The Democratic candidate for governor, Eliot Spitzer, who has been campaigning on a promise to clean up the state capital, has been involved in private talks with one of Albany’s old guard, the longtime speaker of the Assembly, Sheldon Silver.

The purpose of the discussions is to make sure the legislative leader is in sync with Mr. Spitzer, who is heavily favored to win the election against the Republican nominee, John Faso, when his administration rolls out its agenda, sources told The New York Sun.

Messrs. Spitzer and Silver have been negotiating informal agreements in areas such as government reform, education funding, and health care.

The negotiations are in part a reflection of the lopsided nature of the governor’s race, with Mr. Spitzer leading Mr. Faso in the polls by 50 points. They also represent Mr. Spitzer’s intent to leave little to chance starting January 1, when all eyes will be on the new governor. The goal is to clear the way for major announcements in the very first days of a Spitzer administration, when the governor would be feeling pressure to deliver on his campaign promise to change “everything” in the capital.

“They’ve had real conversations about how to come to a consent agenda on how to move the process forward that makes the governor during the first few weeks on the job look like an activist governor who gets things done,” a source told the Sun. “It will include reforming government. It will include school finance, something in the area of health care reform and economic development of upstate New York.”

The talks between the two Democrats are one of the strongest signs that Mr. Spitzer is intending to work with Mr. Silver, a low-key but wily politician whose relationship with Governor Pataki has been fractious.

Some in Albany have speculated that Mr. Spitzer, who has been openly critical of the Legislature during his campaign, would seek to replace Mr. Silver as speaker, much the same way Mr. Pataki ousted the Republican Senate majority leader, Ralph Marino, and installed its current leader, Joseph Bruno, in 1994.

Coordinating their political moves before the election comes with a number of advantages. For Mr. Spitzer, it’s a less risky strategy than staging a coup that could rupture his relationship with the Assembly and plunge the state Democratic Party into chaos at a moment when he’s looking to get things rolling. Mr. Silver could also be helpful by providing Mr. Spitzer political cover if he proposes a budget in January that fails to please special interest groups such as the teachers union and the health care workers union.

An early agreement with Mr. Spitzer would allow Mr. Silver to share in the new governor’s planned public relations triumph when Mr. Spitzer announces his reforms for state government. With Mr. Spitzer standing at his side, Mr. Silver would also be in a stronger position to negotiate with the Republican-controlled Senate.

Details of the deal-making between Messrs. Spitzer and Silver are not known. In the area of government reform, Mr. Spitzer has called for sharp reductions in campaign contribution limits, public financing of campaigns, and for the creation of an independent, nonpartisan commission to take charge of redistricting, which is now under the control of the Legislature.

Mr. Spitzer has also pledged to end what he calls the “pay to play” culture in Albany. In a speech he delivered last year, he said, “We must prohibit those who do business with the state from giving gifts of any sort to state employees.” In that speech, Mr. Spitzer also said he would “eliminate or consolidate those authorities that have long out-lived their usefulness.”

In most cases, Mr. Silver during the Pataki administration has resisted the kinds of changes that Mr. Spitzer is proposing.

Another key promise that Mr. Spitzer has made on the campaign trail is that he would quickly resolve the Campaign for Fiscal Equity lawsuit, a legal dispute over how much money Albany owes New York City public schools to make sure that its students are receiving an education that meets constitutional standards.

It’s likely that Mr. Spitzer and the speaker have come to an agreement on a dollar figure that would settle the case. Mr. Spitzer has said he supports increasing aid to New York City schools by $4 billion to $6 billion a year.