Here’s another reason to read the Cook Political Report: Despite early reports, Jennifer Duffy notes it’s not at all clear how and wehn New Jersey’s U.S. Senate seat will be filled now that Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ) has died.

“According to one provision, the law says that if a vacancy occurs more than 70 days before the next regularly scheduled statewide general election, then it will be filled during that general election… However, another provision in state law says that a special election will be held in the next regularly scheduled statewide general election (e.g., this November) only if the vacancy occurs more than 70 days before the state’s primary election. New Jersey’s primary election is tomorrow (June 4, 2013). If a vacancy occurs less than 70 days before the primary, then the vacancy would be filled at the next general election – or November 4, 2014. It should be noted that the Governor does have the discretion to call a special election anytime between now and November 4, 2014, including holding one on November 5 of this year.”

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Ken Cuccinelli (R) and Terry McAuliffe (D) are running one of the ugliest campaigns in recent memory, Time reports.

“Not all of the nastiness is the fault of the candidates. Both campaigns have been at the receiving end of two of the most brutal outside opposition research and attack efforts by dueling Super PACs: Democratic-leaning American Bridge and Republican-backing America Rising… Campaigns that once had the ability to control the tone of campaigns, now don’t have a choice. There’s so much mud being thrown now that has to be responded to, it’s hard to drive a positive message.”

Former RNC Chairman Michael Steele “is weighing a run for Maryland governor, a move that could put him back into the realm of electoral politics,” Huffington Post reports.

Said Steele: “We’re looking at it. You’re gonna take a look at the numbers. Maryland’s a tough state, there are a lot of challenges there.”

Former Minnesota Gov. Jesse Ventura (I), “who rarely returns to the Capitol offices he occupied from 1999 to 2003, took the opportunity to say that an independent fellow like him would make an excellent candidate for president in 2016,” the Minneapolis Star Tribune reports.

Said Ventura: “”I said that 2016 is an opportune moment because there’ll be no incumbent. I believe one issue that would carry me to victory … I would give the people of America to their first opportunity to elect a president who doesn’t belong to either party, since George Washington.”

New Jersey voters will have a chance to vote for a successor to Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ) — who passed away today — “on Election Day this November, though Gov. Chris Christie could schedule a special election earlier if it is deemed ‘advisable,’ according to New Jersey law,” BuzzFeed reports.

“That will kick New Jersey’s Senate race into high gear in the coming days, particularly on the Democratic side where Newark Mayor Cory Booker and Rep. Frank Pallone, who has not announced his campaign, have for months been prepping for a potentially bruising primary battle.”

Christie is likely to make an interim appointment and, as the Washington Post notes, “could, as is often the case in situations like these, choose to nominate a close ally from his own party.

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R) “is cashing in donations from top Democratic fundraisers and other traditionally liberal donors across the country, even nabbing the support of a handful of rainmakers aligned with President Obama and Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel,” the Newark Star-Ledger reports.

“The checks are flying into the Republican governor’s war chest from all sorts of unlikely places — the hedge fund run by liberal billionaire George Soros, for example, and the politically progressive halls of the University of California, Berkeley.”

“To screw up a U.S. Senate special election isn’t a theory for us. We’ve done it, so nobody is taking anything for granted.”

— Massachusetts Democratic Party chairman John Walsh, quoted by the Boston Globe.

Maureen McDonnell “was paid $36,000 last year to attend a handful of meetings as a consultant to the philanthropic arm of one of the state’s major coal companies,” the Washington Post reports.

Gov. Bob McDonnell (R) “indicated on his annual financial disclosure forms for 2011 and 2012 that his wife served as a paid trustee of a family charity, the Frances G. and James W. McGlothlin Foundation. But in an interview, James McGlothlin said the $21 million family foundation never named McDonnell to its board.”

National Journal: “Republicans scheming to take back control of the Senate next year are walking a delicate line between the politically pragmatic decisions they need to make to win and an activist base that sees a nefarious, hidden agenda in Washington’s meddling.”

An update to the paperback version of The Amateur by Edward Klein claims President Obama “made a secret deal to support Hillary Clinton when she runs for president in 2016, campaign sources say, payback for the support her husband gave him in 2012,” the New York Post reports.