State Senate Control Rely on Renegade DemocratsIt looks like Democrats have retaken the control of the New York State Senate. But that could not be the case when it comes to January. The Capitol has been known for its dysfunction and is going in one of its uncertain stages.

Election lawyers will now start the work of challenging paper ballots in two of the races in the Hudson Valley. The Senate Republicans are already trying to maintain a semblance of power by recruiting four renegade Democratic legislators who broke away to form their own independent caucus.

The Democrats dismissed the Republicans claims as baseless. They said that they could make deals with the four renegade Senate Democrats so that they would rejoin their ranks to gain control in the Senate. This despite the harsh verbal attacks the Democrats made against the four in the last two years.

Governor Andrew M. Cuomo described the Capitol as the home of new breed of cooperation. But it is now become murky and a problem for the governor who is eyeing a presidential run in four years. The four Democrats of the Independent Democratic Caucus remains a mystery. Senator Jeffrey D. Klein, leader of the group, said that New York needs a stable government.

According to unofficial results, Democrats have 33 seats in what will be 63-member Senate come January. It would require 32 votes for a bill to be approved. The Democrats were happy about the turnout of the election. They were outspent by the Senate Republicans and got no campaign help from Governor Cuomo. Since he took office two years ago, the governor has praised the GOP-controlled Senate for working with him on vital fiscal and policy issues.

The Republicans were still fighting the results. Lawyers of both parties prepared to recount machine votes. The counting of 8,000 paper ballots was delayed due to later deadlines for receipts of absentee ballots caused by Sandy.