One race Irish-American Congressman Peter King, who's been in headlines lately since publishing a controversial video blasting Michael Jackson, will not be undertaking is a Senate challenge to Kirsten Gillibrand. Like many others, he has been frightened away by the $40 million or so that Gillibrand is alleged to be raising for her election campaign next year.

King has also won a few new positions on senior congressional committees, most notably on the Homeland Security Committee where he will be the ranking Republican. That is surely enough to keep him in the House and not risk a long shot race against Gillibrand.

That does not mean that Gillibrand is home free, however. Upper East Side Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney is definitely a contender and has a puncher’s chance against a candidate who, to put it mildly, has hardly taken hold in the city.

Gillibrand’s problem will be a Democratic primary where voters will be far more liberal than she is, and geographically her upstate base will not help her.

A well-financed city candidate like Maloney could certainly hit her hard and possibly win. Despite the best efforts of Senator Charles Schumer and President Obama to clear the way for Gillibrand, it now appears certain that she will face Maloney in a primary. That is a race that could go either way.