Carl McCall's David v. Goliath battle has gotten the attention of his opponent -- NY Gov. Pataki. After ignoring his Democratic opponent in 1998, Pataki clearly feels threatened and has gone all out to squash McCall before he gets too much momentum.

The big question now is whether McCall has the political skills to parry with Pataki. He already has a huge disadvantage in money, but can glean some hope from the Democrats' 5-3 advantage in NY voter registration. Still, McCall definitely faces an uphill task -- the latest poll in the race had McCall trailing by 16 points, and Pataki hasn't even launched his inevitable blitz of negative campaign ads.

However, the wildcard continues to be Golisano -- the billionaire conservative with an axe to grind and up to $100 million to spend -- all of it directed at Pataki. That last poll had him at 11 percent, all of it likely taken from Pataki. And, if Golisano's ad blitz can drive Pataki's negatives up, it may well depressed GOP turnout enough to give McCall the victory. Not very likely, but within the realm of possibilities.