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.

Looks like McCain's maverick ways are rubbing off on others and causing them to do some crazy things... like, say, break the law.

WaPo:

A Canadian newspaper reported Thursday that Friday's scheduled $100-a-plate luncheon speech by Sen. John McCain in Ottawa was organized in part by U.S. Ambassador David Wilkins, a former South Carolina lawmaker whom President Bush appointed in 2005.

Democrats pointed out the article late Thursday night, and alleged that Wilkins's actions could be construed as a violation of the Hatch Act, which prohibits many kinds of political activities by government employees.

This ties in nicely with Scott McClellan's testimony today. The main theme of his book is that this White House operates in a "permanent campaign mode," where every action they take is politically calculated to help GOP electoral prospects. We saw it with the clueless Lurita Doan and we see it now with David Wilkins: It doesn't matter if there are laws on the books prohibiting certain conduct; if it helps get Republicans elected, do it. And it appears that if it helps fill McCain's empty coffers, he doesn't have much of a problem with it either.