Incumbents in the state Legislature have already stockpiled $32.8 million for this year's elections. Incumbents averaged about $164,852 in their campaign coffers last month, five times more than the two dozen challengers who've already announced their candidacies, according to campaign-finance reports and a review by the New York Public Interest Research Group.

"It gives all the incumbents a huge head start over the people who might want to challenge them," said Bill Mahoney, NYPIRG's research coordinator.

"Even if there is this angry voter sentiment, the incumbents will still have the power to spend tons of money on ads and mailings to get their names out there."

The power of incumbency in New York has led to a 98 percent re-election rate; only 39 incumbents have been defeated in November elections since 1982, less than three each election year.

But upset losses in recent local elections of incumbents have stoked fears among state lawmakers that they could be next. Recent polls have shown growing dissatisfaction with Albany politicians after a series of scandals at the state Capitol.

Some political leaders predicted the recent election results will prompt more fundraising and incumbents to work harder to prove to voters that they deserve to be re-elected. In the last state legislative races in 2008, more than $94 million was raised.

This year, all statewide offices and all 212 legislative seats will be on the ballot for the first time since 1938.

"People are going to have to do more than they've done in the past in terms of talking about their accomplishments or their philosophy and their thoughts about the way Albany is run," said Assemblyman Joseph Morelle, D-Irondequoit, Monroe County, who heads the county Democratic committee.

Morelle last month ranked 17th among state lawmakers with the most money on hand, at $511,435. The leading fundraisers, as expected, were legislative leaders.  Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, D-Manhattan, had the most, with $2.6 million, followed by Senate Finance Committee Chairman Carl Kruger, D-Brooklyn, at $2.1 million.

Deputy Senate Majority Leader Jeff Klein, D-Bronx, had $1.2 million in the bank. Senate Democratic Leader John Sampson, D-Brooklyn, took in more than $1 million since he became leader last summer, ending mid-January with $736,706 in his campaign coffers.

Sen. Thomas Libous, R-Binghamton, said incumbents are on alert this year. Libous heads the Senate Republican Campaign Committee as the GOP seeks to win back the majority in the Senate, which it lost in 2008 for the first time in four decades.

Libous ranked 11th with the most money on hand, at $710,107.

"Incumbents all need to pay attention because if they haven't figured it out, there's a cranky mood out there," Libous said.

But he added that, "My feeling is always that if you do your work and if you worked hard and you listen and paid attention, then if you're an incumbent, you'll probably get re-elected."

New York's campaign-finance laws are among the most lax in the country, with high contribution limits. Gov. David Paterson has proposed lowering the limits -- which are now up to $55,900 for statewide office seekers -- but the proposal was not included in an ethics bill passed by the Legislature last month.