David Storobin, via Facebook

David Storobin, an attorney and Brooklyn GOP official, is about to get a sizable establishment boost to his prospective campaign to replace Carl Kruger in his southeast Brooklyn State Senate seat. According to sources close to Mr. Storobin's campaign, Guy Molinari, a former Congressman and Borough President in Staten Island, will co-chair Mr. Storobin's increasingly likely State Senate bid.

Although he's been out of elected office since 2001, Mr. Molinari remains quite active in New York Republican politics, most recently backing Mitt Romney for President before a substantial chunk of the state's GOP establishment rushed to do the same. Mr. Molinari is also seen as the political tactician for Michael Grimm's successful bid for Congress in 2010.

Unlike typical primary elections, special election rules for the state legislature instead give the power to local county parties to handpick their respective nominees.  However, neither Mr. Storobin nor the likely Democratic nominee, Councilman Lew Fidler, will be able to receive their parties' nods until Governor Andrew Cuomo schedules an official date for this election.

When, and if, Governor Cuomo declares the special election, the eventual election date will be 70-80 days from the announcement, meaning that mid-March would be the very earliest that this seat could be filled.