Hall was defeated by Nan Hayworth in 2010. This Sunday's show marks his first live performance since leaving Congress.

"It's good therapy for me," Hall said in a brief phone interview. "Hopefully it will also be a good way to put food back on the table."

Hall said that this weekend's solo show will kick off a number of related musical acts, including some concerts with Orleans over the summer and others with Gulf Stream Night, his post-Orleans act.

When Hall was exploring a run for Congress in 2006, he was advised by his campaign team to play down his musical career, but later he ended up leaning on his friends from his years on the road, including Bonnie Raitt and Jackson Browne to help raise money.

He said that a return to music did not mean that he was giving up politics. Democrats in the area have been asking him to challenge Hayworth in 2012. Hall said that no decision has been made.

"I haven't made up my mind. Nobody even knows what the district is going to look like," he said. "I am going to think long and hard about it. I have spent ten years of my life as an elected official. Ten years of anybody's life is a long time." 

Unless he cuts a deal beforehand, Rangel is widely expected to be censured, especially after the Ethics committee overwhelmingly voted for that punishment. But for the New York delegation, the question of whether or not to censure Rangel is an especially difficult one. While even Rangel admits that what he did was wrong, the Harlem congressman remains a beloved figure among the delegation, the one who as the longest-serving member welcomed newcomers to the House.

The Observer reached out repeatedly to New York's House members to gauge how they plan to vote on the Rangel question. Most refused to answer.

So far, however, Rep. Christopher Lee, Rep. Bill Owens and Rep. Tom Reed all stated their intention to vote for censuring Rangel. Rep. Gregory Meeks said that he would be voting against the measure. Four other New York congressmen--Rep. Peter King, Rep. John Hall, Rep. Edolphus Towns and Rep. Paul Tonko--all said that they were currently undecided and were unsure how they would vote at the moment.

Rangel was found guilty on 11 counts of ethics violations by a bipartisan commission last week. While the censure is a far cry from expulsion, which was also on the table for Rangel- it is certainly a degrading one, as Rangel will be asked to stand alone in the well of the House of Representatives and receive a verbal condemnation from Speaker Nancy Pelosi on behalf of her congressional peers.

Rangel was found guilty of using rent-stabilized apartments for his campaign headquarters, for improperly soliciting donations for a library named in his honor by using congressional letterhead, and for failing to claim over $600,000 of income stemming from a rental villa in the Dominican Republic in his tax returns.

In an email to his supporters, Rangel made his clearest apology yet.

"I apologize for the embarrassment I have brought upon you," he wrote.

"Thursday was one of the most difficult days of my life since I was left for dead in North Korea 60 years ago...I hope that you would judge me on my entire record as a soldier and a dedicated public servant - not only by my mistakes," he said.

We will update as we hear from more members of the delegation.

"Is he? Oh, I thought he was running for Congress," Assemblyman Ron Canestrari, a Cohoes Democrat, said, referencing an already-begun race against Representative John Hall that included robocalls and town halls on health care. "As long as he's out of here I don't care."

"Greg Ball's running for State Senate. Ummm, what would you like to know?" Assembly Minority Leader Brian Kolb told reporters before a leaders meeting the other night. "I would just say I wish him the best of luck for whatever endeavor he wants to pursue. I thought he was running for Congress, but now I guess he's running for the Senate."

I asked Kolb, again, if he was saddened by the prospect of losing Ball as a member of the Republican conference.

"I just wish everybody good luck in whatever endeavor they decide endeavor on," Kolb replied.

Ball is a colorful character. Earlier this year he filed a police report when a dead goat was found near his driveway; Ball claimed intimidation by the "old political machine" and later said he was sleeping with a gun under his bed.

But with his color comes an almost fanatic diligence. "No matter what he runs for he's going to be formidable, because he's bright, he's intelligent, he's a good communicator and he's a hard worker," Assemblyman Jim Tedisco, a Schenectady Republican who unsuccessfully ran for Congress earlier this year.

Ball's exit from the Congressional race comes after Nan Hayworth, a physician, declared her candidacy in September. In October, Democrats filed suit against Ball for violating FEC regulations, and earlier this month Ball's campaign touted a poll that did not sample all of the voters in the district. The eyebrow raising reached a level where officials at the National Republican Congressional Committee concluded he was not a disciplined enough candidate and urged him to drop out, according to a Republican familiar with the campaign.

Tedisco, who is mulling another run for Congress, referenced "disorganization" on the part of national Republicans.

"It seems to be, not only is the environment bad, but it seems to be there appears to be some disorganization," he said. "At the national level, in terms of getting an understanding of what's taking place specifically in some of these Congressional districts. I think they're trying to put their best effort forward, but I think they and we've all been victims of some unforeseen situations in these elections. And sometimes you can't control those things."

(UPDATE: John Randall, an NRCC spokesman, said in an e-mail that "Greg Ball is a dedicated public servant with a bright future and the NRCC respects his decision to run for State Senate.")

In a formal statement, Ball said his decision to run for State Senate was based on a desire to continue working for change in Albany.

"As an Assemblyman in the minority, I headed to Albany to fight: Fight against the backroom deals, the systemic corruption, and the infamous dysfunction that is costing New Yorkers billions and forcing small businesses out of this state," Ball said. "As a candidate for State Senate, I look forward to returning to Albany not simply to fight, but to lead."

"From the overwhelming grassroots support to our continued fundraising successes I am thrilled at the community's response to my campaign. Yet as I have gone door to door, discussing national issues with voters throughout the Hudson Valley, the conversations have always come back to kitchen table issues," Ball continued.

He has declared his candidacy for a seat current held by State Senator Vincent Leibell, who might end up running for Putnam County executive, giving Ball an opening. If that doesn't materialize, Leibell's fellow senators are ready to rally on his behalf.

The Democratic Lawyers Council filed the above complaint before the Federal Election Commission on Friday, alleging that Ball unlawfully solicited money from corporations and did not claim that a robocall unleashed in the congressional district was paid for by the campaign committee (or anyone, for that matter).

Ball is targeting incumbent Representative John Hall, who won the seat in 2006 and is considered vulnerable to a challenge. Ball, known in Albany for claiming that a political opponent killed a goat and put it on his property, has held health care town halls across the district this summer, and has one planned for later this month. He and other Hudson Valley Republicans in the Assembly have been active in decrying a payroll tax imposed to bail the authority out from a multi-billion dollar deficit.

Matt Mackowniak, a consultant with Ball's congressional campaign, said the action by the Democratic lawyers is "purely political" and said the campaign staffers "welcome these baseless attacks by John Hall's surrogates as an indication of our growing strength."

The National Republican Congressional Committee is seizing on comments reported this morning by the Elmira Star-Gazette to attack all of the Democrats in the state's delegation considered marginal—Dan Maffei, Mike Arcuri, Tom Bishop, Mike McMahon and John Hall. Massa's had said that a current health care proposal from Congressional Democrats will "destroy Medicare."

"New York seniors can only hope that John Hall will take a hint from fellow Democrats who are lining up to oppose Nancy Pelosi's disastrous healthcare agenda," said NRCC spokesman Ken Spain in one of the attack emails. "Unfortunately, Hall's history of marching in lock-step with his party leaders does not bode well for those seniors that actually want to keep the healthcare plans that they have. With millions of Americans concerned about losing their current coverage, John Hall seems poised to once again turn his back on the people he claims to represent in order to deliver a vote for Nancy Pelosi and the rest of his party bosses."

The House of Representatives adjourned last week, and many members are spending the recess in their district defending their positions. Hall appeared alongside Majority Leader Steny Hoyer earlier this week to defend his support for the plan, which would create a public option for health care.

Massa has not backed the current House plan. But in response to the NRCC attacks, the freshman from the Southern Tier offered this statement:

Rather than addressing their concerns about the bill, the Republican Party continues to use divisive, irresponsible rhetoric to try and discredit those who want real health care reform in an attempt to cover up their own failed approach.

I applaud all those who choose to get this bill right rather than those who are using cheap, political tactics.

In the days since Representative Steve Israel decided not to consider a primary against Gillibrand, following calls from President Barack Obama and Senator Chuck Schumer, other members of the New York Congressional delegation have quickly lined up in support of Gillibrand: Nita Lowey, Maurice Hinchey, Brian Higgins, Michael McMahon, Yvette Clarke, John Hall, Michael Arcuri. Soon Nydia Velasquez and Ed Towns are expected to make their support public. Anthony Weiner is considered supportive, too.

"I think what is happening, with all due respect to them, is that when you begin to get a lot of calls of people saying we have got to put this to bed and this has to end, if they get a call from higher-ups in the party they succumb to that," said Serrano. "I understand that. I was there in the early days when you lose sleep over a phone call and you don't know what to do with it. Those days aren't there for me anymore. I've been in office for 35 years."

Serrano, who told Liz that he thinks Obama's White House acted like Tammany Hall in forcing out Israel, said that very few people in the delegation, including those who have endorsed her, are "jumping for joy" about the momentum building around her. He said he now counts himself with Carolyn Maloney and Carolyn McCarthy as potential challengers to Gillibrand.

"Maloney told me she is running," added Serrano. "McCarthy is still waiting to see who doesn't run. And if the field narrows down to no one running, she may do it."

It is quite possible that Serrano has no intention of running, and that his last-ditch effort to cause trouble for Gillibrand is mostly motivated by his objection to the fact that no one has seen fit to take him seriously enough to call. ("I think he is genuinely hurt that he wasn't considered," said one member of the delegation.)  But either way, the fact that he is making these kinds of noises—just as the Gillibrand campaign is attempting to convey momentum in gaining support from the once-aggrieved House delegation—is not great news for the party leaders looking to avoid making the 2010 Senate race any more interesting than it already is.

"As the dean, I wish we didn't have a primary," said Representative Charlie Rangel, the dean of the New York Congressional delegation. "But having said that, I don't think it's up to me or anyone else what their political ambitions should be kept at just for the sake of unity. It's just not fair. I'm not going to tell them not to run."  

Rangel, one of the most senior officials in the House, said that he himself has received no pressure from Gillibrand's office, from Schumer or from the White House to support her, and he said that he would endorse Gillibrand if she ran unchallenged. He said he didn't know what he would do if there was a primary.

"It depends on if there is anyone running," he said.  "And I don't think there would be."

Gillibrand has actively sought to ensure that there isn't one, and has worked to convince some of her former critics, like Velasquez, that she is not as conservative as she was when she represented a mostly Republican district upstate.

But there are still holdouts. And Serrano said they are senior enough to resist even the strongest institutional pressures.

Several sources echoed Serrano's claims that state and national party leaders have aggressively sought to pressure members of the delegation to get behind Gillibrand, and expressed frustration with the White House for injecting itself into a state primary. Gillibrand's office, one Congressional source noted, has offered to help carry pet legislation or talk to senior administration officials in order to get one member's bills moved along.

"When Senator Gillibrand was in the House, then Senator Clinton was always willing to work with her on her priorities," said Gillibrand's spokesman, Matt Canter. "That's the kind of senator she plans to be."

The support Gillibrand most covets is that of liberal downstate representatives, who have thus far been reluctant to endorse. Their support would amount to a kosherizing effect on Gillibrand for many progressives wary of her past positions.

Perhaps first among that class of legislator is Representative Jerry Nadler, who is yet to support Gillibrand.

"You get Jerry Nadler's endorsement, that means a lot to a lot of people," Serrano said. "Jerry is one of the finest legislators and progressive voices we have."

In addition to Nadler and Israel, Eliot Engel, Joe Crowley, Gary Ackerman, Louise Slaughter, Eric Massa, Paul Tonko and Timothy Bishop, all Democrats, have still not endorsed.

"I don't think any of this matters to their reelection," said a member of the delegation, speaking on background. "And if she is successful, they'll reestablish a connection."

And, of course, there is Serrano, who holds a grudge against Gillibrand for her past positions on immigration and what he considers the "botched" way in which she was appointed.

 "We don't have a relationship," he said.

Treadwell says he will elaborate on his plan for a moratorium on earmarks.

Both candidates in this heavily Republican district are likely preparing for questions about how they line up with respect to their party's presidential nominee.

"John McCai[img_assist|nid=105|title=Sandy Treadwell|desc=sandytreadwell.com|link=none|align=left|width=420|height=245]n has some good ideas. Barack Obama has some good ideas,” said Treadwell spokesman Peter Constantakes. “But we’re focusing on who we’re challenging. We want to contrast more with the person we’re running against rather than with Barack Obama or John McCain.”

A spokeswoman for Gillibrand’s campaign, Rachel McEneny, said they’re prepared to draw distinctions with Barack Obama, noting that they got the endorsement of the National Rifle Association and were adamantly opposed to Eliot Spitzer’s plan to give driver’s licenses to undocumented residents, which Obama supports.

But McEneny was also quick to point out that Gillibrand is enthusiastically supporting Obama for president, and specifically that she backs his economic and energy policies.

Tonight's debate is at 6 p.m. and being organized by a local Chamber of Commerce along with the Poughkeepsie Journal News and The Glens Falls Post Star (which will be streaming live tonight).

It'll be a little crowded on stage. Also debating tonight are the Democratic and Republican candidates from two other congressional races: freshman Democrat John Hall and his Republican challenger Kieran Lalor, and Democrat Maurice Hinchey and his Republican challenger, George Phillips.

Having all those Democrats on stage together will be a boon to Gillibrand, her spokeswoman said, since the audience can see that she voted differently from the Democrats sitting right next to her. And in Gillibrand’s district, which leans Republican, that’s a good thing.

“Even though they’re all Democrats and take the same flight home, they’re each very, very different,” said McEneny.

He's a Republican Iraq War veteran running in a Hudson Valley district that voted for George W. Bush over John Kerry 53-45, and he's challenging incumbent freshman Democrat John Hall who, in 2006, ousted a Republican incumbent with less than 6,000 votes. Hall is an anti-nuclear activist and formerly the lead member of the 1970s arena rock band Orleans, best known for such hits as "Still the One."

With two wars going on, Lalor should be at least giving Hall a major challenge, but Congressional Quarterly rates the district "Democrat favored."

Lalor's running into the same problem on a local level that has troubled John McCain nationally: voters are worried about the economy, and foreign policy has taken a back seat.

"The Iraq war didn't even come up," said Lalor spokesman Chris Covucci, describing the candidate's recent 70-minute interview with the editorial board of the Westchester Journal News.

"Since [Hall] took office in 2006, everything has gotten worse," Covucci went on. "The only thing that got better was the surge in Iraq, and he opposed it."

In a somewhat desperate attempt to rebrand the candidate (again, shades of McCain), Lalor's campaign filed more than 6,000 signatures with the State Board of Elections to create a new party line called "Energy Security Now."

"That was a way to connect to people and to speak about that issue," said Cuvocci.

It didn't work out. Hall's supporters claimed the petitions didn't comply with state law and filed a lawsuit. Lalor's campaign disputed the charge, but withdrew the petitions anyway, saying the candidate would rather spend money exposing Hall's energy record than on expensive legal proceedings.

Now, Lalor's campaign is trying to link Hall to the George W. Bush.

"Hall's most significant vote was on the Bush bailout," said Covucci. "John Hall voted for that, twice."

Lalor, Covucci said, is an independent actor.

"I think there's probably a lot of disappointment with the Bush presidency," he said. "But with that said, the general disappointment is with Washington. Our point is Kieran is a different kind of candidate."

He noted that former Republican Governor George Pataki, and the district's former Congress member, Sue Kelly, supported other candidates in the primary before Lalor prevailed.

And where is Lalor in relation America's most famous self-described maverick, John McCain?

"It is a majority Republican district, and Republicans are more energized because of Sarah Palin, but we don't think about that a lot," Covucci said. "It's beyond our control. I wouldn't say we really position him with respect to the McCain-Palin ticket."

Of course, what one person calls wasteful spending, another person calls bringing home the bacon, and now that Democrats are in the majority, New York was supposed to be getting more federal money.

The state made out with a good portion, particularly in the Catskills, where Maurice Hinchey brought in $43.7 million.

Here is a list of what some members from New York, and a few from elsewhere, brought their districts, according to the list. (It's in numbers of millions):

New York City:
Gary Ackerman- $20.9
Joe Crowley-$29.8
Carolyn Maloney-$23.1
Greg Meeks-$6.2
Jerry Nadler-$14
Anthony Weiner-$8.6
Jose Serrano-$13.8
Charles Rangel-$11
Nydia Valezquez-$3.7
Vito Fossella-$0
Yvette Clarke-$4.3

Freshman Democrats from New York:

Kirsten Gillibrand-23.8
Michael Arcuri-$28.9
John Hall-$20.4

Others worth noting:

Tim Bishop of Long Island-$32
Steve Israel of Long Island-$16.2
Peter King of Long Island-$21.3
Nita Lowey of Westchester-$27.9
Carolyn McCarthy of Long Island-$23.1
Maurice Hinchey of the Catskills-$43.7
Randy Kuhl of the Rochester area-$23.5
Mike McNulty of the Albany area-$17.2
Brian Higgins of Buffalo-$23.7
Denis Kucinich of Ohio-$8.1
Rahm Emmanuel of Illinois-$22.3
Steny Hoyer, Majority Leader-$149.1
Nancy Pelosi, House Speaker-$91.2