It's Koon After All -- For State Senate!

This one you can take to the bank. David Koon will run -- but next year, for State Senate, challenging six-term incumbent Republican Jim Alesi in the 55th Senatorial District.

Supplement 6/4/2007:

Apparently Koon called Alesi some time last week to tell him of this personally.

This makes so much more sense for David Koon, and the Democratic Party, than Koon running for Monroe County Executive.

Koon has been a popular vote-getter in what was a Republican Assembly seat (Koon's predecessor was Alesi himself). Running such a candidate for State Senate is a well- conceived component of the state Democratic Party's push to take the Senate in 2008. It's hard to think of a Democrat better suited to do the job in the 55th District than Koon.

And with two Albany insiders running against each other, any potential issue of a "what happens in Albany stays in Albany" character really will stay in Albany and isn't likely to to emerge in the campaign.

Jim Alesi will be difficult to beat, even with the money we can expect the state Democratic Senatorial Committee to devote to this race. The perenially popular Alesi has been a ubiquitous presence in his district -- and that's between campaigns, with no opponent in sight for the next one. Now he'll ramp it up.

Also, Alesi has been one of the top vote getters in the State Senate as a whole. We believe he has been elected with the biggest majority of any Republican State Senator in New York.

Therefore this analysis: Koon as the candidate gets the Democrats into this race for real. But it's a great leap from that to actually topping Jim Alesi in November 2008.