(11/07/06) MANHATTAN - Political experts and pollsters alike predict major Democratic victories in the state's top races Tuesday.

Polls show Attorney General Eliot Spitzer (D) has a commanding lead over Republican gubernatorial candidate John Faso. While Faso voted in his hometown he told the press he was proud of how the campaign was issue-based, rather than based on personality. Spitzer, whose plans call for a $6 billion property tax cut over three years, leads Faso by more than 60 percent in some opinion polls. The 2006 gubernatorial race is among the most expensive in New York history, costing more than $33 million in advertising.

Along with Spitzer, Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-NY) expects to comfortably defeat Republican challenger and former Yonkers Mayor John Spencer. Spencer focused on the former first lady's rumored desire to run for president in 2008, but poll numbers suggest the message failed to resonate statewide.

As Spitzer's replacement, Democrats seem confident former Housing and Urban Development Secretary Andrew Cuomo will defeat Westchester County's former District Attorney Jeanine Pirro. Cuomo, who comes from one of the state's political powerhouse families, took the high road and refused to comment on the numerous family-related scandals in his opponents campaign. Reports ranging from speeding tickets in school zones by Pirro's husband to suggestions she considered wiretapping her husband due to suspected infidelity may have seriously hampered her efforts to become New York's first female attorney general.

Related Information:Click here for more on how Faso, Spencer and Pirro spread the GOP message