Race mentioned here locally was A. Thompson vs M. Coppola and the power struggle between Mayor Brown and Dem Chair Lenihan. Browns forces out did Lenihan and Hoyts, worst part is the people are the ones that suffer in any struggle or battle for power and control.

Incumbents taste rare defeat in state legislative primaries

ALBANY, N.Y. — A very strange thing happened on the way to New York’s general election _ at least five incumbent state legislators lost their major party primary elections and, as a result, very possibly their seats in the Senate or Assembly.

As government watchdog groups have long complained, election to a seat in the New York state Legislature is akin to a lifetime employment contract, if one wants it.

A report from the New York Public Interest Research Group issued after the 2004 legislative elections showed that in the previous 24 years, just 34 incumbent state legislators had lost general elections in more than 2,500 contests.

Primaries are, of course, a different animal than general elections, with a more limited voter base and often extremely small voter turnouts. That means the results can be skewed by the most local of issues and battles that have little to do with grand questions facing the state or the nation.