Incumbents taste rare defeat

ALBANY - A very strange thing happened on the way to New York's general election - at least five incumbent state legislators lost their major party primary elections and, as a result, very possibly their seats in the Senate or Assembly.

As government watchdog groups have long complained, election to a seat in the New York state Legislature is akin to a lifetime employment contract, if one wants it.

A report from the New York Public Interest Research Group issued after the 2004 legislative elections showed that in the previous 24 years, just 34 incumbent state legislators had lost general elections in more than 2,500 contests.