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Except for a three-day period in late 1991, when Binghamton Democrat James R. Tallon Jr. found himself thrust into the job, the position of speaker of the Assembly has been a decidedly downstate source of power.

Not since the late 1950s and the days of Oswald D. Heck of Schenectady, the longest-serving speaker ever, has an upstater ruled the Assembly, and Heck was a Republican.

Majority Leader Joseph D. Morelle, a suburban Rochester Democrat, is about to alter that 50-year trend, but a huge question remains unanswered.

Will Morelle be another Tallon, a caretaker speaker, or another Heck, a speaker for years?

Theres an old saying around here: Upstate only succeeds when downstate is divided, said Assemblyman Robin L. Schimminger, D-Kenmore, a 37-year veteran of the Assembly.

Morelle, 57, who will be interim speaker until a new one is chosen, is expected to seek the speakership in an expected Feb. 10 election that could include several downstate rivals.

If the field narrows to a single New York City-area Democrat, the conventional wisdom is that Morelles chances dim considerably. The Assemblys Democratic Conference is made up of 105 members, and 62 of them are from downstate.

He knows how to take the temperature of the caucus, former Assemblyman Paul A. Tokasz, a Democrat from Cheektowaga, said of Morelle. He knows the membership. He knows their needs and he knows their policy priorities.

Tokasz, like Morelle, served as majority leader under Speaker Sheldon Silver, the Manhattan Democrat who is being removed from the post in the wake of federal corruption charges against him.

As the Assemblys No.2 leader and one of Silvers closest advisers, Morelle is the natural choice to succeed him in the interim. Assembly rules also require the majority leaders appointment unless a new speaker has been elected.

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Downstate speakers have dominated the Assembly since the late 1950s

MO House Democrat Caucus 2015 Opening Day Press Conference
Missouri House of Representatives- Minority Floor Leader Jacob Hummel and the MO House Democrat caucus met with members of the press following the start of t...

By: MOHOUSECOMM

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MO House Democrat Caucus 2015 Opening Day Press Conference - Video

WASHINGTON The top Democrat on the Senate banking committee wants to put the brakes on legislation to levy more sanctions on Iran if no diplomatic agreement can be reached by July to prevent Tehran from being able to develop a nuclear weapon.

Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, said at a hearing Tuesday that the committee should delay a markup on the bill, which has yet to be introduced.

He says the sanctions bill, being drafted by Sens. Bob Menendez, D-N.J., and Mark Kirk, R-Ill., is being "hustled through" the committee without adequate review.

President Barack Obama says any new sanctions legislation would undermine the ongoing negotiations with Iran. He has threatened to veto it.

Committee Chairman Sen. Richard Shelby, R-Ala., says sanctions have succeeded where diplomacy has not.

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Ranking Democrat on banking panel tries to slow Iran sanctions bill in Congress

The new Liberal Democrat election poster, which parodies a Conservative party election poster. Photograph: Liberal Democrats

Exactly 100 days before the UK general election, the Liberal Democrats have launched an election campaign poster that pokes fun at the Conservative partys ill-fated Road to a stronger economy poster.

The image, which has been posted to Facebook, depicts a long, straight road with the slogan Dont let Britain take the wrong turn. A sign pointing to the left reads Labour. Reckless Borrowing and a sign pointing to the right reads Conservatives. Reckless Cuts.

The poster is intended to poke fun at the Conservative partys first 2015 general election poster, which was launched on 2 January to widespread derision when it was discovered that the road pictured was from a photograph taken in 2008 near Weimar in Germany.

Speaking at the launch of the campaign, the Lib Dem leader, Nick Clegg said: The Conservatives want to veer off from the sensible economic plan we have set in coalition towards much harsher cuts than necessary to public services, especially in education. And Labour want to take us in the direction of reckless borrowing, threatening the economic recovery.

He said his party would stop Labour and the Conservatives from lurching to the extremes of left and right.

Clegg repeated a key line in the partys campaign, that the Liberal Democrats would give heart to a Conservative-led government and backbone to a Labour-led government, saying they would cut less than the Tories and borrow less than Labour.

The Liberal Democrats say that, as of Tuesday, their party headquarters in Westminster will be operating 24 hours a day to support its campaigns around the country. The party boasts that it has the best campaign technology of any UK political party and that they will be using techniques first trialled in the 2008 and 2012 US presidential campaigns.

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Liberal Democrat election poster parodies Conservative 'road to recovery'

Democrat Road Blocks - The Refinery 1/20/15 (SNIP)
TheRefinery crew discusses Jazz Shaw #39;s article on the Democrat #39;s plan to "force" the GOP to vote against tax increases and talk about ways to frame the wealth "road blocks" The Left has put...

By: The Conservative Union

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Democrat Road Blocks - The Refinery 1/20/15 (SNIP) - Video