Rock said: "Watch it blow up and then come back to me later."

You've got that part of your post, right, Rock. But that's about it.

Let me ask you a couple of questions.

Did Bloomberg "shake things up" in Albany when he tried to shove congestion pricing down everyone's throats up here? The correct answer is no. He had to sneak out the back door in his gas guzzling motorcade to avoid talking to the press about how things turned out. Furthermore, NYC will be jumping through hoops forever trying to get congestion pricing in place.

Here's another question for you.

Did Eliot shake things up when he came to Albany?

The answer is a resounding "no" again. He folded like a cheap suitcase just to get an on-time budget and he has spent the last month or so trying to figure out how to get out from under troopergate. Bad news, troopergate is far from over. But hey, Spitzer gets to visit a lot of upstate locales and schools statewide in an effort to look busy and avoid the press. That should count for something, I guess.

So why in the world would you think one little loud mouth Assemblyman from NYC -- in the unlikely event that Barron ever gets to Albany -- would "shake things up?" Are you serious?

Things rarely get shaken up in Albany. Albany moves at a glacial pace. Things up here in Albany are stirred...not shaken.

Please stick to Brooklyn politics, Rock.

p.s. There are no paintings of the average run of the mill Assemblymen on the walls up here. So I don't think that any Capitol workers need to worry about putting Barron's visage in his outdated nehru jacket up on a wall anytime soon. You need to get out of NYC and maybe take the Capitol Tour, Rock. Spend some serious time in Albany. Then you'd have a realistic idea of how things work in Albany.

What I really mean is that a Barron in Albany (given his penchant for attracting media) will generate some new excitement to a rather mundanely boring body. He is controversial and quotable; he is provocative and crafty; he is dynamic and relevant -albeit/despite the general feeling that he is too racially charged- and those are the ingredients for many a media event, likely to keep the gatekeepers smiling and in buisnesss. Maybe I could have done my article a lil differently by emphasizig that I wasn't talking about policy changes in any major or significant way; but then, who knows? Maybe a Barron will help move things along. Many (myself included)will be hopeful that if he gets there things could be energized a bit.

A little over a year ago, on the flimsiest of pretexts, Gatemouth refused to endorse in the 40th AD race between Diane Gordon, Winchester Key and Ken Evans. You and Maurice Gumbs justifiably ripped him a new one. Exactly one year before Rock posted this piece, to the day, Gatey posted a "correction" to his endorsement piece, which included the following:

"Rock, may I suggest that if you are so desparate that you are seeking Gatemouth's endorsement for a race in the 40th AD, your problems may not be resolvable without a call to divine intervention. With that in mind, please remember that, even among guitarists, Gatemouth was never considered God; that was be Clapton (and those who said so were wrong; it was Hendrix).

Anyway, the unspoken fear here seems to be that, in a special election, the Party will be able to select someone for the seat without the voters being consulted. Nonsense; if there's a special, no matter who the Dems nominate, Charles Barron wins in a walk. Then, given the way the press covers Albany, I'll never have to read another word about him again, unless he gets himself arrested. Plus, he'll drive Shelly Silver stark raving mad. Those who find this possibilty alarming should perhaps consider alternative scenarios. Perhaps Bubba will read this and bundle a few large checks to Ken Evans posthaste."

Rock, you are a year late and Evans was several thousand dollars, and votes, short.