Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton is scheduled to headline a fundraiser for the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee on Tuesday — but not the DSCC headed by her home-state colleague Sen. Charles Schumer.

According to the Albany Times Union, Clinton will appear in Albany for the New York DSCC, which works to elect more Democrats to the state Senate. The fundraiser, coming exactly four weeks before Election Day, will help Democrats in their quest to pick up the two seats they need to take control of the Senate for the first time in 46 years.

The fight for control of the Senate in Albany has plenty of national implications. New York is expected to lose one, and possibly two, Congressional seats in the next reapportionment following the 2010 Census, and Democrats would like nothing better than to control all levers of state government. There is already a Democratic governor — David Paterson, who is up for a full term in 2010 — and Democrats have run the state Assembly since 1974.

Republican First on TV in McNulty Seat Race

The long-shot Republican was the first candidate to air a general election ad in the race to replace retiring Rep. Mike McNulty (D).

Schenectady County Legislator Jim Buhrmaster (R) began airing a 30-second TV spot Wednesday in which he touts his outsider credentials. The ad does not mention the Democratic frontrunner, former state Assemblyman Paul Tonko, by name, but it does criticize “career politicians [who] have had their chance.

“We need a businessman and community leader like Jim Buhrmaster to stand up for us in Congress,” the narrator in the ad says. “Running a small business, Jim Buhrmaster understands how decisions made in Washington affect jobs and working families here in Capital District. He’ll oppose new taxes and wasteful spending. And he’ll vote to immediately expand energy production here in America to help our economy.”

Tonko, who spent 20 years in the Assembly, is expected to prevail in the heavily Democratic Albany-area district.