Some silver linings

This year's elections were very disappointing at the national level, with Republicans winning the House and six net Senate seats.

Here in Rensselaer County, Congressman Scott Murphy lost, as did Assemblyman Tim Gordon.

But at the local level, it was generally a great night for Rensselaer County Democrats.

In East Greenbush, two Democrats -- Phil Malone and Sue Mangold -- won town board seats after a nasty, well-funded campaign waged by County Legislator Mike Cristo and perennial candidate Ann Taylor.

The result was close, with second-place finisher Mangold just 147 votes in front of Taylor, and Cristo a distant fourth.

Democrats now have a 4-1 majority on the town board.

Out in Stephentown, William Jennings won a town board seat with 56.7 percent of the vote, and Democrats thereby won a town board majority for the first time in generations, maybe the first time ever.

In Schodack, Linda Underwood lost her bid to become the only Democrat on the town board, but got 47 percent of the vote, a dramatic improvement over last year's town board races.

These results, while specific to the towns involved, bode well for next year, when there will be important local elections all over the county.

City/town committees are already preparing for 2011, recruiting candidates and planning fund-raisers. As always, they'll need all the help they can get, so please do what you can to keep the Democratic momentum going.