Although King has broken with his party on a few key issues, he is potentially vulnerable in a district that is increasingly moderate to liberal.

Since easily winning a special election in 1997, Fossella had long been reelected without trouble in this district which is based in Staten Island and the southwest section of Brooklyn.

Attorney and former Brooklyn Community Board 10 Chairman, Steve Harrison, the 2006 Democratic candidate, improved on Barbaro's results receiving 43 percent of the vote.

Former Ulster County Legislator John Hall, who was once a member of the popular rock band, Orleans, won the Democratic nomination with 49% of the vote in a multi-candidate primary.

Several factors played into Kelly's defeat, including the extremely weak GOP showing in the senatorial and gubernatorial races, her reluctance to answer questions about the Mark Foley Page Scandal, and Hall's quirky campaign style, which included an appearance on the satirical Comedy Central program The Colbert Report.

Another candidate, Morris Guller, attempted to run in the general election on the Liberal Party line and also tried to contest Kirsten Gillibrand in the September Democratic primary, but did not file petitions for either nomination.

State Senator Elizabeth Little of Queensbury, Warren County, had also been mentioned as a possible Republican contender should Sweeney not run.

She had faced a primary challenge from three other Democratic candidates (computer engineer Edwin Pell, retired probation officer Douglas Walters, and activist Morris Guller), but all three dropped out of the race prior to the filing deadline.

Gillibrand supports middle class tax cuts and has a proposal to let middle-class parents deduct up to $10,000 a year in college tuition.

Sundwall was represented pro bono on these challenges by Warren Redlich, an attorney in Albany and the Republican candidate for Congress in New York's 21st congressional district.

Sundwall et al. v. Kelleher et al., sought a Temporary Restraining Order on the distribution of the NYS ballot claiming the 'town' requirement in the Independent designating petition as unconstitutional.

However, state records from August 27, 2006, show that Guller did not file petitions to run as the Liberal Party candidate.

[8] Guller earlier attempted to challenge Kirsten Gillibrand in the September Democratic primary, but dropped out a day before the filing deadline.

On July 13, 2006, both Gillibrand and Sweeney filed petitions to be listed on the Independence Party line on the November ballot.

When pushed by respondents to identify who was doing the poll, the callers provided a phone number that led to Western Wats, a Utah-based research group that does data collection.

[10] Sweeney had visits to his district for fundraising and support by First Lady Laura Bush, Senator John McCain, and former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani.

Gillibrand benefited from gaffes by the Sweeney campaign, including the report of a domestic violence incident between the Congressman and his wife, as well as the statewide landslide victories of Eliot Spitzer and Hillary Clinton in New York's Gubernatorial and Senate race.

Gillibrand defeated Sweeney in all the major population centers in the district, including Saratoga Springs, Troy, Rensselaer and Dutchess County.

[18] Incumbent Sherwood Boehlert (R) announced his retirement after twenty-four years, making this a seat of considerable focus for the Democrats in the followup to the mid-terms.

Incumbent Thomas M. Reynolds (R), the National Republican Congressional Committee Chairman, faced a rematch with local industrialist and Marine Veteran Jack Davis.

Reynolds is one of the Republican party's premiere fund-raisers, but Davis is independently wealthy, and vowed to spend up to $2 million on his campaign.

Reynolds held a small lead in the polls until the Mark Foley scandal broke at the end of September.

He faced a potentially strong challenge from former U.S. Navy officer Eric Massa, a long-time friend of 2004 presidential candidate General Wesley Clark.

Freshman incumbent Randy Kuhl (R) had been elected to Congress with slightly over 50% of the popular vote in a three-way race in 2004.

Over the course of the next nine months, Massa overcame numerous challenges in his attempt to become the Democratic nominee, including candidate David Nachbar, who days after his announcement chose to step down due to an improper filing of his papers.

In March 2006, President George W. Bush visited the district, as a chance to promote his new prescription-drug plan, Medicare Part D. It was considered more of a public-relations boost for Kuhl's re-election campaign than instructive on the issues.

In September 2006, Vice President Dick Cheney also made a fundraising appearance in support of Congressman Kuhl's re-election campaign.

On Election night, Massa chose to request a recount and an accounting of absentee ballots because 6000 votes separated the two and 10K were left to be counted.

The son of a doctor and a nurse/teacher, Randy was born in Bath, picked grapes and worked inside the wineries on the shores of Keuka Lake, attended school in Hammondsport, had summer jobs in construction and on several different farms during his college years.

Other issues in his platform included expanding farm aid programs, as well as bringing homeland security money to the 29th district.