It's turns out that a dirty tricks campaign - even if it's not quite criminal - can be pretty damaging. A new Quinnipiac poll shows that Governor Spitzer's approval rating has dropped to a new low of 47%. Of course, that's the low after nine months in office, so there's still room for improvement - or to find a new low. Most intriguingly, more than three-quarters of voters want Spitzer to testify about the scheme......

Mayor Bloomberg may be staunchly denying that he's running for president next year, but given the love New Yorkers seem to have for him, you can't blame him for high hopes. The latest Quinnipiac Poll says Bloomberg's approval rating is at 70%. This is down from his possible all-time approval ratings high of 75% at the start of the year, but it's still very high (back in 2003, his approval rating was around 33%). The......

Former Mayor Rudy Giuliani got good and bad news from the Quinnipiac Poll. The good news: He beats Senator Hillary Clinton, 48% to her 43% in a national poll conducted last week. The bad news: It's still over 18 months to go until Election 2008. Quinnipiac drilled down to the red, blue and purple state level: Giuliani beats Clinton 55-38 in states that voted Republican in the 2004 election. Interestingly, he ties her 46-46 in......

Last night, Senator Hillary Clinton and Republican challenger John Spencer met upstate for their first debate. Aside from the fact that they were actually meeting, it was a fairly mild affair, given Clinton's huge 2-to-1 lead over Spencer. Spencer, a former mayor of Yonkers, did raise the question of Clinton's 2008 ambitions, saying, "You're not president yet, Mrs. Clinton!" when she discussed wanting to remove Donald Rumsfeld. He also questioned Clinton's huge warchest, "She's raised......

Hmm. Former Mayor Rudy Giuliani is going around the country to help raise money for other Republican candidates. The AP reports that he was in Cleveland for Senator Mike DeWine last night, and today, he'll be in Arkansas for Asa Hutchinson (running for governor) as well as in Pennsylvania for Senator Rick Santorum and the All-Star Game. Then tomorrow he'll be at fundraisers for Lynn Swann, running for governor of Pennsylvania, and Maryland Governor Robert......

Mayor Bloomberg has 52 points to Democratic challenger Fernando Ferrer's 38 points in the latest Quinnipiac Poll. While it's a "likely lead," one political consultant told the NY Post, "If that's [Ferrer's] bounce — uh-oh." Ferrer himself doesn't think these numbers "reflect the new Democratic party unity," as the numbers were mainly from before the primary, as The Politicker noted. Then why release them? Just to show movement next week? Hmm. And the Mayor gets......