"She is no stranger here," said Calvin Butts, the Pastor of the Abyssinian Baptist Church in Harlem, where a "homecoming" rally was held for Hillary Clinton on Saturday.

In a very specific way, at least, the origins of Clinton's Senate career can be traced back to the 125th Street offices of Charlie Rangel, who, Clinton lore has it, was the first person to suggest she run for office. Rangel is also credited with finding Bill Clinton his uptown headquarters.

On the rainy Saturday afternoon, Rangel sat on one side of the church's marble altar and Bill and Hillary sat on the other.

"He loves being home," Clinton said of Rangel when it was her turn to talk.

"It's great getting off that plane and being able to come back to Harlem. Isn't it, Charlie?"

The audience was thrilled to have Rangel and Hillary on the same stage.  read more »

Bill Thomson and Adolfo Carrion had a friendly chat during last night’s dinner for the Bronx Democratic County Organization at the Marina Del Rey.

At one point, I and two other reporters ran into Denny Farrell, who was hanging out with his daughter. He cheerily noted that earlier in the day he’d gotten another pro-congestion price mailing, making it three so far. “It must be good to be a billionaire,” he said. (The mayor, about whom Farrell was referring, has denied that he's providing any direct funding for the effort.) Then, Farrell rhetorically asked how many phone calls he’s gotten, smiled, and made a big zero with his fingers.

In introducing Christine Quinn, Assemblyman Jose Rivera, the county leader, said, “If I decide to go back to the City Council in ‘09, I want her to be my speaker again.”

Assemblyman Jeff Dinowitz told me he won’t be in town when Sheldon Silver convenes his conference meeting in Manhattan on July 16.

Non-Bronx officials who made their way to the dinner include David Weprin, Melinda Katz and Simcha Felder - all comptroller candidates in 2009, Assemblyman Michael Gianaris, and state Comptroller Tom DiNapoli. Also floating around the room were former City Council Speaker Gifford Miller (no tie!) and Democratic Mayoral candidate Fernando Ferrer.

And state Senator Efrain Gonzalez, who was indicted last year for misusing public money, was at the dinner before I arrived and stayed after I left, seemingly having a good time.  read more »

After more than two hours of testimony in front of some state Assembly members in midtown, it seems like Mike Bloomberg left with as much chance of winning approval for his congestion pricing proposal as he did when he walked in.

While concerns about civil rights issues raised by Assemblyman Richard Brodsky were laughed away, more pinpointed questions gained some traction: Cathy Nolan of Queens pointed to the fact that the bill included steep fines for late payments and granted the new financing agency the authority to charge some people for residential parking. Whether or not that stays in the bill, it showed some people in Albany are actually reading the fine print.

At no point during the hearing did Bloomberg or his deputies seem to come under any particular pressure. The mayor testified surrounded by supporters wearing green t-shirts with various environmental slogans, and dealt reasonably well with most of the questions he got.

Whether it affected the bill's chances in the Assembly either way is hard to tell. After the testimony, Assemblyman Herman “Denny” Farrell, who is close with Speaker Sheldon Silver, said he didn’t see an urgency in getting the proposal passed before session ended.

He also expressed skepticism about the idea that congestion pricing would start out as a pilot program, noting that pilots, once set in motion, are hard to stop. “You've got to also look at the politics," he said. "Could you kill it? That’s the question."

Senator Bill Perkins may be endorsing a different presidential candidate than New York Congressional dean Charlie Rangel, but they can still celebrate together.

Rangel, a Clinton supporter, is billed as a “special guest” at a birthday event on Sunday for Perkins, who is backing Barack Obama.

“It’s a birthday celebration,” Rangel spokesman Emile Milne told me. “His birthday didn’t change.”

Others expected to attend include Lt. Governor David Paterson, Senate Democratic leader Malcolm Smith and Assemblyman Herman “Denny” Farrell.

The party is from 4 - 6 p.m. at Carne.

Speaking on the floor of the Assembly Saturday night, Assemblyman Herman "Denny" Farrell of Manhattan defended this year's budget process, saying that it was open and publicly negotiated.

Cuomo added a special thank you to the audience:

"This was not an easy campaign. This was a hard campaign. I wasn't able to self-finance the campaign. I needed the generosity of over 4,000 donors to make this possible. I needed you to give me a second chance, and the benefit of the doubt that I could win a new campaign. And you did that and I can only say thank you with the best public service I can muster. "

(Historical footnote: Cuomo's much-praised predecessor in the attorney general post actually did self-finance a campaign for that office, and Cuomo absorbed some criticism for rolling over money from his failed gubernatorial campaign to help fund this year's race.)

That's how outgoing state Democratic Party chairman Herman "Denny" Farrell just described the state party's condition at the end of his five-year tenure.

In a speech to party leaders at the Sheraton, Farrell noted that since he took over as state chair from Judith Hope on Dec. 3, 2001, the party has picked up five congressional seats and had a "dramatic increase in Democratic enrollment. "Together," he said, "we did it."

"As a result of our unparalleled victories and unity, and the fact that the party is the strongest its ever been, I believe we have accomplished the lofty goals set for us when I took this job.

"I know that whoever is chosen to be my successor will inherit a strong and united party, and will do a wonderful job."

Full statement after the jump.  read more »

While Spitzer had some kind words for Andrew Cuomo (who was there too with his daughter, Cara), it was Spitzer's praise for Farrell that was striking.

Here's what Spitzer said:

"He's a remarkable leader. He is somebody, for many of us, is one of those people we go to for wisdom. He knows a lot of history. He's lived a lot of history. A lot more than I have, I'm glad to say. But he is someone who keeps us straight. And he knows what matters..."

The interesting thing is that Spitzer has been able to carry the "everything changes on Day 1" message while praising, and working pretty closely it seems, with many of the institutional players in Albany.

Today he prepares to talk taxes again at a conference in Saratoga Springs.

"For John Faso, cutting taxes is a top priority, and you heard that for the Democratic Party leaders and Denny Farrell, that it is not their top priority."

"I think that one thing is certain," Del Percio said. "Whatever he ends up proposing, how is he going to pay for it? Cutting the property tax and increasing the income tax is just shifting the burden. How will he pay for it?"