Once again, Darrel J. Aubertine is leading the revolution from red to blue.

Fighting for a state Senate seat that was in Republican control for at least 128 years, the Democratic candidate from Cape Vincent emerged victorious Tuesday, beating Assemblyman William A. Barclay, R-Pulaski, 27,901 to 25,345.

"The support came from across party lines, from the Republicans, Democrats, Conservatives, independents, liberals," said Mr. Aubertine, who in 2002 was the first Jefferson County Democrat elected to the Assembly in 92 years. "Everyone is part of this victory."

The senator-elect said north country residents are moving away from blind obedience to a party.

"People can get their information from multiple sources today," he said. "They tend to look at backgrounds of candidates and align themselves with the candidate that they feel most represents them. In this case, I think the voters felt they could align themselves with me most easily."

Party still means a lot in Albany, however, where the Republican grip on the state Senate majority is now just two seats.

"This is a victory tonight that clearly has statewide implications," said June F. O'Neill, state Democratic Party chairwoman. "We have proven that we can meet the Republican party of the state of New York anywhere and at any time on their 10-yard-line and score a goal."

Although Republicans held a 31,000 margin in voter registration over the Democrats in the 48th District, Jefferson County voters erased the deficit Mr. Aubertine faced from Oswego County voters, who strongly backed their native son.

"I extend my congratulations to Darrel and commend both candidates on a hard fought race. Darrel will be a powerful advocate for the North Country and I look forward to working together on the peoples' business," said Gov. Eliot L. Spitzer.

"We are very proud of the race Darrel Aubertine ran and we are looking forward to the final results. It is time to get back to the business of job creation and property tax relief," said Curtis Taylor, a spokesman for Senate Minority Leader Malcolm Smith.

ST. LAWRENCE COUNTY KEY

St. Lawrence County was the difference, with voters there picking Mr. Aubertine, 6,502 to 4,084, or 61.4 percent to 38.6 percent.

"In the face of the dirtiest onslaught I've seen in 30 years of politics, the people in this district stood up and said, 'We are not for sale,'" said Mrs. O'Neill, also the St. Lawrence County Democratic party chairwoman.

Mr. Aubertine said negative ads may have played a role in voters rallying against Mr. Barclay, but added: "I think our message ultimately was what prevailed. It's about the economy. It's about our issues. It's not about upstate-downstate. It's about what we're going on here."

Mr. Aubertine said he plans to be sworn in today in Albany and start immediately representing the 48th Senate District. The district has been without a representative since James W. Wright, R-Watertown, resigned Jan. 7.

The senator-elect said his main priorities are fixing issues with school aid and health care in the budget process. He's not thinking much yet about defending his new seat in November.

"I can't imagine this being much more grueling than this campaign has been," he said. "But the issues for us will still be the same."

BARCLAY CONCEDES

The first cheers from the sparse crowd at Patz Restaurant in Oswego didn't emerge until Mr. Barclay entered the front door shortly before 10:30 p.m.

With all of the votes save absentees counted in the 48th Senate District, Mr. Barclay said, he called Mr. Aubertine earlier and conceded the race.

"There's an old saying that all politics is local, and it showed in this race," Mr. Barclay said, flanked by his wife, Margaret. "Obviously, this didn't turn out the way we hoped."

He twice said that the race was "parochial," and that he didn't feel his campaign messages were received by voters in Jefferson and St. Lawrence counties.

Despite a call from the crowd to run again in November, Mr. Barclay said it was too early to decide whether he will run for the Senate seat when it is once again up for election later this year.

"We're just trying to get our feet under us right now," he said.

A large chunk of Mr. Barclay's supporters left the restaurant before his arrival. About a dozen people remained at the bar while others mingled around televisions.

NEGATIVE ADS 'NO FACTOR'

Mr. Barclay said he didn't think negative advertising had affected the campaign.

"It must not have turned off the people too badly," he said. "The turnout was still really high. I'm very proud of the campaign we ran, and we stayed focused on the issues."

George J. Williams, Oswego County Republican chairman, said he has never before been involved in a race that was so intense.

"To have a special election in the north country in February, it's going to be hard," he said.

Mr. Williams said about 200 volunteers from both Oswego and the Albany area were stationed in Oswego on Monday and Tuesday to campaign for the Republican candidate.

"We've certainly had a lot of support," he said.

The chairman said he was surprised that the negative advertising didn't keep voters from the polls.

"I have never seen such a negative campaign," he said of Mr. Aubertine's advertisements. "A lot of that campaign was run in New York City."

Mr. Barclay spurred on the crowd and thanked them for their support.

"We can hold our heads high in Oswego County because of what we did," he said. "We showed the 48th Senate District a show of support in this campaign that they've never seen before."

Each candidate spent more than $1.3 million on the campaign, which barely lasted six weeks, making it the second most expensive Senate election in state history. Most of the money came from the state parties or the party leadership — only about 1 percent of each candidate's total contributions came from inside the district.

Times staff writer Robert Brauchle and the Associated Press contributed to this report.