From John McCain:

"I am very saddened by Tim Russert's sudden death. Cindy and I extend our thoughts and prayers to the Russert family as they cope with this shocking loss and remember the life and legacy of a loving father, husband and the preeminent political journalist of his generation. He was truly a great American who loved his family, his friends, his Buffalo Bills, and everything about politics and America. He was just a terrific guy. I was proud to call him a friend, and in the coming days, we will pay tribute to a life whose contributions to us all will long endure."

From New York State Democratic Party Chair June O'Neill:

“Tim Russert was a New York original, a die-hard Bills fan and an old friend to many of us in the New York State Democratic Party. A native of Buffalo, Tim was a local hero who I first got to know when he went to work for Pat Moynihan’s campaign and later on Mario Cuomo’s campaign for Governor. For all Americans he was a trusted voice on the issues of the day, but for New Yorkers he was like an old friend who we tuned into every night and on Sunday mornings. He had a wonderful sense of humor, was a true blue Democrat and just a great guy. On behalf of all New York Democrats, I want to express our deepest sympathies to Tim’s wife Maureen, their son Luke and the entire Russert family. Our thoughts and prayers are with them.”

We'll be adding more here.  read more »

State Democratic Party co-chair Dave Pollak is leaving his position, the party announced a few minutes ago (right when most people are heading out the door for the weekend).

Pollak had previously run the group Democratic Leadership for the 21st Century, which brought political leaders in front of young professionals and provided a place for those leaders to recruit campaign operatives and legislative employees.

Pollak, along with chair June O’Neill, was hand-picked by Eliot Spitzer to run the party after the departure of former chair Herman Denny Farrell. Pollak was charged (naturally) with bringing the party into the 21st century.

The departure comes amid a number of personnel changes David Paterson has made to replace Eliot Spitzer's hires with his own.

Here is the official statement:  read more »

Here's the official reaction to yesterday's election, just emailed to me, from Democratic State Party Chairwoman June O’Neill:

It’s clear that all politics really are local and that the pundits really missed the mark on this one.  For weeks all we’ve heard was that driver’s licenses would be a key issue in these races.  That just didn’t come to pass.  The fact that Democrats maintained their majority in Nassau and expanded it in Suffolk and won strategic victories upstate just goes to show you how out of touch the conventional wisdom was with the reality on the ground.  Last year we won historic victories in Congress and the State Senate.  Yesterday we built on those gains with wins from Niagara Falls to Nassau County, from Plattsburgh to Jamestown, in Auburn, Colonie, Troy, Amsterdam, Rockland, Monroe, Suffolk and Lewis County. We are on track to continue that trend in 2008.

This has a déjà vu quality to it.

On Sunday, there was a story in the Albany Times Union about Joe Bruno’s use of state aircraft. And just a few minutes ago, state Democratic Party Chairwoman June O’Neill issued a statement saying that she is “extremely troubled” by the “gross abuse of the public trust” and demanding “further investigation.”

“We now know that for years Senator Bruno has misused state police aircraft for political fundraising and meetings with special interests seeking the Senator’s assistance,” O’Neill said in a statement.

It’s sort of what happened a few months ago at the start of the Troopergate controversy.

The difference is that the itineraries of Bruno’s travel on which Sunday’s story was based were compiled while George Pataki, a Republican, was governor.

I wonder whether any Republicans will join O’Neill in calling for an investigation into that.  read more »

The State Democratic Party is starting to execute something resembling an organized push-back to the Spitzer Trials, criticizing Senate Republicans for the hearing they held in Albany yesterday after a Daily News editorial today called it a partisan show.

“This is not an investigation, this is Act One of Saving Joe Bruno’s Majority, coming to theatres near you in November, 2008,” said Dave Pollak, the Co-Chair of the state party, in a statement.

Chairwoman June O‘Neill said, “Eliot Spitzer has already demonstrated that he is vigorously determined to finally elect a Democratic State Senate as a necessary step to getting things done for the people of New York. Senate Republicans will go to any length to tie up and obstruct this Governor so he can't bring much needed change to Albany.”

"You know, there's an old saying, if you ever see a turtle on a fence post, you know she didn't get there by herself. So, speaking as the turtle on the fence post, on behalf of my team of ninja turtles, words are really inadequate to say thank you to all the people."

Speaking of DL21C, I also caught up last night with Dave Pollak, who Eliot Spitzer picked to be the new State Democratic Party co-chair along with upstate county leader June O'Neill.

And in what seemed to be a pretty clear slap at his predecessor, Pollak described the party infrastructure that he's inheriting as woefully out of date.

More of our conversation is here and here.