Listen, I plead guilty to having raised money for Governor George W. Bush because I thought he was the best person to be President of the United States. And I did it in a completely appropriate fashion and enthusiastically for the President. And there's no mystery to the fact that I was appointed to this job because, in part, I had a relationship with the President of the United States.

Anybody who receives a political appointment -- I am a political appointee -- there's going to be some measure of politics involved with that appointment.

Maybe it's just me, but I think this is exactly the kind of attitude that voters pretty decisively said they were done with. But good on GOP candidate Chris Christie for being so honest and upfront about what was expected of him as a Bushie. It's especially telling given that Christie talked to Rove about running while still US Attorney, a violation of the Hatch Act and that he gave no bid contracts to Ashcroft and a former US Attorney who had opted not to prosecute his brother.

It's been a fairly nasty campaign in New Jersey, with the added bonus of an Independent candidate, siphoning off some expected Democratic voters. Even so, incumbent Democratic candidate Jon Corzine is up in the polls:

New Jersey Governor, polled by The New York Times, 10/9/09-10/14/09, Likely Voters, MoE +/- 4-5%

Jon Corzine (D) 40

Chris Christie (R) 37

Chris Daggett (I) 14

After a week in which Republican challenger Chris Christie has watched poll after poll showing a dwindling lead in the gubernatorial race in the Garden State, this poll is the first to show a Corzine lead of greater than a point.

What's more, among registered voters, the polls lead really expands:

New Jersey Governor, polled by The New York Times, 10/9/09-10/14/09, Registered Voters, MoE +/- 3%

Jon Corzine (D) 40

Chris Christie (R) 30

Chris Daggett (I) 13

That would seem to suggest that the pool of persuadable voters, who are not yet quite sold on voting, is even more anti-Christie than the corps of likely voters identified by the New York Times.

Curse of '73

Ken "the talking point action figure" Mehlman was on with Wolf yesterday, and spun his usual web of nonsense. He was faced with republicans attacking president Bush over his role in Virgina. (transcript)

BLITZER: Look at this headline that was in today's -- right over there -- in today's "Washington Times." "Bush 'sank' GOP in Virginia" written by David Albo, who says, "We know that George Bush is just killing us. His popularity just brought the ticket down. There's no other way to explain it."

Download | play -WMP Download | play -QT

MEHLMAN: Look, the fact is, one thing we know about the Virginia election, and that is in Virginia elections, the curse of 1973 continues. 1973 was the last time that the White House party won the governor's race. Every election after that -- in the 2001 election, the president hat 90 percent approval and we lost

Doug Forrester blames the Preznit just like the Washington Times did after the Kilgore campaign:

"It's all George W. Bush's fault. Doug Forrester, in his first postelection interview, laid the blame for his loss in the governor's race last week directly at the feet of President Bush."

Mike's Blog Round Up

Yellow Cake Walk: A "Yellow Cake Walker"goes over to Karl Rove's house and gets up in his grill...

Brad Blog: Federal Court Blocks Photo ID Law at Polls in Georgia!

MoxieGrrrl.com: Was the Tularemia Incident a Botched Terrorist Attack?

The Bulldog Manifesto: Forgotten in Iraq: Eisenhower's Cross of Iron

Pam's House Blend...Gay-baiting in the VA. governor's race?",0] ); D(["ce"]); D(["ms","11181"] ); //-->

Pam's House Blend...Gay-baiting in the VA. governor's race?

SEATTLE : The director of elections in Seattle's King County has found a mistake that could swing Washington state's close governor's race to the Democratic candidate.

Republican Dino Rossi came out ahead of Democrat Christine Gregoire (GREG'-wahr) by just 42 votes out of nearly three (m) million.

The King County elections director says election workers mistakenly rejected 561 absentee ballots because of signatures that didn't seem to match voter registration records. But it turns out they'd checked the signatures against the county's computerized voter registration system instead of the original records.