By Laura Litvan

April 21 (Bloomberg) -- The Democrats' prospects for winning control of the U.S. House of Representatives in November may rest with two high-powered New York politicians who aren't even running for seats: Hillary Rodham Clinton and Eliot Spitzer.

Clinton, who's likely to win easy re-election to the Senate, and Spitzer, the state attorney general who is leading in polls to become the next governor, might help the Democrats pick up as many as six New York congressional seats -- more than one-third of the 15 they need nationally to gain a House majority.

 The two are so strong politically that they may lift Democratic candidates across the state, said Lee Miringoff, director of the Institute for Public Opinion at Marist College in Poughkeepsie. Spitzer, 46, led potential Republican candidates by margins ranging from 18 to 66 percentage points in a Qunnipiac University poll last month; a Marist poll earlier this year found that 54 percent of New Yorkers ``definitely'' plan to vote for Clinton, 58.

 ``It could turn into a Democratic year in New York, which might then have an impact on down-ballot races for Congress,'' Miringoff said.

 Democrats are seeking targets of opportunity among Republican House incumbents in the Northeast, long a party stronghold, and in states such as Pennsylvania, which party presidential nominee John Kerry won in 2004, and Ohio, where Republican scandals and missteps have damaged the party.

House Democratic candidates such as Kirsten Gillibrand are campaigning on the theme that their Republican opponents are too closely tied to President George W. Bush's policies.

Gillibrand is seeking the Democratic nomination in New York's 20th District to challenge four-term incumbent Republican Representative John Sweeney.

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Gillibrand, 39, an Albany attorney, told senior citizens in Saratoga Springs this week that Sweeney has been a ``rubber stamp'' for Bush's health-care policies, and has failed to challenge such administration programs as the domestic wiretaps of U.S. citizens.  ``The wrong people are leading our country, and they're in it for the wrong reasons,'' Gillibrand told one group.  Gillibrand has raised $716,000 so far this election cycle, compared with the $23,000 Sweeney's opponent raised in 2004.  Kerry held a fund-raiser for her this week in New York City, and Spitzer, Clinton and Democratic Senator Charles Schumer also have headlined events to aide her campaign.  Sweeney, 50, won his fourth term in 2004 with 66 percent of the vote, and has $1.2 million for this race. Republican voters in the district outnumber Democrats by about 2 to 1.

Sweeney said he's confident he will win re-election, in part because, as a member of the House Appropriations Committee, he has brought federal money back to the district.

"At the end of the day, I've served my constituents well,'' he said.

 In order to win, Gillibrand has ``got to get all the Democrats, all the independents and some Republicans,'' said Stuart Rothenberg, who publishes a Washington political report.

While Sweeney is regarded as a tough campaigner, his health may be an issue; he was recently briefly hospitalized for high blood pressure.

Sweeney said he's shown plenty of independence from Bush. He voted against the president's call for oil drilling in an Alaskan wildlife refuge and opposed a plan backed by Bush to cut $50 billion from to Medicare and other programs. After the Bush administration approved allowing Dubai's state-owned DP World to purchase port operations in New York and five other states, Sweeney said he was ``appalled'' that Congress never weighed in.

 He said that while there's ``no denying'' Republican candidates have problems in the gubernatorial and Senate races, he can overcome that based on his record.

 Democrats are buoyed by recent polls that have found Bush's approval ratings at record lows, and more voters favor Democrats over Republicans to represent them in Congress.

 A Bloomberg/Los Angeles Times poll found that registered voters favor Democrats by 49 percent to 35 percent as the party they would like to see win their congressional district this year. The poll of 1,357 adults was conducted April 8 to 11 and has a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points.

"The House of Representatives is in play, and the Democrats do have a chance to win it in November,'' said political analyst Rothenberg.