Money, money, and more money.  From the Democrat & Chronicle:

Incumbents’ money advantage before races for the state Senate began this year helped put them in a better financial position, despite challengers raising significant amounts over the last six months.

In the 56th Senate District, challenger Richard Dollinger, a Democrat, has raised $154,595 so far for his campaign, about $33,000 more than the amount raised by the incumbent, Sen. Joseph Robach, R-Greece.

But Robach has significantly more than Dollinger still on hand, because he had more than $185,000 in his campaign account when the current reporting period began in January. Robach has $270,049 available, while Dollinger has $147,659 on hand, according to campaign finance reports filed Tuesday with the state Board of Elections.

One of the first public measures of a campaign’s potential success or failure is the amount of money it is able to raise. And the campaign filings for state races, which were due Tuesday, show that tough election battles are already under way as the parties vie for Senate control.

The current Senate split is 32 Republicans to 30 Democrats, although the former GOP majority leader, Sen. Joseph Bruno, is leaving his seat Friday and a Democrat may leave before the term ends in December. Senate Democrats, whose power base is in New York City, are trying to flip some upstate Republican seats.

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