Back in the early 1990s, when he was still considered a wunderkind, Hank Morris would get almost misty-eyed reminiscing about how he came to his passion for Democratic politics growing up in the heart of the Nassau County Republican machine.

The former New York senator is working as a paid lobbyist for the World Trade Center Memorial Fund to help the group win approval for a commemorative coin to be used as a fund-raising tool.

It was surprising that Al D’Amato, a Republican, had a prominent spot in a Democratic press conference last Friday.

Kirsten Gillibrand is it. The new U.S. Senator from New York. The upstate Congresswoman is widely viewed as smart, tough and an up-and-comer. She is also anti-gun control, which may open her to primary challenges from more liberal Democrats next year.