At one point, a reader challenged Harrison to explain donations he made to Republican candidates, part of why progressives question his credentials. (The 13th Congressional district leans conservative and is currently represented by the last Republican congressman in the city, Vito Fossella.)

His response:

Asked for a response, McMahon’s campaign didn’t deny a connection to the Conservative Party, but called the remarks hypocritical and “negative.”

McMahon's new director of communications, Erin Monju, said, “Steve Harrison continues his relentlessly negative campaign because he has no record of his own to run on and no hope of winning this seat for the Democratic party. His hypocrisy is striking since Harrison has routinely supported Republican candidates in the past such as Marty Golden and John Faso, and of course contributed to the Conservative party.”

During the town hall, Harrison said, “I have never attacked Mike McMahon at any time. Oddly, I think Mike McMahon is attacking me by claiming I am attacking him."

The whole exchange is available online.

He’s running in the primary against the Democratic Party-backed candidate, City Councilman Mike McMahon, for the Staten Island seat Vito Fossella is leaving.

Since Jimmy Dahroug dropped out of a State Senate primary bid against Brian Foley on Long Island last week, the Harrison-McMahon primary is one of the last remaining races to pit a progressive Democrat against an establishment Democrat, although there used to be others. (It's worth noting that some observers question Harrison's progressive credentials .)

Adding intrigue is the fact that Harrison and McMahon are running in a fairly conservative district, the 13th, currently served by the last Republican congressman in the city.

What would, or will you, ask Harrison?

Meanwhile, McMahon's opponent, Steve Harrison, unveiled a series of new slogans and signs.

“The old style signs eventually blend in with scenery,” Harrison said in a public statement.

Staten Island Democrats recently endorsed another candidate, City Councilman Mike McMahon. Although the district lies partly in Brooklyn, Staten Island residents are a majority.

In the release, Recchia says he thinks Democrats should be "united as a party" to win the seat, currently held by a Republican.

Attorney Steve Harrison, who ran against Fossella in 2006, has not changed his plans.

Recchia did not say what he will do with the money (more than $300,000 ) he raised.

Since most of the district is in Staten Island, county support makes McMahon the leading Democrat in the race. But two others--City Councilman Domenic Recchia and Steve Harrison, both of Brooklyn--were running Democratic primary campaigns before Fossella's arrest.

There's been some speculation that Recchia, who is the best-funded candidate in the race at the moment, won't stay in the race. Councilman Lew Fidler of Brooklyn, however, isn't going to count Recchia out yet.

“If Domenic Recchia was good enough for us to support before Vito Fossella’s problems had surfaced, he’s good enough to be supported now and I think he would be a terrific congressman,” Fidler said. “Until Domenic tells me he’s not in the race, I’m with him 110 percent.”

Fidler doesn’t think much of an argument Harrison is making: the Brooklyn attorney says that since he was the Democratic nominee for Fossella's seat in 2006, he should be supported this time.

Fidler called Harrison’s comments “pretty immature.”

Recchia has not spoken publicly about the race yet, and the voice mail on his cell phone was full.

But it may be more trouble than it's worth.

The district certainly is winnable for Democrats, especially if Fossella opts to seek re-election despite the scandals exploding around him. But even if he doesn't – and there is word this afternoon that his resignation is now imminent – either of the Democrats now running, Steve Harrison and Domenic Recchia, would probably have a better-than-even chance against the Republican-to-be-named-later in the fall.

The 13th District is easily the most conservative in New York City and traditionally sends a Republican to Congress, but Democrats actually enjoy a slight partisan advantage. Largely because of 9/11, George W. Bush carried it by 10 points in 2004, but a more accurate expression of the district's leanings can be found in the 2000 election, when Al Gore won it by eight points over Bush. Moreover, the political climate strongly favors Democrats in 2008 (just look at the party's string of special election wins in GOP bastions this year), which figures to boost the Democratic nominee in the 13th by a few potentially pivotal points.

But winning the 13th this fall would cause a headache for the Democrats because it would eliminate what has been their logical solution to a redistricting dilemma now just a few years away. When the lines are redrawn for the 2012 cycle, New York is certain to lose at least one of its 27 29 House seats, and more likely two. This will necessitate merging existing districts.

Having Fossella – or any Republican, for that matter – in the 13th actually positions the Democrats well for redistricting, since they could propose merging the 13th with one of the Democratic strongholds in Brooklyn, pitting Fossella against a Democratic incumbent in a new, solidly Democratic district. But if a Democrat takes Fossella's seat (and holds it in the 2010 cycle), this option won't be nearly as attractive.

What's worse for Democrats, they probably won't have many other options. Call it a consequence of success: There are now just six Republicans left in the state's Congressional delegation, a number that could shrink much further this year. Fossella was a perfect target for redistricting.

The situation is somewhat analogous to one across the Hudson, in New Jersey's 7th District, which cuts across the north-central part of the state. Mike Ferguson, a four-term Republican incumbent, is giving up his seat this year in what has been a marginally Republican district. The fall race will be competitive, but victory for the G.O.P. is possible.

But if either of the two leading Republicans vying for the seat – Leonard Lance, the former state Senate Minority Leader, and Kate Whitman Annis, the daughter of former Governor Christine Todd Whitman – ends up winning it, redistricting will probably make it a pyrrhic victory. That's because New Jersey, like New York, will be on the short end of reapportionment in 2012 and will lose one seat. But if a Republican wins Ferguson's seat (and retains it in 2010), expect Democrats to push hard for the district to be merged with the neighboring 11th District, a suburban Republican stronghold that has been represented since 1994 by Rodney Frelinghuysen. That would pit either Lance or Whitman Annis against an entrenched incumbent in a G.O.P. primary in 2012, one in which the demographics would probably favor Frelinghuysen.

Both districts just reaffirm the old truism that the biggest threat to a member of Congress often isn't re-election – it's redistricting.

But when political consultant Jefrey Pollock prefaced remarks about Fossella on NY1 last night by saying he’s working for Recchia’s campaign, that was news.

Pollock is president of Global Strategy Group, a company with clients that have included John Edwards, Freddy Ferrer, Eliot Spitzer and Cory Booker.

Recchia has $325,175.77 in his campaign account, more than Fossella has with $248,496.48. Recchia’s opponent in the Democratic primary, attorney Steve Harrison, has $91,131.73.

“It was a big mistake and I made it and I’m here to apologize to the people I represent,” he said, speaking at the Hilton hotel on Staten Island. “I was brought up man enough to know it’s time to admit mistakes and apologize.”

Fossella spoke for about six minutes, and walked away when I tried asking if he would enter rehab. An aide said later there was no need for it.

“I know better than to get behind the wheel of a car even after one drink,” Fosssella said. A television reporter later asked if the statement was misleading, since it’s been reported that a Breathalyzer administered when he was pulled over showed he had twice the legal limit of alcohol in his system.

“The lesson I’ve learned and reaffirmed and underscore is that the mistake will never happen again. I will not get behind the wheel, even after one drink,” Fossella said. “As for the specifics of the case itself, I cannot comment on a pending legal matter.”

He did say that there was no one else in the car with him when he was arrested. Aides said the lawyer advising Fossella now is Barry J. Pollack, of the Washington, D.C.-based firm Kelley, Drye & Warren, L.L.P.

On hand for the event were political allies: State Senator Andrew Lanza and City Council members Jimmy Oddo and Vinny Ignizio, all three of whom answered questions from reporters after Fossella left the hotel.

Two Democrats, lawyer Steve Harrison and City Councilman Domenic Recchia, are trying to unseat Fossella this fall.

Here's Steve Harrison, the less-funded of the two Democrats looking to unseat Representative Vito Fossella, speaking to a bunch of Democratic clubs last night at a bar in Manhattan.

He had some particularly spirited remarks about the war in Iraq: After the oil is gone from the Middle East, he says, "We start looking around and we say ‘You know, Venezuela looks pretty good.’ And when Venezuela is gone, we look and we say, ‘Mexico looks pretty good.’ And the next thing you know, it’s Canada.”

Then another speaker, the guy who got the bar to donate space for the event, really stopped the show when he took the microphone and basically called everyone in Albany a bunch of criminals. Event organizers quickly got him to change the subject.

They are choosing between term-limited City Councilman Domenic Recchia and Steve Harrison, who lost to Fossella in 2006.

Fossella, a 10-year incumbent who represents Staten Island and parts of Brooklyn, is a frequent target of left-of-center groups in the city--his opponent's supporters have called him the "last conservative in the city." (The effort to unseat him has even given rise to a dedicated blog.)

In a similar vein, an email reminder for tonight's event says, “Fossella has been a rubber-stamp for the Bush-Cheney White House.” 

Both Democratic contenders have been fund-raising this year, although Fossella has made a point of making it known that he has plenty of money to get reelected.

Hosting the event tonight are the Stonewall Democratic Club, Three Parks Independent Democratic Club, Village Reform Democratic Club and an organization called Truth 13.

Here's the email: