Republicans are fast becoming an endangered species in New York’s Congressional delegation.

Democrats are aiming for a Yankee grand slam next week, hoping to pick up four more Republican seats to turn the delegation a deep-blue 27-2.

“When I first came to Congress there were 13 Republicans” in the delegation, said Rep. Tom Reynolds (R-N.Y.), who is retiring after a decade in the House and whose seat is in danger of falling into Democratic hands. “There are now six and coming out we’re likely somewhere between two to four.”

A blue tide has been washing over the state for the past two election cycles. In 2006, Democrats took back the governorship for the first time in 12 years and are now threatening to take the state Senate next week for the first time in 46 years — and that chamber’s flipping could have huge implications down the line for redistricting.

“The Republican Party has totally fallen apart and there’s a lack of leadership on a statewide level,” said a New York Republican consultant.

John McCain loves New York for its campaign cash, but New Yorkers? Maybe not so much.

During an NBC interview, his running mate, Sarah Palin, was asked to define the "elitists" the GOP ticket scorns, and said, "Anyone who thinks that they're better than someone else."

McCain chimed in: "I know where a lot of 'em live ... in our nation's capital and New York City."

Americans are tired of the same old divisions and while John McCain might say one thing on the campaign trail about "unity" and "coming together as a nation," he offers more of the same divisive politics of the last eight years.

President Bill Clinton received an extended, thunderous applause from the crowd and gave the assembled delegates plenty to cheer about. Senators John Kerry, Evan Bayh and former Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle also delivered speeches tonight.

Find those speeches and more here.

Tomorrow, we head to Invesco Field at Mile High Stadium for Senator Barack Obama's acceptance speech of the 2008 Democratic presidential nomination.

Tonight, former President Bill Clinton will speak to the convention and Senator Joe Biden (D-Delaware) will accept the Democratic nomination for vice president.

Other speakers include Governor Bill Richardson (D-New Mexico), Senators Evan Bayh (D-Indiana) and John Kerry (D-Massachusetts). Check the full schedule here.

Senator Hillary Clinton (D-New York) energized the Pepsi Center with an incredible speech and was introduced by daughter, Chelsea. Senator Clinton declared: "No way. No how. No McCain."

Democratic Senatorial candidate and former Governor Mark Warner (D-Virginia) delivered a great keynote address.

Governor Brian Schweitzer (D-Montana) fired up the room and rattled off an unforgettable line about drilling in all of John McCain's many, many backyards, including the ones he cannot remember.

Watch more videos from the Democratic National Convention here and at 3pm Mountain, catch live streaming video in the most crystal-clear HD that this blogger has ever seen on the tubes.

"Good morning, my name is Jeff Alberici. I'm from Auburn, New York - a small city forty-five minutes west of Syracuse. I grew up in Auburn, married my high school sweetheart, Megan, and now we're raising our three beautiful children here - Anthony, who is 10, Nicholas, who is 9, and our youngest, a soon to be 2-year-old, Sara.

"I teach American history to eighth-graders, and Megan recently went back to work as a teacher's assistant. Like most parents, Megan and I spend a lot of time driving our kids around town to little league games, lacrosse practices and other activities.

"We're not rich and we're not poor. But like so many other middle class families in Auburn and all over America, lately our lives have gotten a lot harder to afford. Last week, Megan went for a haircut. When she drove by the gas station on her way, gas was $4.03 a gallon. On her way home, she looked again and the price was up to $4.06. We joked that she should've filled up before her haircut.

"I drive a Ford Taurus and my wife drives a minivan. It used to cost us $20 or $30 to fill up; now it's easily $60. Groceries have also gotten a lot more expensive. We used to spend about $125 a week at the supermarket - now it's at least $200, and our kids are definitely not eating twice as much.

"When Megan went back to work last year, we thought we would finally be able to pay off our debt and start saving to get ahead. But with the cost of gas and food and health care and so many other things all skyrocketing, even with a second pay check, things are no easier.

"We'll be OK, but let me put it this way: on the occasional nights when we used to order a pizza, now we're sticking with grilled cheese sandwiches. And we worry a lot about how we're going to put three kids through college.

"My wife and I don't talk that much in public about politics, but we are both proud Democrats - and for a simple reason: Democrats understand what families like ours are going through, and they're trying to make things better. In just the last couple of weeks, Democrats in the Senate proposed three bills that would have helped bring energy prices down in the short term and the long term.

"One of their bills would have stopped giving American tax dollars to the giant oil companies that are already making record profits - and would have stood up to the foreign countries that produce the oil and charge us way too much.

"Another Democratic plan was to give tax incentives to innovative American companies that are researching and developing new ways of powering our cars and heating our homes, like solar, wind and even geothermal power.

"And Democrats introduced a third bill to fight global warming, reduce our country's dependence on oil, create jobs here at home and grow our economy.

"But Republicans? They haven't offered much of anything. In fact, Republicans are spending their time blocking Democrats from getting anything done at all, including those three bills to lower energy costs. And that's the difference: Democrats are trying to change things, but Republicans only want more of the same old ideas that got us into this mess in the first place. More of the same isn't working for my family, and I bet it's not working for yours.

"Father's Day is tomorrow. I'll be spending it with my three children, thinking about how I can be a better dad - and provide my kids with everything they deserve. I know it's not supposed to be this hard to get ahead. But Democrats are trying to make the American Dream affordable again, and in a country as great as ours, I know we can succeed.

"This is Jeff Alberici - a husband, a father and a teacher from Auburn, New York. Wishing my father Gino and all fathers a happy Father's Day. Thanks for listening and have a great weekend."

Turns out, McCain's tour will pass a series of landmarks he opposed funding for or even voted against.

Bon voyage, Senator McCain!

Details below:

Heading into this election cycle, Republican leaders in Washington identified dozens of Congressional seats they believed they could pick up in November’s election — some where Democrats narrowly won a first term in 2006, and others where Democrats represent Republican-leaning districts.

But that strategy appears to have run into complications, both in the New York region and in some other parts of the country, as many potential Republican candidates — including public officials and wealthy entrepreneurs — have stayed on the sidelines, despite direct appeals from party leaders.

In some cases, potential candidates see a tough climate for Republicans, largely because of a troubled economy and a protracted war, according to some Republicans.

It also doesn't help when your "foreign policy expert" presidential candidate cannot tell the difference between Shi'a and Sunni groups. Or ties himself so close to President Bush on Iraq. Or when his speech on the rosy outlook in Iraq gets interrupted by mortar attacks in the Green Zone. Or he admits he doesn't know anything about economics, either. Those are not exactly strong coattails...

(Hat tip: Robert Harding, The Albany Project)

In Thursday's New York Times, more details emerged as Christopher J. Ward, the former treasurer of the NRCC for the last five years, falsified years of audits.

Hundreds of thousands of dollars are missing and presumed stolen from the chief fund-raising arm of House Republicans, according to party officials who described the findings of emergency internal audits.

Ward was brought on by Rep. Tom Reynolds (R-Clarence, N.Y.) in 2003. Rep. Reynolds addressed the unfolding scandal involving Ward in a statement. No word on if he was hiding behind children when it was issued.

We won both.

You probably remember Florida State Representative Bob Allen, who resigned after being convicted for "a sex solicitation charge." The election to fill his seat was between Democrat Tony Sasso and Republican Sean Campbell. In the end, by a margin of roughly 400 votes, Sasso won.

It's the ninth pick-up for Florida Democrats so far since 2006.

And then there's the huge victory for Darrel Aubertine, which might result in Democrats having control over the NY state Senate.

What's remarkable about these wins is where they took place. On the Florida district, an email I got noted that in 2004, Bush won it by an 18 point margin. Senator Martinez won it by 12. And the New York district has been represented by a Republican, according to one knowledgeable Kossack, since 1880.

We're winning in places where Democrats never used to even be competitive, our state parties are more organized for ever before, and the grassroots activsts are engaged and ready for November 2008.

Oh, and did I mention high Democratic turnout?

Though the fate of the Democratic race to the nomination remains uncertain, one thing is for sure: voters are turning out for the Democratic primaries in number that absolutely shatter previous records — which may be a troubling sign for Republicans looking ahead to the general election.

We may not have a nominee yet, but I'll tell you this, when you look at these numbers from the across the country, one thing is for certain: our Democratic nominee will be competitive anywhere.

STATE: MISSOURI
PREVIOUS RECORD: 528,000
VOTES TONIGHT SO FAR: 778,000 (98% reporting)
% CHANGE OVER PREVIOUS RECORD: +47%

STATE: ILLINOIS
PREVIOUS RECORD: 1,504,000
VOTES TONIGHT SO FAR: 1,809,000 (91% reporting)
% CHANGE OVER PREVIOUS RECORD: +20%

STATE: NEW YORK
PREVIOUS RECORD: 1,575,000
VOTES TONIGHT SO FAR: 1,744,000 (99% reporting)
% CHANGE OVER PREVIOUS RECORD: +11%

STATE: NEW JERSEY
PREVIOUS RECORD: 654,000
VOTES TONIGHT SO FAR: 1,104,000 (99% reporting)
% CHANGE OVER PREVIOUS RECORD: +69%

STATE: MASSACHUSETTS
PREVIOUS RECORD: 793,000
VOTES TONIGHT SO FAR: 1,170,000 (98% reporting)
% CHANGE OVER PREVIOUS RECORD: +48%

STATE: ARIZONA
PREVIOUS RECORD: 239,000
VOTES TONIGHT SO FAR: 314,000 (67% reporting)
% CHANGE OVER PREVIOUS RECORD: +31%

Our exit polls show the former New York City mayor's endorsement of McCain played a key factor in his win there. Over half of New York Republicans said Giuliani's endorsement was important, and those voters went to McCain over Romney 63 percent to 22 percent. (Romney beat McCain by 47 percent to 29 percent among those voters who said Giuliani's endorsement was not important.)

No word on Giuliani's sole, $50 million delegate.

Some Rudy Giuliani volunteers bused here from New York City struck out as they went door to door in advance of Tuesday's Granite State primary while wearing caps or jackets of the hated New York Yankees.

"Some people really don't think," said a person with knowledge of the situation.

"You're in the middle of Red Sox Nation wearing stuff from their enemy. It's absolutely ridiculous.

Strike two?

Republican presidential candidate Rudy Giuliani said Thursday he had exposed himself to the same health risks as workers at ground zero after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks and spent as much time at the site as those involved in the recovery.

The former New York mayor has faced criticism from relatives of some of the firefighters killed at the World Trade Center, who have contended that Giuliani was woefully unprepared for 9/11.

"This is not a mayor or a governor or a president who's sitting in an ivory tower," he said. "I was at ground zero as often, if not more, than most of the workers. ... I was there working with them. I was exposed to exactly the same things they were exposed to. So in that sense, I'm one of them."

Battalion Chief John McDonnell, head of the Uniformed Fire Officers Association in New York, said: "I have a real problem with that statement. I think he's really grasping and trying to justify his previous attempts to portray himself as the hero of 9/11."

Michael Palladino, head of the Detectives Endowment Association, the union of NYPD detectives, said the mayor's record can't compare to those who spent 12 months sifting through toxic debris for evidence and human remains.