Hillary Clinton “may or may not run for president in 2016, but the conservative effort to derail her potential candidacy is already underway,” CNN reports.

“The organizers behind Stop Hillary PAC, a political action committee quietly incorporated in May, are stepping into public view this week as they ramp up their efforts to harangue Clinton as she mulls over her political future.”

“With the field for next year’s Democratic primary nomination for governor becoming clearer, so too is the realization that the battle between incumbent Gov. Pat Quinn and challenger Bill Daley will be fought more along personal rather than ideological lines,” the Chicago Tribune reports.

“Quinn already has signaled a willingness to portray Daley, the son and brother of former Chicago mayors, as a candidate of wealth and entitlement. And Daley, already accusing Quinn of failing to govern, is ready to link the governor’s leadership style to his imprisoned predecessor, Rod Blagojevich. All this with more than eight months before the March 18 primary day.”

Politico: “With the House sliced and diced into districts that leave most incumbents insulated from any serious reelection challenge — and a host of prized Senate recruits from both parties deciding they’d rather just stay home — control of Congress could be decided next year by the fewest number of states and congressional districts in a decade or more.”

“The parties out of power are in a critical window over the next several months to expand the map or risk ceding seats that should be within reach. They’re confident they’ll pull it off: Check back in the new year and the landscape will look a lot different, they say.”

“I’m not focused on the politics. I’ve been in the office all but seven months. The last office I was elected to was student council. So this has been a bit of a whirlwind.”

— Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX), in an interview with ABC News, dismissing speculation that he’ll run for president.

“After months of assailing each other’s integrity from afar and by proxy,” Ken Cuccinelli (R) and Terry McAuliffe (D) “traded direct attacks on stage Saturday in the opening debate of their heated race for Virginia governor,” the Washington Post reports.

“In a 90-minute face-off, the candidates cast their arguments in sharply personal terms, accusing each other of bullying, influence peddling and ‘flimflammery.'”

The Richmond Times Dispatch says the two “disagreed on just about every issue, including abortion, gay marriage, taxes, transportation and health care. The 90-minute debate was marked by rhetorical incursions launched by both men on what they perceived to be their opponent’s greatest weakness, all centered on a theme that the other guy cannot be trusted.”

“A select cohort of top Massachusetts Republicans met quietly last week to discuss the party’s prospects for 2014, hoping to organize a top-to-bottom-of-the-ticket strategy that could help the party grapple back to relevance,” the Boston Globe reports.

“But few decisions can be made until two of the figures involved in the meeting finalize their own political intentions.”

“Charles D. Baker, the 2010 GOP gubernatorial nominee, and former senator Scott Brown have not yet made clear whether either plans to run for governor next year. Several people in the meeting said they believe Baker plans to run, while Brown’s intentions are less obvious.”

Jonathan Bernstein: “The bottom line is that candidates just don’t matter all that much in presidential elections. Yes, a reputation for ideological extremism hurts, but it appears to hurt maybe 2 or 3 percentage points. Yes, George McGovern and Barry Goldwater had reputations for ideological extremism and were buried, but in both cases it was by a popular president during good times. Ronald Reagan wasn’t slowed much (although, still, some) by his conservative image. Don’t get me wrong: There’s no evidence for the opposite theory, that avoiding the squishy center (in either direction) will magically produce an avalanche of new voters who otherwise would have stayed home. Going moderate is better. It just isn’t all that much better.”

“The bottom line, however, is that Ted Cruz is unlikely to drop more than a couple points to the Democratic nominee. And that’s not likely to swing the election. Could it? Sure; even a small bump would have sunk the Republicans in 2000, for example. But most elections aren’t narrow enough for a couple of points to make a difference.”