Governor races

Rep. Raul Labrador's (R-Idaho) decision on whether to run for governor will hinge on whether Congress implements immigration reform, he told the Idaho Statesman.

Virginia's governor's race is statistically tied, according to a new poll from Quinnipiac University.

Former Democratic National Committee Chairman Terry McAuliffe leads Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli (R) by 40 to 39 percent, well within the poll's margin of error. The two are all but guaranteed to be their parties' nominees.

Results don't change much when Virginia Lt. Gov. Bill Bolling (R), who hasn't ruled out running as an Independent, is included. McAuliffe and Cuccinelli are tied at 34 percent apiece, with Bolling at 13 percent. None is well-known, according to the poll: Cuccinelli, the best-known, has an approval rating of 33 percent, to 25 percent disapproving.

Virginia's 2013 gubernatorial election is one of just two gubernatorial races this year, and the swing state could hint at the national political mood. Virginia voters have for 30 years elected a governor of the opposite party from the president.

Virginia's other politicians fare well. Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.), long the state's most popular politician, has an approval rating of 59 percent, with 27 percent disapproving. He's up for reelection in 2014 but is unlikely to face a tough race.

The Quinnipiac poll found a markedly different result from one released by the Democratic firm Public Policy Polling on Tuesday. PPP found McAuliffe with a 5-point lead, not a huge difference — but it also found Cuccinelli was much better-known among voters, with much higher approval ratings.

Quinnipiac's live-caller poll of 1,134 registered voters was conducted from Jan. 4-7 and has a margin of error of plus or minus 2.9 percentage points.

“If my party’s not putting it above politics, they’ll hear from me,” he said, defending his push for relief aid.

Former Democratic National Committee Chairman Terry McAuliffe leads Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli (R) by 5 percentage points in their gubernatorial race, according to a poll conducted by Democratic-affiliated Public Policy Polling.

McAuliffe leads Cuccinelli by 46 percent to 41 percent. His lead is due mostly to Cuccinelli's unpopularity: The Tea Party favorite's approval rating is underwater, with 29 percent of voters approving of him and 45 percent in opposition. McAuliffe, who lost a 2009 primary for governor, isn't well known: About a quarter of voters approve of him, and the same percentage disapproves.

The two have no primary opponents and are all but guaranteed to face off in Virginia's 2013 general election. Lieutenant Gov. Bill Bolling (R), a centrist Republican who hasn't ruled out running as an independent, gets 15 percent when included in the poll, with McAuliffe's lead expanding to 8 points.

The automated poll of 602 registered voters was conducted Jan. 4-6 and has a margin of error of plus or minus 4 percentage points.

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R) says he “wasn’t ready” to run for president in 2012, but vows to be prepared if he considers a bid in the future.

The GOP's immediate focus: defending presumed Virginia Republican gubernatorial nominee Ken Cuccinelli and New Jersey GOP Gov. Chris Christie in their contests next year, Republican National Committee (RNC) Chairman Reince Priebus said.

The RNC plans to use those two races, Priebus noted, as a "testing ground" for new technologies and strategies.

"We can do some testing in technology, outreach efforts. We can start implementing those ideas and use them as incubators for what we’re doing with some new technology. We want to win both of those races and use them as a testing ground moving forward," he told National Review Online.

The RNC launched an official review of the 2012 election this week, and Priebus said that many of the assessments and new strategies to come out of that review process could be used in Virginia and New Jersey.

Newark Mayor Cory Booker (D) charged Monday that New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie was "vulnerable" to a reelection bid, despite recent polling showing the Republican governor with record-high approval.

If the rising Democratic star runs for governor, it would set up a marquee race with popular incumbent Chris Christie (R).

The former Florida governor's move fuels speculation that he may run again in 2014 against Republican Gov. Rick Scott. 

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie's (R) approval rating has spiked to 72 percent following his handling of Hurricane Sandy, according to a new poll from Quinnipiac University.

The mark is the best any New Jersey governor has held in the pollster's decades of surveying the state. Christie, whose name has been mentioned frequently as a possible 2016 presidential candidate, first needs to win reelection as governor in 2013.

Just 21 percent disapprove of the job Christie is doing, and 95 percent say he's done an "excellent" or "good" job of responding to the storm, which devastated large portions of the state. Christie's approval rating was at 56 percent when Quinnipiac last polled the state, in mid-October, shortly before the hurricane.

Qunnipiac is the second pollster in as many days to find that Christie's approval ratings have jumped: A Farleigh Dickinson poll released Monday found him with a 77 percent approval rating.

Democrats are hopeful that Newark Mayor Cory Booker (D) might challenge Christie for reelection, but polls like these could dissuade him and other top-tier Democrats from running against him.

The live-caller poll of 1,664 registered voters was conducted on landlines and cellphones from Nov. 19-25 and has a margin of error of 2.4 percentage points.