There’s been no shortage of Knicks news over the past 24 hours, from the club waiving rookie Patrick Ewing Jr., to Eddy Curry officially being releagated to garbage time, to Harrison, NY police releasing further details that challenge the credibility of the recently hospitalized Isiah Thomas.  Instead, we’ll focus on the larger picture ; having failed to dent the popularity of Sen. Barack Obama after linking him to the likes of Rev. Jeremiah Wright, William Ayers and Tony Rezko, how might the McPalin ticket benefit from calling attention to the Democratic nominee’s ties to a truly despised figure? Newsday’s Anthony Rieber explains.

Stephon Marbury, who donated the individual maximum of $2,300 to Obama’s campaign in June 2007, said he’s not looking for a tax break from the next president, even though his 2008-09 salary of $20.8 million puts him in an income bracket the rest of us can only dream about.

In fact, Marbury told Newsday on Monday that he’s more than willing to pay his share and even endorsed what he called Obama’s plan to “spread the wealth.”

“I think that it’s going to help,” Marbury said. “By him trying to create change and by him trying to spread the wealth as opposed to the rich getting rich and the poor staying poor, he’s trying to make it diverse and I believe in that.

“I pay taxes just like everybody else — half of my money goes to taxes — and I feel like it should go to the people who need it. Me coming from where I come from, I’m aware of the situation that people are in right now, coming from Coney Island and the projects. Me having what I have is a blessing.”

Of the 20 New York athletes who made or will make $10 million or more in salary in seasons that began in 2008, only two gave money to a presidential candidate, according to Federal Election Commission records:

Marbury and Alex Rodriguez.

A-Rod, who can’t deliver in October, won’t even be in the game in November. He donated $2,300 to Rudy Giuliani’s failed campaign in March 2007.

Marbury, who has a better shot of being named Secretary of State than winning an NBA title with the Knicks, can at least be a very small part of a winning team on Election Day if the polls are to be believed.

“I’ll be at the ballot at six o’clock in the morning if I have to,” Stephon the Basketball Player said.