More than 2,000 people packed the Empire State Convention center. Organizers communicated via radio head set. Advocates sat at tables marked by legislative district—the Senate district tables tended to be longer, and lined with more people.

"This is not just about this year," said Alan Van Capelle, the executive director of Empire State Pride Agenda, and the organizer of Equality & Justice Day. "For a lot of people this is about what happened in the last several months, and a lot of people are engaged now in something that we are engaged in every day of the year."

But undeniably, at show time, the muscle is there like it's never been before. Since 2002, ESPA has tripled their staff and quadrupled their budget. Around five years ago, about 500 people were coming to the annual lobby day.

Now, one of Albany's elite lobbying houses—Patricia Lynch Associates—is involved with the effort, retained by the ESPA's outside lobbyist. And for the last two weeks, the ESPA has been on the air in three upstate areas pitching same-sex marriage.

"In four days, the ad raised $150,000," Van Capelle said. This is the first time ESPA has ever hit the airwaves.

He was in Albany Tuesday to meet with legislators, throwing a pitch that at this point is well honed. There is the political angle: legislators know that there are people who care deeply about the issue and aren't shy about supporting challengers to those who oppose it. Danny O'Donnell, the gay assemblyman who sponsored of the bill in the state's lower chamber, never misses a chance to remind me that no legislator in recent memory has lost his or her seat because they voted for the bill.

"I think there's a lot more on the upside for being in favor than there is to be against it," he said. "I would not want to be a politician in 2020 running for office having voted no. I wouldn't want to be that person. And I've told all my 20-something-year-old colleagues."

Van Capelle said that he is proud to have broadened the advocacy coalition to include religious people, business groups, and unions. Indeed, many unions went on the record supporting same-sex marriage after the 2007 vote, including the labor councils in Buffalo, Central New York and the Capital District.

And then there's the emotional card: When in a meeting, Van Capelle said he talks about his twin sister, who is straight. Organizers have found more and more people willing to tell their stories. Assemblywoman Janet Duprey, who changed her position on same-sex marriage between 2007 and 2009, told me that it was after visits from parents in her district who had gay children that she decided to vote to support it.

Assemblyman Bob Reilly, who also flipped, said it was the product mostly of seeing O'Donnell and other colleagues.

"The people who I talked to who influenced me the most was Danny O'Donnell, who I had spoken to the first time, and then Deborah Glick, when I heard her speak. And somewhat Matt Titone," he said. "I thought that gay marriage was ahead of society and ahead of my constituents. And I can't say I'm particularly comfortable with it, even today, because I'm older and I didn't grow up with knowledge of gays and acceptance."

He says he was mistaken about his constituents, and there has been little pushback: As many people approached him to say they appreciated his vote as did those who were angry about it. Reilly told me he attended a memorial service earlier this week where he bumped into Howard Hubbard, bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Albany. He didn't say anything.

"What has happened is a sea change in American society, that gay people are here and around," O'Donnell said. "People are not willing to hide and not say who they are, which makes it very difficult for elected officials to ignore them. It is harder in 2009 then it was in 2003 when I first got here. Fully four Republican Assembly members have told me that they will not vote no again."

"There's no surprise here," said Blair Horner, a longtime good-government advocate with NYPIRG. "The number of legislators stays the same but the number of lobbyists continues to mushroom. If they all showed up one day, it would cause gridlock."

Overall, the total amount spent on lobbying increased to $173.9 million this year, up from $171 million last year. There are now 6,624 registered lobbyists.

The top firm, for the twelfth straight year, is Wilson Elser. Patricia Lynch Associates, which has been subpoenaed by Attorney General Andrew Cuomo, came in second. The pecking order hasn't changed much since last year, this chart shows.

Horner noted that this is the second year in which the lobbying report's release has not been accompanied by a press conference. Not making a big announcement is in the tradition of the former Ethics Commission, according to Walter Ayres, a spokesperson.

When he took office, Eliot Spitzer merged the Ethics Commission with the Lobbying Commission to form the Commission on Public Integrity.

"Let's be clear," Silver said after an event at the South Street Seaport announcing free bike rentals downtown. "Ms. Lynch left my employ in 2000. Nine years ago. So I think there's a statute of limitations. I have not spoken to her about this or any of the other events, so I have no idea except for what I read in one of the daily newspapers today."

In her biography on the firm's web site, Lynch refers to her former association with Silver. I asked him if the association might affect him or his conference.

"I don't believe so, sir," he said. "But you'll have to speak with the attorney general if you want the scope of what he's investigating. I have no idea. I have no knowledge and no communication. Thank you. Anything else?"

Lynch, a former top aide to Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, was the second-highest grossing lobbyist in 2007. There are already offices in Albany, White Plains and Buffalo.

Next stop? Panama City, where, according to the postcard, an office will open in 2009.

She’s a major Albany lobbyist who most recently was charged with getting congestion pricing passed in the capitol. Lynch is also an experienced fund-raiser--last year, Bill Clinton headlined one of her events.

Stringer hasn't said what he will do in 2009, but his plans have been the object of some speculation.

Which prompted the question, during a discussion I had with another reporter last night, of who's going to replace him.

One candidate would seem to be the director of communications for the state Division of Budget, Jeffrey Gordon, who has been working in the governor's press office "on an interim basis" since Dopp's suspension from his job in July. (Which, by the way, marked the first time since Spitzer's been in elected office that he didn't have Dopp as his communications director.)

Any other ideas?

UPDATE: Gordon told me in an email that no changes to the press office have been made.

(As Wayne Barrett and Bill Hammond note, just because it's the biggest doesn't mean that it's that big.)

“Either Pat Lynch is the smartest person in the world, or the dumbest. And my bet is she is the smartest,” said Democratic consultant Hank Sheinkopf.

Why?

“I would think that everybody would want him. He‘s worked for the Cuomos, he‘s worked for Spitzer and he‘s a former newspaper man.”

And Dopp’s connections in Spitzer’s administration haven’t been too badly damaged, despite all the negative press he’s received.

“People who work for the governor are not going to say, ‘Go away Darren and have a nice year.’ They may say that in public but that’s not how it works.”

Sheinkopf added, “It’s going to all disappear below the radar in Albany. Everybody involved is going to do what they’ve always done, which is live in the same fishbowl together.”

One senior state official told me via email, "It's a big fuck you to Joe Bruno and shows she thinks he's on the way out and that Troopergate is history."

Lynch referred questions to Dopp's lawyer Terrrence Kindlon, who I'm playing phone tag with at the moment. And I'm waiting to hear back from Bruno's people to get their take on this.

Spitzer's spokeswoman, Christine Anderson said, "Darren has devoted his life to public service and has always been a strong believer in the government's ability to do good. We wish him well in his next endeavor."

Except, apparently, when Bill Clinton is headlining.

The invite for last night's event, organized by powerhouse lobbyist Patricia Lynch at the Westside home of Michael Del Giudice, specifically stated "minimum contribution of $2,000 per person" for "cocktails and conversation" with the former President.

in a flare of orange through a clear blue sky over the State Capitol, a

honey-blond lobbyist made her way up Washington Street toward the University

Club for a fund-raiser honoring the newest star of New York's Republican Party,

U.S. Representative John Sweeney. She hurried through a doorway, past a

twinkling fire and into a room painted brick red. From a table in the center of

the packed room wafted the unmistakable smell of pigs in a blanket. The

honey-blond lobbyist caught the eye of a certain silver-haired, blue-eyed

ex-Marine. They embraced.

The blue-eyed ex-Marine was William Powers, until a few

weeks ago the chairman of the New York Republican State Committee. The

honey-blond lobbyist was Patricia Lynch, until three months ago the most

powerful aide to the most powerful Democrat in Albany, Assembly Speaker Sheldon

Silver. Together, Ms. Lynch and Mr. Powers are quietly becoming Albany's newest

odd couple. Although they do not work for the same lobbying firm, they plan to

parlay the influence and access they enjoy from their previous lives to work

together for that great bipartisan cause known as personal enrichment.

The speed with which Ms. Lynch, 43, and Mr. Powers, 58,  have been able to capitalize on the access

and power they had in their previous jobs is not uncommon in the cozy world of

state politics. On Dec. 31, 2000, Ms. Lynch was the communications director for

the State Assembly-"in the bunker" with Mr. Silver, as she puts it. On Jan. 1,

2001, she was a lobbyist. Three months later, she is billing more than $1

million a year, making her one of Albany's top 10 lobbyists. "I know I'm the

flavor of the month," she said, "but I need to build a business now, for the

long term, when I'm not the flavor of the month."

Mr. Powers resigned as head of the state G.O.P. in early

March, but Republicans still call him "Mr. Chairman," even though that title

now officially belongs to Alexander Treadwell. Just a few weeks ago, Mr. Powers

was based at his party's headquarters at 315 State Street. Now, he works just a

few blocks away, at a lobbying firm formerly known as Crane Consulting.

It was Mr. Powers who paid for Ms. Lynch's ticket to the

Sweeney fund-raiser. She and he will work together for her largest client, GMR,

a group that wants to buy the New York City Off-Track Betting Corp. (GMR is

paying Ms. Lynch $110,000 a year.) Ms. Lynch said that she and Mr. Powers will

share more clients in the future.

Such a pairing is not entirely unheard of in Albany-after

all, Armand D'Amato, the brother of the former Republican Senator, shares

Albany offices with Democrat Mel Miller, the former Assembly Speaker. But given

the level of partisan rhetoric Mr. Powers and Ms. Lynch aimed at each other,

it's not a marriage many insiders would have predicted.

Mr. Powers, after all, was in charge when New York's

Republican Party ran a series of advertisements, complete with a Jaws -like soundtrack, attacking Ms.

Lynch's boss at the time, Mr. Silver, as a shark ready to swallow upstaters'

wallets.

And Ms. Lynch was at Mr.

Silver's side on innumerable occasions as he tore into Governor Pataki and the

state Republicans on everything from school funding to Medicaid cuts. Mr.

Powers' crowning achievement in rebuilding the state G.O.P. was Mr. Pataki's

election as Governor in 1994.

Now, Ms. Lynch and Mr. Powers have kind words for each

other. "I have the utmost of respect for him," Ms. Lynch said. "He goes for the

win. He has a clear strategy in his mind of how to get there." Winning is key

for Ms. Lynch.  In a corner of her

otherwise undecorated office, she has a framed photo of the legendary football

coach Vince Lombardi, along with an extract from his famous views on matters of

competition: "Winning is not a sometime thing, it's an all-the-time thing."

(For the record, she also displays snapshots of her children, Jason, 12, and

Kara, 9.)

Mr. Powers was no less effusive in his praise for Ms. Lynch.

"She's a friend and a nice person," he said. "The Republican Party likes strong

women, and Pat Lynch is a strong woman and a leader." And a Democrat, he might

have added, but didn't.

Ms. Lynch has set up her own firm, Patricia Lynch Associates

Inc. Meanwhile, with the addition of a well-known Republican power broker to

Crane Consulting, Mr. Powers' new place of employment has been renamed Powers,

Crane and Company. Its founder, Constance Crane, is a former aide for the state

Department of Environmental Conservation and the State Senate. She is the

sister-in-law of former Pataki counsel Michael Finnegan.

Barely three full months after leaving Mr. Silver's

employment, Ms. Lynch has 22 clients, including United Parcel Service,

Accenture and Westchester County. She spends three nights a week in Albany at a

budget hotel; the other nights find her in Chappaqua with her family.

The daughter of a single mother who held three jobs to raise

four girls, Ms. Lynch is well known in Albany for her drive and her ambition.

Work starts at 7 in the morning as she reads bills while working out on the

treadmill. Then it's meetings and phone calls-and people take notice when she's

on the other end of the telephone. When she called the office of Attorney

General Eliot Spitzer recently about a routine matter, said a source with

knowledge of Mr. Spitzer's schedule, the Attorney General himself was notified.

"She is still seen as Silver's person," said the source.

A Silver Lining

That's not surprising, since she can still be found in Mr.

Silver's company or in his offices, in the same space she once occupied as a

top Albany policy-maker. At a recent fund-raiser in Washington, D.C., for the

Democratic Assembly Campaign Committee, Ms. Lynch was spotted pulling her

client, Congressman Maurice Hinchey, in Mr. Silver's direction. Mr. Hinchey is

trying to protect his Congressional district from the map-makers in the state

Legislature, so Mr. Silver is a good person to know. And hiring Mr. Silver's

former top aide is a prudent gesture at such a moment.

After the meetings and telephone calls come the fund-raising

receptions. They are endless, several each night. The menu is almost always the

same-cheese cubes, cut-up vegetables, fried foods. The guest lists are also the

same; all the powerful Albany lobbying firms make sure they are

well-represented. Ms. Lynch knows the importance of being seen.

Friends guess that Mr. Powers' schedule will soon be as

hectic as Ms. Lynch's. New to the lobbying business, he has not yet filed

registration forms with the New York Temporary State Commission on Lobbying.

But no one doubts he'll soon be one of Albany's hottest lobbyists. At the

Sweeney fund-raiser, lobbyist James Featherstonehaugh recited a top-10 list of

reasons why "it's a good thing" Mr. Powers 

has joined the ranks of lobbyists. The No. 1 reason: "We'll all get rich

fighting Bill's clients." Not to mention how rich Mr. Powers himself will

become. "He will give new meaning to the words 'doing well,'" said Mr.

Featherstonehaugh.

That certainly seems likely. Companies and individuals who

hire lobbyists prize access, and Mr. Powers is known for his close relationship

with Governor Pataki. At Mr. Pataki's fund-raising party on March 22 at the

South Street Seaport, Mr. Powers was the first person Mr. Pataki invited up

onstage with him. "Willie!" said Mr. Pataki, chuckling warmly off-mike as Mr.

Powers joined him at the podium. Was this a sign that Mr. Powers was the new

Republican power lobbyist? "I think you can figure that out," said Assembly

Minority Leader John Faso as he left the Pataki event.

When he announced that he would leave as Republican state

chairman, Mr. Powers told reporters he had been at last year's Republican

National Convention in Philadelphia when his second grandchild was born. His

wife reminded him that he'd been at the Republican convention in San Diego in

1996 when his first grandchild was born. "I don't feel like doing this

anymore," he said. And at the reception for Congressman Sweeney, he joked about

having time to share dinner with his wife. "We have to get to know each other

again," he said.

But friends expect Mr. Powers to be just as manic as a lobbyist

as he was as state chairman. "After all those years when he worked for the

Assembly, for [former U.S. Senator Alfonse] D'Amato, as state chairman, he has

never really been compensated for his talents and abilities," said attorney

Lawrence Mandelker, who counts both Mr. Powers and Ms. Lynch among his friends.

"Things he would do as a political leader, people are being paid a fortune to

do. It's time to take care of his family. At some time, you have to kick back

and earn the rewards of a lifetime."

Mr. Powers and Ms. Lynch, both.