Sightings of Eliot Spitzer since his resignation in February have been rarer than UFO encounters. He has been spotted in public only a handful of times, mostly jogging in Central Park or strolling with his wife, Silda.

But as the summer wears on, voters can expect to see and hear a little more of the ex-governor. He may be gone from public life, but his specter has a full schedule of cameo appearances between now and November.

Before his resignation, Spitzer made no secret about his desire to see the Senate go Democratic. Now, Democrats are already distancing themselves from him and his policies. Republicans, meanwhile, are portraying him as a poster child for unchecked power in state government.

Matt Mahoney, executive director of the New York State Senate Republican Committee (SSRC), said Senate Republicans will invoke Spitzer during the campaign as an example of what can happen without a partisan balance in Albany.

The argument will be made that the Republican majority offers an important check on the Democratic Assembly and executive branch, Mahoney said, “because without it, Spitzer would have done A, B, C and D.”

But while Spitzer’s political legacy and the threat of what he might have accomplished will be a campaign issue, Mahoney said, the prostitution ring which ended his career will almost certainly not be.

Trying to make an issue out of morality by bringing up the Emperor’s Club would hardly resonate with the voters, Mahoney said.

“I don’t think any poll would show that. I don’t think any focus group would tell you that,” Mahoney said. “And if you wanted to do it, I’d say raise the money for it yourself.”

But Spitzer’s driver’s license plan will be featured prominently on the campaign trail, Mahoney said. Eager to show off their accomplishments, Republican incumbents will tout their success in killing the plan, which Spitzer introduced then withdrew late last year.

And there will be other specific attacks as well. State Sen. Serphin Maltese (R-Queens), a major target of Democrats, began running television ads in early April, weeks after Spitzer resigned. But the ads—run unusually early in the cycle for a State Senate race—made no mention of the resignation.

“When Governor Spitzer tried to slash $440 million in local education funding,” the narrator intones, “Serf Maltese fought back and won.”

Any mention of Spitzer on the campaign trail, Maltese said in an interview, is fair game.

“I think it’s appropriate because we’re talking about last year’s budget, which was an attempt by Governor Spitzer to steamroll the State Legislature,” Maltese said. “Since it’s a re-election piece and not a government piece, I feel that it’s appropriate to mention Governor Spitzer was the architect of many of these failed schemes.”

Maltese also attempted to link his main opponent, City Council Member Joseph Addabbo (D-Queens), to Spitzer. Addabbo said back in April that he had been in discussions with Spitzer to headline a fundraiser, but that those talks failed to materialize after the scandal broke.

“One of my opponents had indicated that he had the support of Governor Spitzer,” Maltese said, “although he does seem to be stepping away from him now.”

But Maltese said he would stay away from any direct mention of the prostitution ring.

“Certainly his personal predilections, everyone’s aware of them and you don’t have to mention them,” Maltese said.

“Certainly not appropriate in my campaign.”

Democrats have also signaled a willingness to drag Spitzer into the campaign.

Rep. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-Saratoga/Rensselaer), expected to face a tough race this year against candidate Alexander “Sandy” Treadwell in a district that heavily favors Republicans, has been leading the charge.

In early May, a pro-Gillibrand political action committee issued a mailer touting the fact that she was the first Democrat to oppose Spitzer’s driver’s license plan. While the mailer made no mention of Spitzer, the group used the governor’s plan as a counterpoint to highlight Gillibrand’s anti-terrorism record.

GOP insiders say that Democrats use Spitzer at their own risk. But a Gillibrand spokesperson said the congresswoman is unconcerned with the negative connotations associated with Spitzer’s image.

“The congresswoman was very clear when she embraced his policies,” said Gillibrand spokesperson Rachel McEneny. “And when she disagreed, she was very vocal as well.”

McEneny added that the mailer should not be characterized as Gillibrand distancing herself from Spitzer.

“It’s just how the congresswoman feels on a certain issue, that’s all,” she said.

But Democratic strategist Doug Forand said candidates running this year would be advised not to bring up Spitzer at all.

“I don’t see him as a particularly good validator for a Democratic candidate running,” said Forand, who left the Democratic Senate Campaign Committee in March to start his own consulting firm, Red Horse Strategies, LLC.

Forand charged that Republicans who dredge up Spitzer on the campaign trail do so to distract from their own legislative records.

“While the Republicans may be out there saying, ‘Eliot Spitzer was this, and Eliot Spitzer was that,’” Forand said, “voters are smart enough to know that doesn’t mean a Democratic candidate for Senate necessarily agrees or disagrees with those positions.”

But the SRCC’s Mahoney disagreed, saying Democrats are stuck with Spitzer’s legacy.

“People kind of throw the baby out with the bathwater with him,” Mahoney said of Spitzer. “And I think that that’s something all these guys, as they try to defend policy positions, are kind of stuck with.”

Sen. Darrel Aubertine (D-Oswego), for example, may have to confront his connections to Spitzer this November. Spitzer provided crucial support in Aubertine’s February special election victory, helping him raise money and connecting him with Jerry Siegel, the advertising wizard responsible for creating all of Spitzer’s 2006 commercials.

David Renzi, a Watertown attorney who plans to challenge Aubertine in November, said he will strive to make his campaign mostly positive. But even without him saying anything, Renzi indicated, Aubertine’s ties to Spitzer may be an issue.

“I think it speaks for itself,” he said. “People understand it and it speaks for itself.”