A Greek Is Hoping He\'d5ll Play in Rome, N.Y.

The New York Timesâ??Mr. Gianaris until recently led the money race in a crowded field of seven candidates. He was recently overtaken by Andrew Cuomo, who had more than $1 million left over from his 2002 gubernatorial race and who now holds the advantage in the early-money race. The enthusiasm for Mr. Gianarisâ?? candidacy even crosses party lines: Alex Spanos, owner of the San Diego Chargers and a top fund-raiser for President George W. Bush, ponied up $5,000 for his bid. It may help at the ballot box, too: Mr. Gianaris estimates that some 350,000 persons of Greek heritage live in the state. Mr. Gianaris, who graduated from Fordham University before going on to Harvard Law School, knows heâ??ll succeed or fail by how well he can sell his second-generation immigrant message to others with similar backgrounds. â??My family story is a typical story in New York,â? he said, explaining how his father suffered hardship and homelessness in Nazi-occupied Greece. He got into public service because â??in the context of all my parents went through, I really wanted to do something with my life for people like them.â? His is a New Democrat kind of message that plays well in this prosperous ethnic enclave, where the usual raft of small businesses jostle under the elevated train, Greek tchotchke stores and restaurants with names like Zygos Taverna and Lefkos Pyrgos. Heâ??s betting it gets him a hearing in places like Washington Heights, Utica, Buffalo and Albany. A pleasant-looking, soft-spoken man, Mr. Gianaris talks about his work bringing polluters to heel, about his bill for a nonpartisan redistricting commission to redraw legislative boundaries, and about his homeland-security initiatives. Recently, in a move that garnered him national press, he called for regulating the satellite images available free on the Internet through services such as Google Earth. The pictures are so detailed, he said, that terrorists could use them to study sensitive facilities. He commended Attorney General Eliot Spitzer for his work investigating the sins of Wall Street and said he would pursue it vigorously, but added that he would turn the office toward some concerns he has addressed in the legislature, especially government reform. Mostly, however, noting that Democrats havenâ??t controlled the Governorâ??s mansion for 11 years and the New York Mayoralty for 12, Mr. Gianaris said it would behoove the party â??to have some new faces.â? â??People are going to look for an alternative to the big names,â? he said. â??The important thing is who is going to be left standing with a real, credible chance to compete. Thatâ??s going to involve who is going to raise the resources to run a credible campaign. A statewide effort is very expensive.â? A long-shot bid, perhaps, but think of it this way: Some extremely savvy Greek-Americans have laid money on it. Wasnâ??t the nationâ??s top oddsmaker a fella named Jimmy the Greek?