Everybody’s talking about the presidential race, but I just want to make some observations about the local races for state Senate and Assembly. Here’s a rundown:

NASTIEST COMMENT: There are so many to choose from, but the winner might be Rob Biagi, the Republican challenger running for the 91st Assembly District against Democratic incumbent George Latimer of Rye.

“Speaker (Sheldon) Silver tells George Latimer where to sit, when to speak, how to vote and what issues he should run on,” said Biagi.

MOST HUMILIATED SPOUSE: Martin Oppenheimer, the hubby of Sen. Suzi (Shmoozie) Oppenheimer, the forever incumbent from Mamaroneck, was caught on camera parking in a handicap parking space. This triggered a bizarre exchange of comments from both Oppenheimer’s campaign and that of her feisty Republican opponent, Liz Feld, the mayor of Larchmont, who put out the statement, “Not only did Suzi Oppenheimer secure a handicap parking medallion for her husband to use (while he played tennis at a “Posh Mamaroneck club”), he also used state-issued license plates. This is a trend—years ago, he was caught parking…in a handicapped spot at his gym—at least four times.”

TOO MUCH INFORMATION: This goes out to Republican incumbent Greg Ball of the 99th Assembly District. It seemed his entire campaign against John Degnan, the former mayor of Brewster, centered on whether he sexually harassed a former worker. In his effort to discredit the woman, he alleged that she kept a plastic penis on her desk.

It’s been a dirt campaign in other ways.

A few days before the primary in September for the 99th AD, a guy was arrested for de-facing Degnan signs along Route 6 in Mahopac. It turns out the guy busted was an employee in the New York State Assembly, and the guy who bailed him out was Matt Neuringer, who is on Greg Ball’s assembly staff.

DUMBEST CANDIDATE: Jim Faulkner, a Republican running against Mike Spano in the 93rd AD in Yonkers, said that environmentalists were Communists. He said this after proposing that the state sell leasing rights to drill for oil in the Long Island Sound where there is no oil.

BEST CHILDHOOD STORY THAT REALLY HAD NOTHING TO DO WITH ANYTHING: Yonkers City Councilman John Murtagh who is running for Senate against incumbent Andrea Stewart-Cousins in Yonkers, told a harrowing tale about his house being firebombed by the Weather Underground in 1970 when he was eight years old. Murtagh’s father was a state Supreme Court justice at the time.

The Murtagh campaign put the story out in a glossy mailer on the premise that it showed he knew about terrorism firsthand and was therefore in favor of being tough on criminals. But he allowed himself to be used by Sean Hannity of Fox cable fame when he told the story on Hannity’s ridiculous documentary that attempted to pain Barack Obama as a bosom buddy of Weather Underground figure, William Ayers.

NOTE TO ALL NEW YORK REPUBLICANS : Reviving the evils of the radical 60s and calling people Commies, Reds, pinkos, etc. might work in some parts of the country, but it just doesn’t work here. After election day, the GOP will be compelled to re-invent itself, and this tired tactic has had its last gasp.

THE SHAME OF THE UNOPPOSED: Free passes back to Albany are going out ot Assembly members Adam Bradley of White Plains and Richard Brodsky of Greenburgh and State Sen. Vincent Leibell of Patterson.  All three are unopposed. And we wonder why state legislators seem to have lifetime sinecures.

Got any more? Feel free to chime in.