Republican Rep. Peter T. King’s decision to eschew next year’s Senate special election in New York has dealt a serious — though not unexpected — blow to the GOP’s hopes of challenging appointed Democratic incumbent Kirsten Gillibrand.

The New York Daily News reported Monday that King would instead seek a 10th term in the 3rd District on Long Island. King said he reached his decision “after months of deliberation and conversations with family members and friends and advisers,” the newspaper reported.

He had, however, indicated in late June that he was likely to opt out of the Senate race.

Rep. Carolyn B. Maloney, D-N.Y., may be on recess, but she's still limiting her talking points to health care -- and not her plans for a Senate run.

Maloney was back in Washington Thursday to talk up the Democrats' health care overhaul proposals in light of a new Joint Economic Committee study showing that, under the current system, women suffer disproportionately from a lack of adequate health insurance coverage -- a subject that would no doubt play well in the liberal constituencies that make up many of New York's Democratic primary voters. But she remained mum when asked when she would launch her expected primary challenge to Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, who was appointed in January to the Senate seat to succeed Hillary Rodham Clinton.

"Let's just focus on helping pass this important bill," Maloney said at a Capitol news conference about the JEC study. Asked if she intended to wait until the health care overhaul battle was complete before making a move, the nine-term congresswoman again begged off, saying only that the health care overhaul -- "a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity" -- remains her focus.

The timing of New York Rep. Carolyn B. Maloney's announcement about her intentions to run for Senate in 2010 has become something of a moving target, but people close to her campaign are now indicating that it could come in early August.

Maloney campaign manager Richard Fife told CQ Politics that given Congress' "incredibly busy" schedule in its final week before a monthlong recess, Maloney decided "it doesn't make sense to do anything political" until the session wraps up, likely Friday.

And Assemblyman Jonathan Bing, a close ally of the Democratic congresswoman who represents a portion of her Upper East Side Manhattan district, said, "Speaking to folks in the Maloney camp, she's focused right now on her congressional duties." But, he added, he thinks she is "planning to make an announcement once the House is in recess in early August."

Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand's latest attempt to shore up support from New York's liberal Democratic base in advance of the 2010 election came Monday when Gillibrand touted an upcoming Armed Services hearing probing the military's "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy.

"This policy is wrong for our national security and wrong for the moral foundation upon which our country was founded,'" Gillibrand, who is pushing for a repeal of Clinton-era the policy, said in a statement announcing that Armed Services Chairman Carl Levin had agreed to hold the hearing in the fall.

"'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' is an unfair, outdated measure that violates the civil rights of some of our bravest, most heroic men and women. By repealing this policy, we will increase America's strength - both militarily and morally."

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid is the latest member of the Democratic Party establishment to get behind appointed New York Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand's 2010 campaign.

Reid, a Nevada Democrat, joined a growing list of Gillibrand backers, including former Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean, who announced his support on Thursday.

Gillibrand has been hustling to line up support from congressional colleagues and Democratic support groups in advance of an expected primary challenge by nine-term Rep. Carolyn B. Maloney. Aides to Maloney have said that she will announce in late July that she is a candidate for the 2010 special election.

If Rep. Dean Heller is considering a Senate run, it's not showing in his fundraising.

The Nevada Republican, who has been touted as a possible challenger to Majority Leader Harry Reid, raised $166,000 in the second quarter and $255,000 in the bank -- not shabby for a member of Congress with no major challenger at the moment, but certainly not Senate-race-ready.

Compare that to another House member who is expected to mount a Senate run, New York Democrat Carolyn B. Maloney. Maloney tallied $578,000 in receipts and banked $1.7 million as of June 30.

It didn't match her first quarter fundraising haul, but the $1.5 million New York Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand raised over the past three months isn't too shabby.

The Democrat boasted in an e-mail to supporters Wednesday that she has now raised a total of $3.8 million to defend her Senate seat in 2010. More details, including cash on hand, will be revealed in Gillibrand's fundraising report, which is due to be filed today, in paper, with the Federal Election Commission. Gillibrand had $2.2 million in the bank at the end of March.

The New York Daily News is reporting that likely primary rival Rep. Carolyn B. Maloney raised $577,000 during the second quarter and had $1.7 million cash on hand as of June 30.

New York Democrat Kirsten Gillibrand on Tuesday picked up the endorsement of the feminist group Planned Parenthood's political arm -- the latest indication that there is no summertime lull for the appointed senator as she prepares for her 2010 election contest, and the possibility of a serious Democratic primary challenge by Rep. Carolyn B. Maloney.

The Planned Parenthood Action Fund is the latest of several women's groups aligned with the Democratic Party that have thrown their support to Gillibrand. This backing could be especially helpful to Gillibrand in a showdown with Maloney, who has indicated she will run in next year's special election primary and has been positioning herself to Gillibrand's left.

Maloney, who is in her ninth House term representing a New York City district, is one of a number of prominent Democrats who sharply opposed the January decision by Gov. David A. Paterson to pick Gillibrand to succeed Democrat Hillary Rodham Clinton.

Political observers generally poo-poo the practical significance of political endorsements, but New York Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand's latest endorsement represents an exception to the rule.

Gillibrand on Monday landed the support of the New York State United Teachers union, an influential force in New York and particularly downstate politics, which will add heft and organizing ability to Gillibrand's 2010 campaign as she prepares for what is likely to be a contested primary and general election.

In a statement, NYSUT President Richard C. Iannuzzi said Gillibrand "has a sterling track record of commitment to strengthening education and health care, and will be the leader we need to ensure New York students have access to quality public education from pre-school through college."

Labor activist Jonathan Tasini announced Thursday that he is running for Kirsten Gillibrand's U.S. Senate seat in 2010.

"I believe New York voters deserve a choice," Tasini wrote on his Web site. "We live in a democracy, and elections should be about addressing the issues, not about party insiders 'clearing the field' for a favored candidate," a not-so-veiled-reference to President Obama's phone call to Rep. Steve Israel, asking him not to challenge Gillibrand.

Tasini's challenge is unlikely to attract as much concern from national Democratic leaders. The past president of the National Writers Union (United Auto Workers Local 1981), Tasini mustered just 16 percent of the vote in a primary challenge to Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton in 2006.

New York Rep. Carolyn Maloney previewed some attack lines for her prospective primary challenge to Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand in a pre-recorded interview airing on local New York City television Thursday night. The station posted a clip of the interview on its Web site.

Characterizing Gillibrand as more interested in politics than legislating, Maloney told NY1, "I think that she's working hard, but what are the accomplishments?"

"Some people work hard to get elected, some people work hard to do a job, to help people," she added.

Will an endorsement a day make a primary challenge go away? That's certainly what New York Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand is hoping with the daily drip-drip-drip of 2010 endorsements her campaign has announced.

Wednesday the endorser was former New York City Mayor Ed Koch (1978-89), a popular figure downstate. Koch, like Gillibrand, built a record as a centrist Democrat, even going so far as to endorse several Republican statewide candidates, as well as Republican President George W. Bush in 2004. Koch endorsed Democrats Hillary Rodham Clinton and then Barack Obama in the 2008 presidential race.

Of Gillibrand, Koch said in a statement that he was impressed with her "ability to understand the concerns of all New York families and to form a legislative agenda to address those concerns."

Reps. Nydia M. Velazquez and Edolphus Towns endorsed appointed Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand's bid for the Democratic Party's 2010 Senate nomination in New York, narrowing the field of potential endorsements for a possible rival.

In particular, Velazquez's endorsement is important because Gillibrand has been criticized by Latino officials for her voting record on immigration issues when she represented a swing district in upstate New York in the House of Representatives.

Velazquez is the only Hispanic woman ever to chair a full committee in the House. Towns, who was first elected in 1982, represents a black-majority district in Brooklyn.

Rep. Carolyn McCarthy will not challenge Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand in a Democratic primary. McCarthy, a thorn in Gillibrand's side of late, had said she would take on the newly appointed senator in 2010 if no one else did.

But McCarthy has reversed course, citing personal issues.

"I'm not running," she said Thursday afternoon.

That further clears the field for Gillibrand, who has had difficulty coalescing her delegation around her bid. Some other New York lawmakers were rubbed the wrong way by her rapid ascent to the Senate, ordained by Gov. David A. Paterson when Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton became secretary of State earlier this year.

New York Rep. Peter T. King has a message for the Republicans knocking the the White House's tactic of co-opting moderate Republicans like Rep. John M. McHugh, who was just nominated to be secretary of the Army: Stop whining.

"I have no problem with this," he said of the appointment Wednesday night on MSNBC's Hardball with Chris Matthews. "We as Republicans should hold onto that seat, if we don't it's our fault." McHugh, a nine-term incumbent, represents New York's 23rd District. His appointment precipitates a special election, and there is a chance Democrats can flip the seat, given President Obama's win in the district in the 2008 presidential race.

"I don't think we should be sitting around whining and saying Rahm Emanuel outsmarted us or President Obama outsmarted us," King added. "We should get good candidates, put them up there, and run."

Rep. Carolyn B. Maloney plans to announce a primary challenge to Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., on her Web site Thursday morning, according to two sources including a member of the delegation.

Maloney disputed that characterization in a brief hallway interview.

"Where did you get that from?" she asked. "It's not true."

Regardless of the timing or venue, several members of the New York delegation, including Reps. Jerrold Nadler and Anthony D. Weiner, said Maloney has told them she will run. She has also told political allies in her "silk stocking" district on Manhattan's Upper East Side that she is preparing a bid.

New York Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand will ultimately will clear the field of any potential primary opponents, the Empire State's senior senator predicted Thursday.

"I think she's going to win, and I don't think she's going to end up having a primary," Sen. Charles E. Schumer, D-N.Y., said of Gillibrand, who is seeking her first full term in 2010.

Schumer said Gillibrand, appointed in January by Gov. David A. Paterson appointed replace now-Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, was "a very capable person," who was "performing well in the Senate and earning "the respect and affection of her colleagues."

Trying to shore up her support on the left, Democratic Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand today announced an endorsement from the New York State Council of Machinists and Aerospace Workers for her 2010 Senate bid.

"Senator Gillibrand is a champion for New York's working people," said union President James Conigliaro. "She is a proud supporter of the Employee free Choice Act, universal health care, and fair trade agreements that protect American jobs."

It is the Democrat's first labor endorsement and it comes 16 months before the primary election. But the nod from the 35,000-strong machinists' state branch, alone, is unlikely to scare off many of Gillibrand's prospective primary opponents. Several New York political strategists said the union has only limited pull in state politics.