Ruby Cramer: “In the past 48 hours, Eliot Spitzer has appeared on just about every local television and radio show to promote his eleventh-hour bid for New York City comptroller, but the comeback candidate may have a problem that publicity alone can’t fix: getting on the ballot.”

“After Spitzer appeared Monday afternoon at his petition drive with no staffers in tow — and few volunteers canvassing the area — questions remain about whether his hurried campaign will be able to collect the 3,750 signatures from registered Democrats required to qualify for the ballot by the midnight deadline this Thursday.”

Maryland Lt. Gov Anthony Brown’s (D) campaign announced it raised $1 million since early April — narrowing a fundraising disadvantage — and it hired President Obama’s campaign manager to help Brown try to win the governor’s mansion, the Baltimore Sun reports.

Jim Messina “will join the campaign as a senior adviser, helping the campaign use technology to build grassroots support and increase fundraising.”

Charlie Cook
is tired of speculation about the 2016 presidential race.

“Far more immediately important (and less
hypothetical) is what will happen in next year’s midterm elections. Even
though those elections are just over 16 months away, we still don’t
know whether Republicans will be playing defense as they were last year,
when they had profound problems with minority, young, women, and
self-described moderate voters. And, conversely, we don’t know if
Democrats, as the party in the White House, will be on defense, as is
usually the case during second terms and in so-called six-year-itch
elections, halfway through a party’s second term in office. The
potential for the Affordable Care Act to become radioactive again, as it
was in 2009 and 2010, makes this scenario sound less theoretical and
more plausible.”

Former Gov. Eliot Spitzer (D) appeared on Morning Joe for a fascinating interview about his political comeback attempt.

But as Dylan Byers notes, there’s been some controversy over whether he actually teared up when discussing the pain he’s experienced since a prostitution scandal forced him from office.

[Read more…]

“Let the Texas-size political shake-up begin. With Rick Perry stepping
aside after more than a decade as governor, a host of statewide
candidates can finally try to move up. And the governor freed himself to
focus on another possible run for president.” the Dallas Morning-News reports.

Tom DeFrank:
“Rick Perry is stepping down as the longest-serving governor in Texas
history to clear the decks for a 2016 presidential campaign, according
to several well-placed Republican sources. They said Perry is stepping
down to make sure his declining popularity among Texas Republicans won’t
complicate his Oval Office ambitions.

Mark Barabak:
“Although leaving office in January 2015 could diminish his fundraising
capacity, it would also allow Perry more preparation time than he took
in the lead-up to his gaffe-filled 2012 campaign, the only election loss
of his more than three-decade-long political career.”

“Why are you late? Were you with a hooker?”

— An unidentified man, quoted by the New York Daily News, at Eliot Spitzer’s (D) first campaign appearance for New York City Comptroller.