By John DeSio

When the average voter looks at the results of last week’s general election, he or she will see the clear winner as Eliot Spitzer, Hillary Clinton, Andrew Cuomo and their Albany reform agenda. Even embattled State Comptroller Alan Hevesi—under fire for misusing taxpayer funds—was able to trounce his Republican opponent, though he may not fare as well with Spitzer and the legislature in January.

But down the ticket, several key moves were made and other opportunities were missed, extending the list of electoral winners beyond just Spitzer and his crew.

WINNERS

Bronx/Westchester/Rockland Congressman Eliot Engel emerged as perhaps the biggest winner for the Democrats on Tuesday night. Though he had no serious opponent, Engel figured heavily into the victory of troubadour Democrat John Hall over Republican incumbent Rep. Sue Kelly. As the close race approached the finish line, Engel brokered a deal between Hall and national Democratic leaders to secure the support of Kiryas Joel, a Satmar Hasidic Jewish community in Orange County that votes in a solid block. Typically, the 5,000 votes will go to the Republican and had reportedly been promised to Kelly. Hall’s victory came within that margin, and Engel has not only cemented his relationship with a new colleague but has emerged as a new power broker in Washington, D.C.

Another House colleague of Engel’s, Long Island Republican Congressman Peter King, took a beating from the Democratic Party over the past few months but still emerged victorious over Democratic challenger David Mejias. King is a true conservative and one of the more outspoken members of his party, at one point he even called for the arrest of The New York Times editorial staff after the newspaper published the details of a classified terrorist monitoring program over the summer. This was the best year for Democrats to pick up New York Congressional seats in a long time, and for King to escape unscathed indicates that he will be one of the few remaining power players in the struggling State Republican Party.

Congressman Vito Fossella, who represents a hybrid Staten Island/Brooklyn district, also came out looking good on Election Day. Though no one expected his defeat, Fossella was able to win the more left-leaning Brooklyn portion of his district, even though Democratic fever was sweeping the entire state.

LOSERS

Westchester State Sen. Nick Spano was unable to beat back Democratic challenger Andrea Stewart-Cousins for the second consecutive election, ending his long career in elective politics. During his career, Spano had repeatedly moved further and further to the left, making him by far the most liberal Republican in the State Senate. Spano could never count on support from the Conservative Party but was a favorite of the liberal Working Families Party. In the end, voters decided that they would rather elect an actual Democrat to represent them, rather than a Democrat dressed like a Republican.

The national far-left also did not have the greatest of days last Tuesday. Though Democrats have taken control of both houses of Congress, many of the Democrats who got elected did so by running to the right of the Republicans on issues such as illegal immigration and earmark reform. To top it off, Connecticut Sen. Joe Lieberman prevailed as an independent candidate over businessman Ned Lamont, the favorite son of the liberal netroots. While the far-left may control a fundraising network and hold influence in Democratic Party primaries, it is clear that their influence shrinks when more moderate and conservative voters show up to the polls.

It was not a good night for the State Senate Republican conference, either. Aside from losing Spano, the Republican’s failed to defeat upstate Democrat David Valesky in a typically Republican district. Even Queens Republican State Sen. Serphin Maltese, the chairman of that borough’s Republican apparatus, only defeated a virtual unknown by 800 votes. As many have predicted, the Republican hold on the State Senate would appear to be only a few election cycles away from its destruction.

ON THE FENCE

Though the official vote tally has not yet been completed, it would appear that the Working Families Party did not have the kind of night it had hoped for. Even though its top-tier candidates, which included all four Democrats running statewide, were all victorious, the party has apparently failed to eclipse the Conservative Party’s total votes cast and will remain at the end of the ballot for another four years. Leaders of the Working Families Party did push hard, especially as the campaign closed, to urge voters to choose Spitzer on their line rather than vote for him as a Democrat. Since Spitzer had such a great day, it is certainly disappointing to Working Families Party leaders that they were apparently unable to vault ahead of the shrinking Conservative Party.