We've all heard about that Obama surge in voter interest and more tangible measures of participation, such as registration and voting. It's real. The campaign of Jim Gennaro, the City Councilman who's running against odious reptilian wingnut Frank Padavan in SD-11, just emailed some astonishing numbers.

(Gennaro, with Democratic super-activist and City Council candidate Steve Behar to his immediate stage left)

Newly Registered Voters Provide Dems, Gennaro With Strong Advantage
New Voters in Northeast Queens, Excited by Prospect of Change at State and Federal Levels, Are 6-1 Democratic

FLUSHING, NY (Sept. 23, 2008) – State Board of Elections records for Northeast Queens show a wave of new voters registering for this year's state and federal races, with the overwhelming majority of them enrolling as Democrats. The new voters, clearly eager for change in the upcoming presidential and state legislative races, give a distinct advantage to New York City Councilman Jim Gennaro, a Democrat who is running to replace 36-year Republican incumbent Frank Padavan in State Senate District 11.

Between January and August of this year, 6,859 new voters enrolled in Senate District 11, according to the Board of Elections. Of them, 711 are Republicans and 4,083 are Democrats, giving the latter party a nearly six-to-one advantage with these voters.

Democrats also overwhelmingly outnumber Republicans in Senate District 11's overall enrollment, 88,494 to 33,123 (a nearly three-to-one advantage).

Conscious of this disadvantage, Padavan is not noting his party affiliation anywhere on his literature or Web site.

Yeah, if I were a republican, I'd try to hide that too. Unfortunately, there's that pesky thing called a voting record.