His comments were made at a time when he has been very intent on swaying minority legislators toward an idea that Mr. Giuliani pursued for years to no avail.

"I think a lot of the minority legislators have been thinking about this for a while," said Norman Adler, a political consultant in New York.

One of the Priorities' Many Assembly Democrats, particularly minority legislators, were furious about Mr. Cuomo's lack of support.

The Republicans, expressing a tender concern for black voting rights, want to keep the old system, on the ground that it at least guaranteed a handful of minority legislators in Trenton.

Many minority legislators agreed with him.

With the population shift, minority legislators stand to lose in the new equation.

Senate rule makers should also make it easier for minority legislators to put their names on a bill and get those bills to the floor.

"I have never seen the level of emotional resolve I have seen around this issue," said Assemblyman Green, chairman of the minority legislators' group.

Unlike some other minority legislators, who feel their role is to take principled, if unrealistic, stands in support of their constituencies, Mr. Farrell's politics are driven by pragmatism.

Artificially created districts, which elect minority legislators who need appeal to no broader constituency than their own, lead to racial balkanization, not harmony.