Well, the new survey from the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute is out, and the race for New Jersey governor is tightening: GOP challenger Chris Christie clings to a 6-point, 46 percent to 40 percent lead over incumbent Democratic Gov. Jon Corzine, with independent candidate Chris Daggett drawing 7 percent of the vote.

That's a significant movement from the July 14 survey, which showed Christie leading Corzine by 47 percent to 38 percent, with Daggett at 8 percent.

"Significant movement" when it's just a 3 point difference? Yes, it's significant, when 3 points is the difference between a 9-point lead and a 6-point lead. In that difference, the 3 points represents a 33 percent cut -- so Corzine's team can say, "We've cut Christie's lead by a third."

Plus, in a poll where the margin of error is plus or minus 2.9 percent, that 6-point lead begins to look even smaller -- because it might just be a 3-point lead, and there's still 12 weeks to go.

South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford's admission of an extramarital affair has knocked him out of the running for the GOP nomination for President in 2012. The question now is, whom has his withdrawal from the field most helped?

Answer: Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee.

When Sanford resigns -- as he will most assuredly have to do -- the state's Lieutenant Governor, Andre Bauer, will ascend to the governorship.

Bauer, already an announced candidate for the GOP nomination next year, would become an incumbent running for election to a full term of his own in 2010.