Mark Herring (D) took a small lead over Mark Obenshain (R) in the extraordinarily tight Virginia attorney general race, after he picked up more than 100 previously uncounted votes in Richmond, the Washington Post reports.

Herring had started the day trailing Obenshain by a mere 17 votes out of 2.2 million cast. But as jurisdictions across the state continued to scrub their vote counts, the State Board of Elections showed Herring with a 117-vote lead late Monday.

North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory (R) “refuses to follow the political script. He scoffs at politicians who use teleprompters. He casts aside speeches his aides write. It’s all part of the image McCrory wants to project as the outsider,” the Raleigh News and Observer reports.

“But McCrory’s improvisational approach has risks. At least a dozen times in his first 10 months as governor, McCrory’s remarks have sparked controversies. McCrory is prone to misspeaking. He generalizes in a way that can insult key constituencies. And he mispronounces the names of even his closest aides.”

New Jersey Chris Christie (R) “criticized strategists for Mitt Romney’s 2012 presidential campaign over the weekend saying no one should ‘give a darn‘ about their political advice,” but Yahoo News notes the New Jersey governor “isn’t nearly as dismissive of their input as he lets on.”

“During his re-election campaign this year, Christie hired a political consultancy firm run by Romney’s former top strategists and paid more than $46,000 for their services.”

Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-OK) told The Oklahoman that he’d “have a hard time” backing New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R) for president in 2016 because he thinks that Christie’s embrace of President Obama after Hurricane Sandy last year helped him win a second term.

Said Inhofe: “Christie I still hold responsible for the re-election of Obama.”

Ben Smith: “One of Mike Bloomberg’s signal accomplishments in New York City was reversing the flow of corruption. In the old days, and in every other city in the world most days, favor-seekers bribe politicians — with cash in envelopes, with legal contributions, or with political support. In Mike Bloomberg’s New York, the mayor bribed you, buying the silence or cooperation of individuals, cultural organizations, and social service groups with hundreds in millions of dollars spent on small personal favors — a legal payment here, a medical procedure there — and charitable contributions.”

“As a liberal Democrat, Bill de Blasio’s biggest challenge when he takes power in January will not be keeping crime down or funding an ambitious expansion of early education. It will be dealing with the explosion of Bloomberg’s machine after the grease of money is gone and the gears start sticking.”

“Particularly since the shutdown, I’ve had a spate of e-mails and letters and phone calls saying, ‘Run for president again.’ As you know, I’m seriously thinking about running for re-election to the Senate. But I think, in the words of the late Morris K. Udall, as far as my presidential ambitions are concerned, ‘The people have spoken — the bastards.'”

— Sen. John McCain (R-AZ), quoted by the Arizona Republic, dismissing another presidential bid in 2016.

Herman Cain is fighting back against accusations that emerged during his 2012 presidential campaign that he sexually harassed several women.

“Until now, I have never offered the facts that expose these accusations as lies, although I have been in possession of them. It is now time to do so, not only because the false accusations have received renewed attention with the publication of a book that discusses them, but more importantly because I refuse to live my life, pursue my radio and professional career or do anything else that God has left for me to do in this world with a dark cloud attached to my reputation that is not consistent with the truth.”

Former Rep. Thaddeus McCotter (R-MI) “claims the longtime aide at the center of a nominating petition scandal that ruined his congressional career accepted a bribe to engage in a ‘deliberate sabotage’ of his 2012 re-election campaign,” the Detroit News reports.

Some New Mexico Democrats “wonder whether the governor portrayed in the national media is the same Susana Martinez they know. At the least, they paint a picture less rosy than the ones published outside the state extolling her bipartisan success,” the Santa Fe New Mexican reports.

“There have been pieces of legislation that Martinez was able to pass with the cooperation of Democrats… But there also have been bruising legislative fights in which, Democrats say, Martinez has shown little if any willingness to compromise. And the harsh attack ads and mailers Martinez ran against some Democrats during the 2012 election still are fresh on the minds of lawmakers.”