“Republicans are using Virginia’s gubernatorial race as a dry run to test attacks on Hillary Clinton for cronyism if she runs for the White House in 2016,” The Hill reports.

“The GOP feels it has the perfect stand-in for Clinton this year in Terry McAuliffe, a longtime Clinton confidante running to become governor of Virginia.”

“I have no insight into campaign 2016. I’m struggling right here with 2013.”

— Anthony Weiner, quoted by ABC News, backtracking from suggestions he knew something about Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign plans.

Newark Mayor Cory Booker (D) has easily prevailed in the Democratic U.S. Senate primary, the Newark Star Ledger reports.

Results show Booker well ahead of his three rivals: Reps. Rush Holt (D) and Frank Pallone (D), and state Assembly Speaker Sheila Oliver (D). The difference is so large — with Booker leading his closest opponent, Pallone, by a two-to-one margin — that the Associated Press called the race with just 7 percent of the vote in.

Roll Call: “Beyond his financial advantage and personal popularity, Booker is a
heavy favorite thanks to the state’s strong Democratic lean in federal
elections. President Barack Obama won the state with 58 percent in 2012,
and no Republican has been elected to the Senate from New Jersey in
four decades.”

“That you did. That’s true.”

— New York City Comptroller candidate Scott Stringer, quoted by NY1, in response to Eliot Spitzer saying he “got my hands dirty” as attorney general and governor.

Democrats have finally found a recruit to run for the open Senate seat in West Virginia, Roll Call reports.

Said Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV): “I think we’re going to be very competitive in — in West Virginia, we have a candidate there who should be announcing shortly.”

Charlie Cook: “By the end of a presidential campaign year, I’m sure I’m not the only political junkie who finally hits a saturation point and is very glad it’s over. While no one actually lives and breathes politics 24/7, or even every waking hour, for those totally immersed in that world, you do eventually hit the wall and don’t even want to think about it anymore.”

“But as predictable as that tipping point is for me, there is another point, when the dust has settled and someone comes out with a really first-rate chronicle of a campaign. This chronicle normally covers not just the ‘what happened, when, and why’–based on unparalleled access to the candidates, managers, strategists, and others–but also fills in holes that even the most devout political aficionados missed during the campaign, when we are all drinking out of a proverbial fire hose of information, data, and opinions. For the 2012 election, that book is now out. Washington Post chief correspondent Dan Balz’s new book, Collision 2012: Obama vs. Romney and the Future of Elections in America, is everything one would expect from the worthy successor to the mantle of Balz’s mentor, the late David Broder.”

A new Quinnipiac poll in New York City finds Bill de Blasio leads the Democratic race for mayor with 30%, followed by Christine Quinn at 24%, Bill Thompson at 22%, Anthony Weiner at 10% and John Liu at 6%.

Said pollster Maurice Carroll: “A few weeks ago, Public Advocate Bill de Blasio looked like an also-ran. Today, he’s the leader of the pack, and a winner in the runoffs. Follow the bouncing ball, folks. This line-up keeps changing.”

The Columbia State reports
that South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley (R) will officially kick-off her
re-election bid on Aug. 26 with fellow governors — and potential 2016 presidential
candidates — Scott Walker of Wisconsin, Rick Perry of Texas, and Bobby
Jindal — in town for the rally and a subsequent fundraiser. 

Associated Press:
“Joe Biden may run for president in 2016, or he may not. But he wants
you to know he could. Iowa. New Hampshire. South Carolina. Michigan.
Three years out from the next presidential election, the vice president
is polishing his connections and racking up favors in all the right
states to ensure he stays part of the conversation, keeping his name
near the top of a list of likely contenders even if the prime spot seems
to have already been claimed by Hillary Rodham Clinton.”

Jay Newton-Small says Cory Booker would have been better off running for governor than dealing with a gridlocked Congress.

“Booker’s claim to fame is the ancient art of retail politics, with a very modern social media twist. Snowed in during a blizzard? Just tweet him and he’ll come dig you out. (Maybe personally.) Pothole? Let him know; he’ll send a crew. Booker might even come and rescue you from a burning house… Senators don’t fix potholes. Never mind flaming buildings-they rarely even kiss babies… Assuming Booker wins today and prevails against a weak GOP field in the October 16 special election, his prize will be a backbench seat in a hated institution where he’ll be expected to dim his wattage, at least in the short term. It’s almost enough to make a burning house sound like fun. But for now, it seems, Booker will have to settle for it.”