The get together was organized by Craig Eaton, the Brooklyn Republican chairman, who drove up to Albany with Bronx G.O.P. chair Jay Savino.

The meeting was held in a "green room" and lasted "a half hour, or whatever it was," according to Eaton.

"He just wanted to thank everybody for their support of his presidential campaign and discuss with them some of his ideas for a state constitutional convention," Eaton said. Of a gubernatorial run, he said, "I didn't get a sense that he's committing to it; I got a sense that it's on his radar screen .He's thinking about it. I'm optimistic he's going to do it."

The chairs of the Ulster, Greene, Schenectady, Herkimer and Rensselaer county committees attended, among other party people, Eaton said.

"He was very curious as to what was going on upstate," said Jack Casey, the Rensselaer County chairman. "I think he would be absolutely excellent; he's exactly what the state needs. Until we see the full field, though, we can't make a determination. But his record on economic development and crime is excellent. Rudy would be the right guy. The question is, will he run?"

Eaton said his "Draft Rudy" movement is picking up steam, and that several other counties are expected to join him and Savino "this week." He would not say who.

After gaveling in, Democrats called a quorum—which has not happened since shortly after the coup, when both parties began conducting simultaneous extraordinary sessions in a show of something or another—and as they were reading absentees, Republicans and Senator Pedro Espada Jr. entered the chamber.

Senator Dean Skelos, the Republican leader, explained that his members entered the chamber because "the judge gave us an order to go in." Jack Casey, an attorney representing the Republicans, said that during an appearance this morning, Judge Bernard Malone "declined to say" whether an automatic stay under the Public Officers law—as Casey has contended—existed for Senators once they filed a notice of appeal. A court hearing at 3 p.m. will determine the issue.

On the floor, Skelos addressed Senator Andrea Stewart-Cousins, a Democrat who was on the dais, by saying, "We do not acknowledge you as the presiding officer." He said he would take up Democrats on their offer to negotiate in public over an active list and "a long-term agreement through 2010" over the operation of the chamber. He proposed the sides meet at noon.

After whispering for a moment to Democratic leader Malcolm Smith, Skelos made a motion to adjourn the extraordinary session. Before a vote could be taken, Senator Jeff Klein, a Bronx Democrat, offered a resolution for the bipartisan operating agreement Democrats presented Monday. Republicans were visibly uncomfortable, and claimed a motion was on the floor to adjourn. Klein also moved to adjourn, and senators gaveled out.

"I guess they had a discussion about letting them withdraw gracefully instead of having a food fight," Senator Eric Schneiderman, a Democrat, said. He said Democrats would be in the chamber at noon to discuss "vanilla bills" including sales tax reauthorizations and an extension of the Power for Jobs program.

This list does not contain legislation authorizing mayoral control of schools.

"Ultimately it has to be the senators," said Blair Horner, the legislative director for N.Y.P.I.R.G. and a longtime Capitol observer. "Because anything at all can end up being tied up in the courts, and this is already tied up in the courts."

David Paterson insisted that a judge's ruling Tuesday by Justice Joseph Teresi would force the stalemate to end, and amended a proclamation calling extraordinary session to 10 a.m.

"We expect every senator to be there," Paterson told reporters in the Red Room, during his afternoon venting event. "And anyone who isn't, I would suggest, not relying on that lawyer to take action."

Both sides are unmoved. Republicans say they are appealing Teresi's ruling. As soon as they formally do, attorney Jack Casey said, they will be granted an automatic stay which will prevent them from being compelled to session.

Democrats blasted this Republican appeal as a shirking of duty. They have proclaimed they are leaving the negotiating table with only a list of immediately expiring legislation—which for now excludes reauthorization of mayoral school control—to be acted upon. It's not finalized, Democratic Senator Malcolm Smith insisted, but he's not setting aside a set time for input from Republicans.

In short, with less than 24 hours to go before several sales tax authorizations, the school control legislation and the Power for Jobs program expire, negotiations are still deadlocked.

The governor's efforts aside, no official outside the Senate, including ones with significant interest in seeing the chamber up and running again, seems inclined to step into the fray. When pushed on the point in Brooklyn Monday, Michael Bloomberg replied "I don't know that I have any political influence."

Alan Lubin, the top lobbyist for New York State United Teachers, said the time was right for a "paradigm shift" in negotiations, but didn't see any state leader—David Paterson's attempts have thus far not yielded much of substance—capable of intervening.

"Cuomo has the stature, but why would he get involved? His job is attorney general," Lubin said. "I would bypass the governor's office and go right for the federal level."

(Cuomo has urged a resolution, in the way that someone might publicly hope for nice weather, but a spokesman has said firmly that Cuomo has no role in this dispute.)

Efforts to build up public pressure on both sides—Paterson urged citiziens to "pick up your phone, call a senator, and tell them to get back to work"&mdsh;seem to have overestimated the senators' sense of shame, or vulnerability, and have yielded nothing.

Stuart Appelbaum, head of the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union, has helped organize a coalition of labor and progressive groups pushing for the adoption of the Democrats' bipartisan operating agreement.

"I don' think that mediation is the issue. I think the issue is whether or not the Republicans are serious about trying to reach a compromise trying to reach a political reality," he said. "I would say the Republicans were not negotiating in good faith, that they do not want a solution."

Horner said that someone would have to yield. Eventually.

"Ultimately, there has to be a political agreement between the warring factions, to cobble together the leadership of the Senate. Short of that, we'll be here forever," he said. "It ultimately comes down to a political compromise. There's no other way around it. There's no other ringleader for the circus."

"The intention, as I find it to be in the New York State Constitution, I find that the word convene means to come into session as one group," Teresi said from the bench. "To come into session as separate groups is a fiction. It's an illusion that these elected officials are working as one elected group that is the New York State Senate, and I will not be part of that fiction."

Lawyers for the Democratic conference and Republican-led coalition argued that the case should be dismissed because it violated the separation of powers under the constitution. Paterson has claimed that concurrent sessions of the State Senate run by each of the parties, which have occurred the past eight days, are illegitimate. Teresi agreed. He also said this:

"I can't help but observe that the members of the New York State Senate, each and every one of them, have a unique opportunity as elected officials to take the high road and do the right thing for the greater good," he began. "Otherwise, there are those citizens in the court who could conclude, if they have not already, that these members have placed their own interests ahead of those of the citizens of this state for the benefit of their own personal and selfish interests.

"Those same people may also conclude, and define that conduct, as rude, inconsiderate and egotistical," Teresi continued. "Unfortunately, I am without power to correct or address those issues."

He did not address the legality of any bills enacted in a Senate-only special session, nor the ability of Paterson to put legislation as opposed to nominations on the active list for such a session. He quipped that he wished Paterson would put judicial pay raises on the docket.

Jack Casey, an attorney representing the Republican-led coalition, promised to appeal. He noted that under the Public Officers law, a notice of appeal creates an automatic stay on Teresi's order, called a writ of mandamus. He announced his intention to file the required notice at 9 a.m. Tuesday.

David Markus, an attorney representing the Democratic conference, said "we're going to speak with our clients" about the possibility of an appeal.

Judge Thomas McNamara sent the dueling parties in State Senate leadership struggle back to the negotiating table—a move that has become something of a trademark for him.

By my count, this is the sixth time legal action related to the case has been adjourned. After a closed, hour-long conference, the two sides also agreed to produce a transcript for the court showing the exact proceedings of June 8, the day of the coup. McNamara did not sign a motion, brought by Republicans, that would force Democrat-designated Senate Secretary Angelo Aponte to recognize Dean Skelos and Pedro Espada Jr. as his bosses.

"I think I have stated previously in this matter that I have vacation plans in effect for two weeks," McNamara said. "I've advised counsel that I can and would be available to them during that timeframe either telephonically, through my office, or I would make myself available personally here to help bring a resolution to this matter."

"My grandchildren hope that this matter will be resolved in a way that will not require Papa to be called from his vacation," the increasingly quotable judge continued. "So do I."

Jack Casey, an attorney representing the Republicans, said this will allow both sides to negotiate. He subpoenaed the Senate journal and transcript from that date, which were agreed to under a stipulation by Democrats.

"It buys everyone time," Casey told reporters after the case adjourned. "Everyone can take a deep breath and go back to the negotiating table. You have been in labor negotiations; I'm sure, standing outside the door. There are very sensitive issues here and very important issues for the people of the State of New York. And we want to carefully to proceed through the negotiations, and hopefully there will be a resolution."

The parties will have a conference on the issue, if it is still outstanding, at 1 p.m. Monday.

After hearing an argument from Republican attorney Jack Casey, who filed a motion on behalf of State Senators George Winner and John Flanagan, McNamara declined to sign a temporary restraining order against Angelo Aponte, the Democrat-designated secretary of the senate. Casey said Aponte was obstructing the business of the chamber by withholding bill jackets and needed staff.

"This record is getting old," McNamara, who last week declined to get involved in the issue of who is the temporary president of the State Senate, said in Supreme Court. "In being a citizen of the State of New York for the past several days, this has to be resolved by you no matter what I do or don't do on Friday. There's an absurd assumption that there's a tie vote over there and no votes are being taken. No one is coming out a winner in the public over this. Somebody has got to sit down and address the issues in a way that allows them to be resolved, because it's getting to appoint where significant legislation, et cetera, is unable to be resolved, and that's going to cost the citizens of the state millions of dollars."

He concluded: "I guess I'm talking like a human being, but I don't understand what's going on. You need to resolve this."

McNamara said he will rule on the merits of the case on Friday morning. He will not delay the case any longer—he is planning to take a vacation next week to Cape Cod.

"They require 48-hours notice on any resolution," he said, smiling. "So their own coup wouldn't be possible under the new rules."