A new attack ad from Ken Cuccinelli (R) released this week in the Virginia governor’s race is causing a backlash “now that some of its subjects are publicly saying they were duped into being filmed for it,” the Virginian-Pilot reports.

Terry McAuliffe’s (D) campaign said Cuccinelli’s campaign had “reached a new low when they tricked workers into appearing in a false, negative television spot.”

Larry Sabato: “The crystallized summary of this nearly 50-year tour through history is less an iron rule of politics than a cautionary one: Omens can be deceptive. Of the 12 examples in our table, five Virginia elections were genuinely predictive of the next year’s midterm results. Another five were misleading indicators. The remaining two (1985 and 1989) could be argued either way.”

“So take out the coin in your pocket and flip it. Your nickel is as good a bet on the future course of politics as the outcome of Virginia’s gubernatorial elections. Remember this in November when you see firm prognostications about ‘what it all means.'”

Anthony Weiner got into an awesome shouting match with a voter earlier today.

Gawker: “Watch the thoughtful discussion of morality and divine judgement that ensued.”

[Read more…]

A new Quinnipiac poll in New York City finds the race for Comptroller is too close to call, with Scott Stringer edging ahead of Eliot Spitzer among likley voters, 47% to 45%.

Anthony Weiner was asked by Fox New York what he’ll do if he loses the New York City Democratic mayoral race in six days.

Said Weiner: “I’ve always had this dream of doing weather and sports on your show, standing in front of that screen.”

And then he did.

[Read more…]

“I don’t know about you, but seeing Chris Christie frolicking on the beach is not going to drive me to go to the shore.”

— New Jersey gubernatorial candidate Barbara Buono (D), quoted by CBS New York, questioning Christie’s new tourism commercials.

A new Quinnipiac poll finds Bill de Blasio surging to 43% support among likely voters in the Democratic primary for mayor, followed by William Thompson at 20%, Christine Quinn at 18%, Anthony Weiner at 7% and John Liu at 4%.

If anyone exceeds 40% support in the primary there is no run off.

Said pollster Maurice Carroll: “Can Public Advocate Bill de Blasio keep his surge going for seven more days? If he does, his first contribution could be to the New York City budget – saving the expense of a run-off election.”

Carl DeMaio (R) announced that he will continue his bid for Congress against freshman Rep. Scott Peters (D) and will not run in a mayoral special to replace disgraced San Diego Mayor Bob Filner (D), Roll Call reports.

Terrified of Eliot Spitzer, “heavy hitters on Wall Street have abandoned their ambitious plan to inject millions of dollars into the race for city comptroller to help elect Scott Stringer,” the New York Post reports.

“Forward NY was supposed to raise huge sums — up to $150,000 per individual — from corporate executives who abhor Spitzer for targeting them and their industry when he was state attorney general. As it turns out, they fear Spitzer more than they hate him.”

Matt Romney, son of 2012 Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney, told the Los Angeles Times that he would not be a candidate to succeed San Diego Mayor Bob Filner (D).

Larry Sabato: “As the calendar turns to September, the nation’s marquee race in 2013 is coming into focus: Terry McAuliffe (D) now has an edge over Ken Cuccinelli (R) in the Virginia gubernatorial race, and we’re changing our rating in the contest from toss-up to Leans Democratic.”

A new New York Times-Siena poll finds Eliot Spitzer crushing Scott Stringer in the Democratic race for New York City Comptroller, 50% to 35%.

This contrasts with a Quinnipiac poll released yesterday which found the race a dead heat.

A new New York Times-Siena College Poll in New York City finds Bill de Blasio leading the Democratic mayoral race with 32%, followed by Bill Thompson at 18%, Christine Quinn at 17%, Anthony Weiner at 11% and John Liu at 3%.

“With so little time left in the primary, Mr. de Blasio’s commanding lead will quite likely force his Democratic rivals to recalibrate their strategies, intensify their attacks and seek to land decisive blows against him during the final televised debate next week.”

Meanwhile, a new amNewYork-News 12 poll shows de Blasio at 29%, Thompson at 24%, Quinn at 17%, Weiner at 10% and Liu at 5%.

Capital New York has a mailer from Scott Stringer’s New York City comptroller campaign that lacerates Eliot Spitzer (D).

The outside of the mailer shows a pair of hands outside of prison bars, and on the inside, is Spitzer’s smiling face: “Anyone else who committed Eliot Spitzer’s crimes would go to jail. He secretly wired money to criminal enterprises and solicited prostitutes” but “faced no legal consequences for his behavior.”

A new Public Policy Polling survey in Virginia finds Terry McAuliffe (D) leading Ken Cuccinelli (R) in the race for governor by seven points, 44% to 37%.

Update: A new Emerson College poll shows McAuliffe with a 10 point lead, 45% to 35%.

Sources tell National Review that “the central character in one of Cory Booker’s oft-repeated stories — T-Bone, the drug pusher who the mayor has said threatened his life at one turn and sobbed on his shoulder the next — is a figment of his imagination, even though Booker has talked about him in highly emotional terms and in great detail.”

Rutgers University history professor Clement Price says Booker conceded to him in 2008 that T-Bone was a “composite” of several people he’d met while living in Newark.

A new Quinnipiac poll in New York City finds Scott Stringer (D) has wiped out Eliot Spitzer’s (D) 19-point lead in the Democratic primary for New York City comptroller and now is locked in a 46% to 46% tie.

A new Fairleigh Dickinson University PublicMind poll in New Jersey finds Cory Booker (D) crushing Steve Lonegan (R) in their U.S. Senate race, 50% to 22%.