ALBANY — The politician picked to succeed Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton will need more than policy smarts. Enthusiasm for visits to Buffalo and Chemung County will be important, too.

Sens. Clinton and Charles Schumer have been aggressively riding the upstate circuit for so many years, senatorial visits are now the norm from the Southern Tier to the North Country. It’s not enough for New York senators to talk about dairy issues, they are expected to visit the farm.

“I think it means a lot to people. In fact, Schumer and Clinton have set a standard that others will be held against,” said Bob Grady, veteran editor of the Press-Republican of Plattsburgh, near the Canadian border. “And if they don’t, they’ll hear about it.”

Clinton will switch her attention from Watertown to Waziristan next year as President Barack Obama’s secretary of state. Fellow Democrat Gov. David Paterson will pick her successor. If he chooses someone from downstate, like Caroline Kennedy or Rep. Carolyn Maloney, the onus will be on the new senator to not only find Elmira on the map, but to stop by occasionally.

And they better be able to pronounce Skaneateles (skan-ee-AT’-les).

It’s smart politics.

Lee Miringoff of the Marist Poll notes that upstate New York, once reliably safe Republican territory, has become more competitive for Democrats in recent years. That explains why Democrats like Schumer (New York City), Clinton (Westchester County), and her presumably Democratic successor would be especially attentive to upstate voters.

Frequent visits can defuse resentments among upstate voters who might think they are being neglected. And they help senators avoid the stigma of being an out-of-touch city slicker. In one cautionary incident reported by The New Republic in 1994, Republican lieutenant governor candidate Elizabeth McCaughey asked what was planted in a field passing by her car window in western New York. “I’ve never seen that before,” she reportedly said.

She was told it was corn.

Long Island-bred Sen. Alfonse D’Amato, a.k.a., “Senator Pothole,” made a point of rubbing shoulders with upstate voters, a habit that contrasted with the more intellectual and aloof Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan. But it was the man who defeated D’Amato in 1998, the ever-energetic Schumer, who set the standard for upstate barnstorming.

Schumer has visited all 62 counties in New York every year since being elected to the Senate in 1998, even as his responsibilities in Washington have grown. The only counties left on his list this year are Madison and Schenectady (he is scheduled to visit both before year’s end). Like D’Amato, Schumer’s trips often dovetail with a hyper-local agenda. Consider this from the Schumer press release archive: “Schumer: New grape discovery center could be large economic boost in Chautauqua County.”

Clinton followed Schumer’s play book from the get-go, launching her maiden Senate campaign with an announcement at Moynihan’s upstate farm followed by her now-famous listening tour. After taking office in 2001, she frequently visited apple orchards and little towns in all corners of New York, always flanked by Secret Service agents. Along with her work on Iraq and homeland security, she made efforts to get Finger Lakes Rieslings served in Manhattan restaurants.

The work paid off. Tarred as a carpetbagger when she originally ran for the Senate, she leaves office a popular politician upstate. “She delivered,” the Daily Freeman of Kingston editorialized on Dec. 4.

“Do they really care that the little old lady in Altona is miffed because she’s not getting enough Social Security?” Grady asked, tossing out the name of a tiny North Country town about 10 miles from the Canadian border. “Well, who knows? But she always acted as though she did.”

Clinton’s upstate appearances seemed rarer this past year as she ran for president. But she still managed to shoehorn in visits, like when she went to the State Fair in Syracuse this summer and nibbled on barbecue.

It’s possible Paterson will pick a non-downstate senator, which would be a novelty. Moynihan, a Washington veteran who was raised in New York City, listed his Delaware County farm as his home. A stronger upstate claim might be made for Jamestown-bred Charles Goodell, who was appointed in 1968 to fill the unexpired term of Robert F. Kennedy. Goodell lost an election in 1970.

Some of names being floated as Clinton successors are politicians from Buffalo. Still, New York’s second-largest city is as far away as New York City from the northern reaches of the state. The frequent flier mandate is likely to continue no matter who is appointed, especially since the appointee will face the electorate in their second year on the job.

“They’re going to have start thinking 2010 right off the bat,” Miringoff said.