Ken Cuccinelli (R) says he’s glad Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell (R) “is returning all the gifts he received from a major political donor. But he has no plans to repay the more than $18,000 in gifts he received from the same benefactor,” NBC Washington reports.

Cuccinelli said that Star Scientific CEO Jonnie Williams “didn’t give him the kind of gifts that can be returned. Among the gifts from Williams listed in Cuccinelli’s financial disclosure statements are a $1,500 catered Thanksgiving dinner, private jet trips and vacation lodging.”

Said Cuccinelli: “There are some bells you can’t unring.”

BuzzFeed has a copy of the contract Newark Mayor Cory Booker signed in May to speak in Iowa, “which according to a university spokesman was supposed to be canceled when Booker announced his Senate bid.”

Politicker: “A colorful mailer touting mayoral candidate Bill Thompson appears to have made a flub-including what would be the lovely image of Mr. Thompson greeting a smiling little girl — were it not for the guy who seems to be giving the finger to the photographer.”

After Anthony Weiner’s communications director Barbara Morgan saw a campaign intern Olivia Nuzzi on the front page of the New York Daily News, “she went off on a curse-filled rant about Nuzzi” with TPM “describing her as a fame hungry “bitch” who “sucked” at her job.

She also called Nuzzi a “slutbag,” among other things.

“Huma Abedin, Hillary Clinton’s transition office chief and the wife of embattled New York City mayoral candidate Anthony Weiner, is expected to take extended vacation time from her job with the former first lady in the coming days,” Politico reports.

“The move is not a leave of absence, two sources familiar with the move insisted, and it’s not precisely clear when she will depart for her vacation time from her day job.”

“It was a loose plan she’d had for weeks, since Hillary Clinton has close to no schedule next month – the Clintons are expected to vacation in the monied East Hampton enclave on Long Island – and Abedin had been expected to take the final few weeks leading up to the mayoral primary to be with her husband.”

In an interview with the New York Daily News, Anthony Weiner evaded a question about whether he is still sexting women online.

Q. There is no one you are sexting now?

A. You can quibble about beginnings, middles and ends but what we’re talking about is over a year ago.

“I am not terribly interested in what people who are not voters in the city of New York have to say.”

— Anthony Weiner, quoted by the New York Daily News, in response to a question about whether Bill and Hillary Clinton, who live in Westchester County, could influence his decision to stay in the mayoral race.

Bill and Hillary Clinton “increasingly see Anthony Weiner’s mayoral
campaign as an embarrassment and potential liability, and are signaling
through associates that they are eager to see him exit the race,” ABC News reports.

“The pressure they are applying on him to exit the race has been
coming from those outside the Clinton inner circle, at least for now,
and there are no immediate plans for that to change.”

A new Quinnipiac poll finds Anthony Weiner drops to fourth place among likely Democratic primary voters in the race for New York City mayor with likely Voters saying Weiner should drop out of the race by a 53% to 40% margin.

Christine Quinn leads the pack with 27%, followed by Bill de Blasio at 21%, Bill Thompson at 20%, Weiner 16% and John Liu at 6%.

Said pollster Maurice Carroll: “With six weeks to go, anything can happen, but it looks like former Congressman Anthony Weiner may have sexted himself right out of the race for New York City mayor.”

The longer Anthony Weiner continues his New York City mayoral bid, the more heated exchanges with voters he’ll have.

[Read more…]

“In a new sign of tumult within Anthony Weiner’s embattled political operation, his campaign manager has quit, leaving his already skeletal team without a day-to-day leader,” the New York Times reports.

“The move suggests that even as Mr. Weiner vows to press ahead with his candidacy, there are mounting doubts about its political viability within his own campaign.”

“In an electoral season awash with misbehaving men,” mayoral candidate Christine Quinn (D) is “making a subtle plea to New York City voters: I’m not one of them,” the New York Times reports.

She “has moved quickly in the past several days to conspicuously distance herself from Anthony D. Weiner and Eliot Spitzer, the celebrity transgressors of the 2013 campaign, wrapping her candidacy in the language of ‘maturity,’ ‘seriousness’ and ‘truth.'”

“Her political operation, which has long trumpeted her head-cracking, get-things-done legislative style, is now realizing that her appeal also includes what she has not done: hired prostitutes or sent lewd self-portraits to strangers.”

The New Yorker wins hands down.

[Read more…]

Silda Spitzer “is privately telling friends” she plans to divorce Eliot Spitzer, Page Six reports.

“Multiple sources tell us long-suffering Silda — who, he last night admitted, will not be joining him on the campaign trail — ‘has had enough’ and plans to start divorce proceedings after his run for New York City comptroller is over.”

A new NBC 4/Wall Street Journal/Marist poll in New York City finds Christine Quinn (D) has retaken the lead in the Democratic mayoral race with 25%, followed by Anthony Weiner (D) at 16%, Bill de Blasio (D) at 14%, Bill Thompson at 14% and John Liu at 7%.

The poll also showed 43% of New York City Democrats want Weinder to drop out of the race.

Said pollster Lee Miringoff: “For many Democrats the latest revelations about Anthony Weiner are more of the same, only more so. Weiner has lost his lead and his negatives are at an all-time high.”

A new Quinnipiac poll in New York City finds Eliot Spitzer (D) with a small lead over Scott Stringer (D) in a tight race for
New York City comptroller among Democratic likely primary voters, 49% to 45%.

A new Quinnipiac poll in New York City finds Anthony Weiner leads in the Democratic mayoral race with 26% of likely voters, followed by Christine Quinn at 22%, William Thompson at 20%, Bill deBlasio at 15% and John Liu at 7%.

The poll was conducted before news that Weiner continued his “sexting” issues even after he resigned from Congress. If Weiner drops out of the race, Quinn leads with 30% to Thompson’s 26% with de Blasio at 21% and Liu at 10%.

In a Democratic primary runoff, however, Thompson tops Weiner 52% to 41% and leads Quinn 51% to 42%.

Marc Ambinder: Hath Weiner no shame?

“A day after Anthony Weiner acknowledged that he continued sending lewd messages to women even after he resigned from Congress, former Gov. Eliot Spitzer said he hadn’t used prostitutes after his own downfall in 2008,” the Wall Street Journal reports.

Said Spitzer: “Absolutely not. And we’re done answering those questions.”