There's a real potential to make history this year. If enough Democrats get elected to the State Senate, the party will be in the majority for the first time since World War II - except for a single year, 1965.

That would mean that Democrats would have control of the Legislature and the governor's office. And to listen to them tell it, it would be like a grand renaissance for New York. The Legislature's notorious gridlock would end, they say, ridding Albany of its reputation for dysfunction.

Or will Democrats blow their big chance and self-destruct? After all, the party is notorious for public infighting. Senator Malcolm Smith, the Senate's minority leader, told City Newspaper in September that legislators will have to discuss which issues and legislation will be priorities.

Democrats haven't given out a lot of specifics about what they'd do differently. Their biggest offering is that they'd change the rules so that senators have greater individual clout.

"Right now it's just controlled by the majority leader," Smith said. "Nothing comes to the floor unless he says yes."

Paid family leave and campaign finance reform are two other issues that Democrats say they'll advance.

Other groups are looking for a change, too. State and local LGBT activists say that they are hopeful that new Senate leadership would support legislation to legalize same-sex marriage and strengthen anti-discrimination laws. But Democratic leadership won't be a silver bullet, they say. They'll still need allies on the other side of the aisle.

The state's budget, its growing deficit, and its increasingly perilous financial picture are going to be Priority One for the next Senate, no matter which party runs it, says Gerald Benjamin, director of SUNY New Paltz's Center for Research, Regional Education, and Outreach. Benjamin has spent much of his career studying state government.

Republicans, meanwhile, are trying to play on voters fears by turning to that old scapegoat, New York City. Let the Democrats have the Senate, they say, and power will be concentrated downstate. Upstate will be an afterthought at best, they say. That strategy has worked before.

Except that the Senate leadership is already centered downstate. Republican Majority Leader Dean Skelos hails from Long Island. Sure, Republicans say he's a friend to upstate, but Democratic Minority Leader Malcolm Smith says he'd be upstate's buddy, too.