Polls consistently show public support for legalization at an all-time high; big-money national Republican donors have been recruited to back state GOP elected officials who vote the right way; Cuomo remains wildly popular. So things are different this time, right? Well, except for the crucial, implacable political math: The gay-marriage team remains six votes short. Not a single fence-sitter has declared in favor of gay marriage. The legislative session ends June 20, and this game will go down to the wire. In the old Albany, that would have meant something very familiar: two politicians behind closed doors seeing if they can cut a last-minute deal. "All that our groups can do is create conditions on the ground that make the deal doable," one gay politico says. "I can pledge to support the Republicans who vote the right way. But I'm not brokering the deal. At the end of the day, it all comes down to Dean ­Skelos and Cuomo. That's the hardest part."