JANISON: Statewide, it's year of Democrats, again

If a chance ever came along for the shrunken state Republican Party to win back power in Albany, this was it.

Or so you'd have thought.

But even the GOP's biggest bright spot - potential recapture of the State Senate - was slow in emerging, still clouded Wednesday by close ballot counts for some seats.

And with comptroller candidate Harry Wilson's concession, it became clear that the GOP remains shut out of all the statewide elected offices - including both Senate seats, governor and attorney general.

As the dust settles, this emerges as a Democratic year broadly similar to 2006, when three of the winners were named Spitzer, Paterson and Hevesi. Democratic replacements won again, despite the scandals that followed. Despite tea party activity. Despite Democratic divisions. Despite regional rivalries. Despite the economy. Despite the national party's reclaiming the U.S. House of Representatives.

Some experts said the turnout based on preliminary numbers looked fairly typical for a statewide election year after all. One strategist who declined to be identified said that based on a first glance, turnout among women and members of ethnic and racial minorities didn't tank as some figured.

Hailing Thomas DiNapoli's slim victory as comptroller, state and Nassau Democratic chairman Jay Jacobs proclaimed, according to Newsday's Elizabeth Moore: "In a country and at a time that everybody believed that the Democratic Party was going to be in trouble, I think here in New York we showed them where the firewall is!"

Jacobs stopped short of thanking sad-as-hell GOP governor candidate Carl Paladino, but some Republicans felt Democrats owed thanks to both Paladino's atrocious candidacy and to first-term state chairman Ed Cox.

"Many of us thought he was the worst chairman in the entire country and now it's confirmed," blurted an embittered Republican operative. "First, he backed Chris Collins for governor. Then he backed Steve Levy and couldn't get him over the hump at the convention. He did nothing for Rick Lazio the entire time, but when Carl beat him in the primary he went all-out for Paladino - who dragged down the entire statewide ticket. It was the best Republican year in 20 years, and they blew it."

Someone's always blaming the out-party chairman. Insiders did it for years with Joe Mondello from Nassau and Cox eventually ran to replace him. Ironically, as county chairman, Mondello seemed to have a fine night on Tuesday. As Newsday's Bill Murphy noted, his crew retained two open Assembly seats, seemed to have won back a Senate seat, carried the county for Wilson and for AG candidate Dan Donovan (they won Suffolk, too). Mondello's side nearly swept all theNassau judgeships, too.

Cox, ordinarily sunny, admitted to sadness in the statewide losses of Wilson and Donovan.

He talked about rebuilding "brick by brick." He cited a capture of state Assembly seats and congressional seats around the state. In his statements, Cox claimed the Republicans' winning the Nassau executive's office last year, and Suffolk Executive Levy's changing to Republican, were underlying causes of Democrats being ousted from Senate seats in both counties.

In a supposedly anti-incumbent year, only the newest members of Long Island's nine-member state Senate delegation - the two Democrats - were trailing as Election Day closed. Sen. Brian Foley (D-Blue Point) lost for sure; Sen. Craig Johnson (D-Port Washington) trailed by 415 votes as of Wednesday.

So Cox apparently had something on which to hang his expressions of hope. Who will buy into it may be a different discussion.

"Now you have a foundation. Would I have preferred the house be built more quickly? Yes," he said. "In these kind of big-wave years, the 'blue' states have dikes around them preventing a sweep."