The Senate is led by upstate and suburban Republicans who have been quick to express suspicion about changes to the school aid formula.

Vouchers have no appeal to suburban Republicans.

Rockefeller did not press for the project in the late 1960s through 1970, fearing public backlash among suburban Republicans would hinder his re-election prospects.

Redistricting after the 2000 census added a few more suburban Republicans to the district, according to Congressional Quarterly.

Rural and suburban Republicans have securely dominated the party registration lists for decades, and unaffiliated voters tend to break to the right.

Still, the old notions of blue-blood suburban Republicans towering over city-fleeing Democrats are hard to scrub away.

Whether the Governor tries to re-position the party on this issue to accommodate pro-choice suburban Republicans is one of the things to watch in his campaign.

And some suburban Republicans who do not.

The Democrats' strategy aims to expand their appeal to minorities, independents and queasy suburban Republicans.

Both suburban and city Republicans said today that they had problems with the commuter-tax plan.