It was always a bit of a stretch for Assemblyman Stephen Kaufman to argue to the primary voters of the Bronx and Westchester County that they should give him the nominations to run simultaneously on the Democratic, Republican, and Conservative lines. After all, the Democratic and Republican parties, even in New York, are supposed to stand for different things, and running for the nominations of several parties at once is enough to raise questions.

With Mr. Kaufman having won the Conservative primary, John Fleming the Republican primary, and Assemblyman Jeffrey Klein the Democratic primary, at least the voters in the Bronx will have a three-way race. Voters who like Mr. Fleming’s views on taxes will have to wrestle with his anti-immigrant position. Our view has always been that new generations of outsiders seeking their fortunes in America should be welcomed here without being blocked by a wall along the border with Mexico.

Mr. Kaufman, however, will have to convince conservatives that there’s a logic to his support for a tax on commuters. We think commuters seeking their fortunes here in New York ought to be able to make their way from the suburbs to jobs in the city without being mugged at one of the crossings for taxes imposed by politicians in Albany.

The election has implications beyond the Bronx. The majority leader of the Senate, Jos. Bruno, has been trying to preserve his Republican majority in a Democratic-majority state by standing for higher taxes and more onerous regulations on businesses. We’d like to think the drubbing taken by Mr. Bruno’s candidate in the Bronx, Mr. Kaufman, may be a sign that the approach favored by Governor Pataki, not to mention the national leadership, is more promising than Mr. Bruno’s. It leaves the voters with a clearer idea of for what the politicians stand.