which makes some of these race all the more unpredictable.

Watch live streaming video from timesunion at livestream.com

Check out our live feed from the TU newsroom, starting just after 8 p.m. Don’t expect any of your fancy-dan TV-style graphics or smooth operators enunciating clearly. Just hard-working journalists walking up to the camera and giving you the straight dope — or at least the straightest dope we know at any given time.

And yes, that’s my bald head on the right.

(Rick Karlin/Times Union)

GOP Attorney General candidate Dan Donovan has just arrived at state Republican headquarters here at the Manhattan Hilton and he says he’s optimistic about his chances. Accompanied by his mother, Katharine, and Norman Seabrook, who heads the NYC Corrections Officers Benevolent Assn., Donovan said he wasn’t concerned that Paladino’s flameout would hurt him.

“I think the voters in NY are very smart. They look at the governors race and decide who they want to vote for for governor and then they look at the attorney general’s race. New Yorkers are traditionally ticket splitters.”

He noted that he had the endorsement of former NYC Mayor and Democrat Ed Koch as well as Democrat turned Republican Michael Bloomberg.

“We’re feeling really good,” he said, adding that after some initial fears of obscurity or being overshadowed by the Cuomo-Paladino battle, that polls have indicated “people are starting to pay attention to the Attorney General’s race…after looking at the governor’s contest  they realized there was a “very important race, the attorney general’s race.”

Here’s a letter from DEC’s acting commissioner Peter Iwanowicz to Dept. of Environmental Conservation staff. Iwanowicz was appointed by Gov. Paterson after the governor fired former Environmental Commissioner Pete Grannis last month.

As you know, the Governor recently designated me as the Acting Commissioner. He has also asked me to stay in my post in the Executive Chamber where I serve as the Deputy Secretary for the Environment. I’ll be splitting my time between both positions and offices.

As the Deputy Secretary for the Environment, my responsibilities include representing the Governor on a range of environmental and natural resource policy matters. I manage a portfolio that includes the Adirondack Park Agency, the Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation, the Departments of State and Agriculture and Markets and smaller agencies such as The Hudson Valley Greenway, the Hudson River Park Trust, the Lake George Park Commission, and the Hudson River-Black River Regulating District.

Prior to serving in this current post, I served as the Assistant Secretary for the Environment working with Judith Enck. You might recall that I was also the first Director of the New York State Office of Climate Change which was created here at DEC in April 2007. While head of the Office of Climate Change my responsibilities included overseeing the state’s involvement in the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI). I was also the New York State representative to the International Carbon Action Partnership.

Before joining state government, I served as Vice President for the American Lung Association of New York State, where I directed the association’s advocacy efforts and I also worked for the San Francisco-based Resource Renewal Institute promoting sustainability policies in New York State and Environmental Advocates of New York (EA-NY).

Though we are all aware of the tough fiscal situation that the state is still in, I look forward to working with you all to achieve the important mission of the agency.

Peter Iwanowicz

Lillian Roberts in East Harlem. (Jimmy Vielkind / Times Union)

NEW YORK — At a rally in East Harlem, Comptroller Tom DiNapoli appeared with dozens of green-coated volunteers who dispersed around the city to hand out palm cards and bring voters to the polls.

The cards describe the “winning team” of District Council 37, a union of New York City municipal workers: Tom DiNapoli for comptroller and Eric Schneiderman for comptroller. The union has not endorsed Andrew Cuomo for governor, after he declined to call back its board.

“Our priority is DiNapoli,” Lillian Roberts, DC37′s executive director, told me. “He’s been very decent to us. As comptroller, maybe he can control some of the contracts that have been going on in this state.”

“They can be independent on that one,” Roberts said of the governor’s race. “We’re working to turn out a vote for the people that we endorsed. This is the first time we have not endorsed the top of the ticket.”

She cited Cuomo’s anti-union posturing in recent news articles as cause for concern.

“I don’t know what he’s going to get, I just know that our people felt that they had been snubbed, and they didn’t like it,” she said.

Lillian Roberts in East Harlem. (Jimmy Vielkind / Times Union)

NEW YORK — At a rally in East Harlem, Comptroller Tom DiNapoli appeared with dozens of green-coated volunteers who dispersed around the city to hand out palm cards and bring voters to the polls.

The cards describe the “winning team” of District Council 37, a union of New York City municipal workers: Tom DiNapoli for comptroller and Eric Schneiderman for comptroller. The union has not endorsed Andrew Cuomo for governor, after he declined to call back its board.

“Our priority is DiNapoli,” Lillian Roberts, DC37′s executive director, told me. “He’s been very decent to us. As comptroller, maybe he can control some of the contracts that have been going on in this state.”

“They can be independent on that one,” Roberts said of the governor’s race. “We’re working to turn out a vote for the people that we endorsed. This is the first time we have not endorsed the top of the ticket.”

She cited Cuomo’s anti-union posturing in recent news articles as cause for concern.

“I don’t know what he’s going to get, I just know that our people felt that they had been snubbed, and they didn’t like it,” she said.

Lillian Roberts in East Harlem. (Jimmy Vielkind / Times Union)

NEW YORK — At a rally in East Harlem, Comptroller Tom DiNapoli appeared with dozens of green-coated volunteers who dispersed around the city to hand out palm cards and bring voters to the polls.

The cards describe the “winning team” of District Council 37, a union of New York City municipal workers: Tom DiNapoli for comptroller and Eric Schneiderman for comptroller. The union has not endorsed Andrew Cuomo for governor, after he declined to call back its board.

“Our priority is DiNapoli,” Lillian Roberts, DC37′s executive director, told me. “He’s been very decent to us. As comptroller, maybe he can control some of the contracts that have been going on in this state.”

“They can be independent on that one,” Roberts said of the governor’s race. “We’re working to turn out a vote for the people that we endorsed. This is the first time we have not endorsed the top of the ticket.”

She cited Cuomo’s anti-union posturing in recent news articles as cause for concern.

“I don’t know what he’s going to get, I just know that our people felt that they had been snubbed, and they didn’t like it,” she said.

Beginning at 9 p.m. and continuing throughout the evening, this post will offer a live feed of results from the statewide races as well as Congressional contests in the 20th, 21st and 23rd districts. Refresh this post periodically to see the latest numbers.

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Nick Langworthy on primary night. (Jimmy Vielkind / Times Union)

NEW YORK — Think about it. If the polls are anywhere within a million miles of correct, Carl Paladino won’t be able to pull out a victory over Andrew Cuomo. But that doesn’ mean that Erie County Republican Chairman Nick Langworthy won’t have won in the long-run.

He’s stood by his favorite son from the beginning, and that favorite son has deep pockets (and, as we found, some controversial views and styles.) So Langworthy stands to gain a major benefactor, but as a smart reader pointed out to me — and I wish I could give him credit by name, because this was a great observation, but he demurred — Langworthy may also find himself a major force in the Republican State Committee going forward.

Think back to the Lavzimeld Tally. The county chairs cast their lots with a weighting according to how many votes their county delivered for the party’s gubernatorial candidate. In the primary, Erie County alone delivered nearly 43,000 of the 273,000 votes that Paladino received. I think we can expect the same turnout trends.

If they do, Erie County would account for 16 percent of the Republican vote — DOUBLE the 6.93 percent they contributed in 2002. Add in high returns in Niagara, Wyoming and Chautauqua counties, where Paladino is expected to do well, and couple that with Paladino’s cool reception in New York City and its suburbs, and we’re looking at a major shift in the GOP balance of power.

This will be significant at the convention, OR in the selection of a new state chairman, which should happen next autumn. Langworthy was aglow when Paladino had won, the old establishment of the Republican Party smashed.

I just spoke to Langworthy. He said that things are going very well. He was boastful without meaning to be.

“My responsibility is obviously Erie County, and we have done everything we possibly can to turn out every last Republican vote,” he said. There is “really heavy” turnout, but “we don’t see much turnout in the city, in the heavily Democratic areas.”

“I think we demonstrated in the primary that we can lead the way in Western New York in a primary, and that the upstate base is really the base of the party,” he said. “I haven’t really thought as much about it beyond that. We’re just trying to get out the vote, everything else gets settled out later.”

Nick Langworthy on primary night. (Jimmy Vielkind / Times Union)

NEW YORK — Think about it. If the polls are anywhere within a million miles of correct, Carl Paladino won’t be able to pull out a victory over Andrew Cuomo. But that doesn’ mean that Erie County Republican Chairman Nick Langworthy won’t have won in the long-run.

He’s stood by his favorite son from the beginning, and that favorite son has deep pockets (and, as we found, some controversial views and styles.) So Langworthy stands to gain a major benefactor, but as a smart reader pointed out to me — and I wish I could give him credit by name, because this was a great observation, but he demurred — Langworthy may also find himself a major force in the Republican State Committee going forward.

Think back to the Lavzimeld Tally. The county chairs cast their lots with a weighting according to how many votes their county delivered for the party’s gubernatorial candidate. In the primary, Erie County alone delivered nearly 43,000 of the 273,000 votes that Paladino received. I think we can expect the same turnout trends.

If they do, Erie County would account for 16 percent of the Republican vote — DOUBLE the 6.93 percent they contributed in 2002. Add in high returns in Niagara, Wyoming and Chautauqua counties, where Paladino is expected to do well, and couple that with Paladino’s cool reception in New York City and its suburbs, and we’re looking at a major shift in the GOP balance of power.

This will be significant at the convention, OR in the selection of a new state chairman, which should happen next autumn. Langworthy was aglow when Paladino had won, the old establishment of the Republican Party smashed.

I just spoke to Langworthy. He said that things are going very well. He was boastful without meaning to be.

“My responsibility is obviously Erie County, and we have done everything we possibly can to turn out every last Republican vote,” he said. There is “really heavy” turnout, but “we don’t see much turnout in the city, in the heavily Democratic areas.”

“I think we demonstrated in the primary that we can lead the way in Western New York in a primary, and that the upstate base is really the base of the party,” he said. “I haven’t really thought as much about it beyond that. We’re just trying to get out the vote, everything else gets settled out later.”