Daily Political Wire

George Wenschhof

McAuliffe Leads in Virginia Governor Race - In an election that polls show is his to lose, one of the last hurdles between the Democrat and the Virginia governorship is making sure African-American voters don’t stay home without President Barack Obama on the Nov. 5 ballot.
Turning out party loyalists is critical for candidates of either party in any off-year election, when voter interest tails off dramatically. Republican Ken Cuccinelli has staked what slim chance he has left of an upset on firing up the GOP base.  Politico.com has more here.

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NY Times Endorses de Blasio - The rise of Bill de Blasio, New York City’s public advocate, has been remarkable. In a clamorous primary campaign against better known, more seasoned candidates, he won the Democratic nomination without a runoff, by appealing directly and doggedly to struggling New Yorkers who see a city of lofty wealth rising out of their reach. With the election only 10 days away, Mr. de Blasio is polling so far ahead of the Republican, Joseph Lhota, that commentators have already anointed him leader of a national rebirth of left-wing populism.

Hold on. We’re electing a mayor here, someone to keep streets plowed and safe, budgets balanced, schools working well and constituents of five boroughs satisfied. Someone to sustain and build on the 12-year legacy of Michael Bloomberg, while realizing his own vision for New York. It’s a huge job, never mind the revolution.
      

Luckily, Mr. de Blasio is up for it.  The NY Times has more here.

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Federal Reserve Unlikely to Make Change in Monteary Policy - Federal Reserve officials are unlikely to make any shift to monetary policy this week as they wait for more evidence of how badly Washington's budget battle has hurt the U.S. economy.
 
Indeed, they could stand pat for the rest of the year.

"I would say January or March at this point," said Scott Brown, chief economist at Raymond James in St. Petersburg, Florida, on when the Fed would begin to scale back its bond-buying stimulus. "Odds for December are less than 50/50."  Reuters.com has more here.

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Healthcare.gov will Work Smoothly by End of November - The troubled federal health insurance website will be fixed by the end of November, giving uninsured Americans two weeks to get signed up in time to have health insurance by the earliest possible date, officials pledged Friday.

One of the main government contractors, QSSI, has been assigned to oversee the fix, says Jeff Zients, the newly appointed chief White House economic adviser who’s been tasked to fix the logjammed website.

“We are confident that by the end of the November, healthcare.gov will be smooth for the vast majority of users,” Zients told reporters on a conference call.

“Over the last week we worked with a team of experts to conduct an assessment of the overall state of the healthcare.gov site," Zients said. They lent "fresh eyes" to the problems plaguing the site. “The system is getting better,” he added. “There is a lot of work to do but healthcare.gov is fixable.”  NBC News has more here.

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Senate To Vote Monday for Griffin as General Counsel for NLRB - On Monday, the Senate will vote on whether Richard Griffin should be the next general counsel for the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB). His nomination is expected to be approved.

Supporters like Ross Eisenbrey, the vice president of the Economic Policy Institute, say that Griffin is “just a super qualified person” for the powerful post, but conservative critics have raised a row about his intentions for the union watchdog.  TheHill.com has more here.

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