The new Senate Majority just got very tenuous as the coalition of 30 Republicans and two renegade Democrats may be unraveling at this writing.

Sen. Hiram Monserrate, one of the two Democrats who joined with Republicans last Monday, this afternoon told reporter, Josh Robin of Capital News 9, that he's having "second thoughts" about switching sides.

That likely explains the delay in the new Senate Majority's scheduled press conference, which was suppose to occur at 2:30 and hasn't come off yet as of 4:00 p.m. Senators of both parties remain behind closed doors in full arm-twisting mode.

Then there is another wrinkle, a legal one: Sen. Malcolm Smith was elected by the Senate last January to a two-year term as Temporary President and Majority Leader. It's not yet clear that he can be unelected to that office and the Senate Democrats may now be pursuing a court injunction to invalidate Monday's vote installing a new Senate President and Majority Leader.

Drama and chaos continue on the south side of the Capitol's third floor, where the Senate chamber is located. There are no session or committee meetings. Just hoards of people, including reporters, staffers and fascinated observers wanting to say there were "there."

So, by day's end it could turn out that Sen. Monserrate returns to the Democratic fold, making it a 31-31 split in the Senate: Democrats on one side, and Republicans and Pedro Espada on the other. In addition, Sen. Smith may end up remaining as Temporary President and Majority Leader if a court holds that his two-year term cannot be undone involuntarily.

Peter Murphy
for The Chalkboard