Virginia gubernatorial candidate Terry McAuliffe (D) “knows a thing or two about conservatives like his Republican opponent, Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli,” Yahoo News reports.

“That’s in part because his older brother, Joseph McAuliffe, spent two decades as a Republican activist who worked for the evangelical leader Pat Robertson’s presidential campaign, helped found a Christian political group in Florida, and was even arrested in the late 1980s while demonstrating at an abortion clinic.”

“The Republicans I’m talking to are saying, ‘What the hell are they doing in Virginia?’ Is this, ‘101 ways to lose an election’?”

— Former RNC Chairman Michael Steele, quoted by the Washington Post, on the Virginia GOP ticket.

Anthony Weiner (D) changed his newly unveiled New York mayoral campaign website after criticism it displayed the cityscape of Pittsburgh, The Hill reports.

A new super PAC is launching a campaign to paint Massachusetts U.S. candidate Gabriel Gomez (R) as a “lightweight version of Mitt Romney,” according to a memo obtained by Politico.

Says the memo: “Our message in these various efforts will focus on the fact that Gabriel Gomez is Mitt Lite … More Right Wing, Less Experienced. He is a Bush-Cheney-Romney Republican who is anti-choice, anti-Social Security, pro-assault weapon and pro-Big Oil.”

A new Emerson College poll in Massachusetts finds Rep. Ed Markey (D) is widening his lead over Gabriel Gomez (R) in the U.S. Senate race to 12 points, 45% to 33%.

A similar poll earlier this month had Markey leading by just six points.

Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) told The Hill not to expect a Senate bid from Sarah Palin because she’s not really connected to Alaska anymore.

Said Murkowski: “I think there are a lot of outside interests that would like to see Sarah Palin in some form of elected office. Most in Alaska recognize our former governor is really not involved in or engaged in the state anymore, that she’s moved to other interests. In order for you to represent the state of Alaska, you’ve got to be in the state.”

Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker (R) “comes to Iowa tonight amid speculation that he’d be a smash with Republicans here if he were to run for president, as some top Iowa politics watchers predict,” Des Moines Register reports.

USA Today: “Walker may be playing down the presidential talk, but there’s no question he’s making some moves that fuel such chatter. He’s also writing a book with former Bush speechwriter Marc Thiessen on his tenure as governor and the challenges facing the nation, due out sometime this fall.”

“National Republicans have dispatched staff to Massachusetts to assist with the Senate special election that has become tantalizingly close,” Roll Call reports.

The NRSC “has committed at least four staffers to help nominee Gabriel Gomez in the final weeks of the June 25 contest. The moves come amid fresh polling that showed Gomez running just behind Democratic Rep. Edward J. Markey in this solidly Democratic state.”