New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg has been actively trying to find a successor and “secretly financed a poll by his own longtime pollster” in order to show Police Commission Ray Kelly could win if he ran, the New Yorker reports.

Bloomberg also tried to get Hillary Clinton and publisher Mortimer Zuckerman to run for mayor.

Democratic strategist Dave “Mudcat” Saunders tells Time that Democrats in Virginia are beginning to question gubernatorial candidate Terry McAuliffe’s (D) “role in not just GreenTech, but also other ventures and activities.”

He adds: “In a low-turnout election, which I fully expect this one to be, the greatest political tool is enthusiastic support of the ground. How Terry is going to regain that enthusiasm in less than 100 days is beyond me.”

“Anthony Weiner may be lagging in the race for New York City mayor, but he is winning in another area — hot dog marketing,” ABC News reports.

“The delicious combination of Anthony Weiner’s name and his sexually suggestive Twitter antics were apparently too good to pass up for one Florida marketing man, who has joined forces with an Illinois hot dog company to create a hot dog brand called Carlos Danger Weiners, which he has incorporated into the company Carlos Danger LLC.”

“Before he married his wife, former Congressman Anthony Weiner had a previously undisclosed relationship with an on-again-off-again congressional and campaign aide nearly two decades his junior,” Politicker reports.

“In pushing back against the publication of this story, the spokeswoman for his current mayoral campaign, Barbara Morgan, phoned The New York Observer‘s editor in chief. Partially confirming the relationship, she said the two “had a personal relationship.” (At that point, Ms. Morgan stopped mid-sentence to request the conversation be continued off the record.)”

A new NBC 4 New York/Wall Street Journal/Marist Poll in New York City finds Christine Quinn leading the Democratic race for mayor with 24%, followed by Bill de Blasio at 21%, Bill Thompson at 16% and Anthony Weiner at 12%.

A new Quinnipiac poll in New York City finds Eliot Spitzer (D) leads Scott Stringer (D) by 19 point in the race for comptroller, 56% to 37% among likely primary voters.

Daily Beast: “Barring a miracle where tens of thousands of votes appear out of the ether (and in New Jersey that can’t be entirely ruled out), turnout will be well under 10% of registered voters in a statewide race that received national media attention.”

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.

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.”

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.”

A special U.S. Senate primary will be held in New Jersey today, the Newark Star Ledger reports.

“Unfortunately, the exercise in democracy is competing with family vacations, the rhythm of the surf, the smell of burgers on the grill and summer blockbusters on the big screen.”

“And, experts say, the date chosen by Gov. Chris Christie, a Republican, to fill the seat left vacant by the death of Sen. Frank Lautenberg, a Democrat, is likely to produce one of the lowest voter turnouts the state has ever seen — potentially rivaling the 2006 Senate primaries, when just 8.4 percent of registered voters made it to the polls.”

“Most of the people I meet won’t walk away and say, ‘Wow, he put me to sleep.’ Almost nobody says that. People are still awake when I’m talking to them.”

— New York City mayoral candidate Bill Thompson (D), quoted by the New York Times, countering the perception that he’s boring.

Anthony Weiner released his first televised ad in the New York City mayor race.

His message: “I’ve waged a campaign focused like a laser beam on fighting for the middle class and those struggling to make it.”

[Read more…]

“Five dozen wealthy donors from Wall Street to Silicon Valley have placed their bets on both of New Jersey’s big political stars — Republican Gov. Chris Christie and Democratic Newark Mayor Cory Booker — this campaign season,” a Newark Star-Ledger review of state and federal records shows.

A new Siena poll finds that although 16% of New Yorkers think the national attention from the Anthony Weiner and Eliot Spitzer candidacies is not a big deal, 8% find it entertaining and 68% think it’s embarrassing.

Said pollster Steven Greenberg: “Spitzer is not viewed as unfavorably as he was right after he resigned as Governor,
however, he’s still viewed unfavorably by 59% of voters — including a majority of Democrats and New York City voters. While Spitzer’s unfavorable rating is down from the 79% who viewed him unfavorably in the aftermath of his resignation, Weiner has set a new all-time Siena College Poll record with 80% of voters viewing him unfavorably – including three-quarters of Democrats and New York City voters – compared to only 11% who have a favorable view of America’s most infamous tweeter.”

Cory Booker pocketed “confidential” annual payouts from his former law firm while serving as Newark mayor, the New York Post reports.

“Booker, the front-runner in New Jersey’s Senate race, received five checks from the Trenk DiPasquale law firm from 2007 until 2011. During that time, the firm raked in more than $2 million in fees from local agencies over which Booker has influence.”

Explained Booker: “This was a settlement buyout for my interest in the firm. I had an equity stake, and we had a negotiated settlement.”

Eliot Spitzer, who’s self-funding his campaign for New York City comptroller, has put in $3.7 million of his own money since declaring his candidacy for comptroller on July 7, the New York Post reports.

“What’s more, the former love gov spent $2.6 million on the race for comptroller in the last month alone — more than 10 times that of his rival Scott Stringer, new campaign finance records show.”