As some of you might have noticed last night, the bulk of the attention of the wrap will be dedicated to Tuesday night's contests. Everything else (i.e. the 2010 stuff) will be located "In Other News...." for the time being. Now, let's get the Halloween weekend kicked off...
NJ-Gov: Poll-ucopia Gives Few Answers in Garden State Battle
A quartet of polls released today in the New Jersey's Governors race tell you that...well...either Democratic Governor Jon Corzine is winning, or his Republican challenger Chris Christie is winning. The obvious outlier in the group is a Republican poll from Neighborhood Research which has the challenger staked to a seven-point lead (42-35-8). Some of the other data here is simply bizarre: Corzine with just a 26% favorability rating, Christie with a +9 favorability spread (something he has not seen in over a month), and three-quarters of the voters still unable to cast a judgment on Chris Daggett. Rasmussen, for what it is worth, also falls on the side of the Republicans, giving Christie a three-point edge (46-43-8). Meanwhile, two other pollsters give the slimmest of edges to the incumbent: a poll put together by Zogby and Stockton College is over a week old, but it gives the Democrat a one-point lead (40-39-14). Meanwhile, Fairleigh Dickinson (PDF File) offers their final take of the campaign, and gives Corzine a one-point edge (44-43-6).
VA-Gov: Deeds Can't Catch Many Breaks In Final Weekend
Talk about a star-crossed campaign: in the final push until Election Day, Democratic nominee Creigh Deeds was looking for some star power. He was supposed to have it, in the form of wildly popular Democratic U.S. Senator Mark Warner, who served as the state's governor from 2002-2006. Alas, it was not to be--Warner came down with the flu, and was forced to renege on his plans to campaign with Deeds. Deeds did try to get into the holiday spirit, however, with a quip that he planned on "being himself" for Halloween, while Bob McDonnell would be masquerading as a moderate (insert your own rim shot here).
NY-23: Now Even RNC Chairman Is Selling GOP Nominee Down The River
Wow. This is telling--in an interview with Politico today, RNC Chairman Michael Steele argued that if third-party insurgent candidate Doug Hoffman were to win on Tuesday, that would really be a victory for Republicans. His logic was that since Hoffman was once a Republican, there were really two Republicans running in the race. That, of course, stands in fairly strong contrast to Steele's strong statement of support for Scozzafava in the distant past. If, by the distant past, you mean Wednesday
"I support the Republican nominee, as the Republican Party chairman," Steele told MSNBC Wednesday morning. "And that's the way it should go."
Of course, no one knew then that Steele was planning on adopting Doug Hoffman as some kind of de facto Republican nominee...
Meanwhile, the White House is once again lending some muscle to Democratic nominee Bill Owens as Joe Biden will make a last-second appearance there on Monday.
CA-10: First Poll Of Special Election Gives Democrat Modest Lead
This should actually be a little bit disconcerting for Democrats, perhaps even more so than the triumphs and tribulations in New York, New Jersey and Virginia. SurveyUSA polls California's 10th Congressional District, left vacant by the resignation of Ellen Tauscher, and they find that Democratic Lt. Governor John Garamendi only has a ten-point lead over Republican David Harmer (50-40-6). While Democrats can take some comfort in the fact that half of the electorate has voted in that race (and Garamendi has a 51-41 lead), the closeness of the margin is a bit disturbing in a district that went heavily for Barack Obama in 2008. Indeed, this has become the forgotten race of the cycle, one that, as Chuck Todd astutely pointed out earlier today, the NRCC might kick themselves over somewhere down the line.
MAYORAL RACES: One Close Race...The Other Not So Much
Two new polls were released today out of mayoral races which will be contested on Tuesday. Michael Bloomberg's purported nine-figure (yep...you read that right) campaign to remain the Mayor of New York appears to be yielding fruit, as he holds a double-digit lead according to both SurveyUSA (53-42) and Marist (PDF File) (53-38). Meanwhile, SurveyUSA also polls an incredibly tight contest in St. Petersburg, Florida and finds that Republican Bill Foster has a four-point edge (48-44) over Democrat Kathleen Ford.
IN OTHER NEWS....
- As mentioned yesterday, you can now find me on Twitter. My resistance finally broke down, and I took the plunge.
- Civitas, a Republican pollster who is pretty prolific in the Tar Heel State, give Republican U.S. Senator Richard Burr an eleven-point lead (PDF File) over Democratic Sec. of State Elaine Marshall in North Carolina, but well under 50% (44-33).
- As well as the potential damage that could be done to Arkansas Senator Blanche Lincoln if she blocks health care reform, PCCC also polled the state of Indiana, as well. The result: even very popular Evan Bayh would not be immune to a backlash if he fights health care reform.
- It looks like Republican state Attorney General Bill McCollum does not have an unimpeded path to the GOP gubernatorial nomination in Florida, after all. State Senator Paula Dockery, as has long been rumored, is apparently poised to jump into the race. Democratic state CFO Alex Sink is still the presumptive nominee for the blue team.
- In case you were wondering if Harry Reid is nervous about his re-election prospects: wonder no more. Reid is on the air with his third ad of the cycle, with 53 weeks to go until Election Day.
- Freshman Democrat Mark Schauer might be getting another legit opponent. A few months after GOP ex-Congressman Tim Walberg said he wanted his old job back, it looks like lawyer Brian Rooney, the brother of GOP Congressman Tom Rooney, is about to take the plunge.
- It is almost official--Republican Lt. Governor Andre Bauer is filing the paperwork to run for Governor of South Carolina
