From the IthacaJournal:

Some candidates stockpiled cash for races that never came to be. Others are savings for this November, while some are looking to 2010 and beyond.

The campaign filings this week by the state’s political leaders put into focus the critical nature of this year’s legislative races and the big money that will go to them.

But it also gives a glimpse into how candidates — in and out of office — can raise and spend millions of dollars in New York’s loose campaign finance system.

“It’s scandalous,” said Russ Haven, counsel for the New York Public Interest Research Group. “When you step back from this and get outside the beltway mentality, where people are feeling such real economic pain — gas at $4 a gallon — it makes you realize just how big these numbers are.”

In just a few months, Attorney General Andrew Cuomo and Gov. David Paterson, both Democrats, raised a whopping $5.5 million total for their campaigns — and those races are still two years away.

Of course, there’s the speculation that Cuomo and Paterson could both be vying for the same job — governor in 2010. And neither is giving the other much of a financial edge — both have about $3 million in their warchests.

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