Candidates Surging, Brown vs. MayDay PAC, Who's Partying Where on Tuesday

Here is the last pre-primary 2014 roundup of everything going on in the political world right now:

Is Rubens surging?

The MayDay PAC thinks so. The anti-corruption SuperPAC to end SuperPACs that is putting millions of dollars into Rubens’ run conducted a poll between late August and last week before the WMUR-TV Senate debate (that many people thought Rubens performed solidly in) showing his campaign leaping up to 24 percent of likely Republican voters, with 20 percent still undecided. Scott Brown, according to the Public Policy Polling information, still had a solid lead in the primary, with 53 percent. But the SuperPAC was encouraged by the significant polling growth in recent weeks.

Former Sen. Gordon Humphrey, who previously held the seat and is backing Rubens, also cut an ad urging Republican primary voters to back the former state Senator calling him, “real,” and adding that Massachusetts didn’t need a third Senator.

Speaking of surging …

While writing this roundup, Stark360 issued an email alert stating that its latest polling for the Republican gubernatorial primary showed a completely wide-open race with Walt Havenstein polling at 23 percent, Andrew Hemingway coming in at 17.7 percent, and a whopping 54.4 percent undecided.

This leaves … let’s see … about 5 percent for Jonathan Smolin, Daniel Greene, Maggie Hassan, or someone else. Interesting …

Brown to MayDay PAC: Cease and desist

Scott Brown’s campaign manager Colin Reed sent a cease and desist letter this morning to Harvard Professor Lawrence Lessig of MayDay SuperPAC after it received information about a new anti-Brown mailer that identified the former Senator as a “Washington lobbyist.” Reed called the mailer a “flat-out lie” and demanded that the SuperPAC cease and desist and “retract your falsehood” in any future media appearances.

Reed called the hypocrisy of the mailer “stunning” and stated that it violated Harvard’s code of conduct that governs the behavior of faculty requiring that they “search for truth and knowledge” and “share the responsibility for upholding these standards.”

However, in an interview, Lessig was having nothing of it, saying that Brown’s job at Nixon Peabody, as well as other former pols who take on roles as ”government affairs advisors” essentially was a loophole to anti-lobbying provisions by former legislators that allowed Brown and others to strategize with lobbyists to get legislation approved. Or, essentially, being a lobbyist without being called a lobbyist.

Lessig added that no one needs to know “precisely what he had done,” he had already performed “extraordinary service for Wall Street” by holding out as the swing vote to Dodd-Frank until the bank tax was stripped from the bill. Brown had enormous pull on Wall Street because of this decision, the professor stated, and Nixon Peabody “had no other reason to hire him” other than to “influence the process.”

Lessig offered a more extensive response on his blog.

Party like it’s 2014

One of the best parts of primary night, beyond the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat, of course, are the parties. Here are the locations where some of the candidates will be hanging out on primary night: Andrew Hemingway is at Murphy’s Taproom in Manchester. Scott Brown will be at the Grappone Conference Center in Concord. Jim Rubens is scheduled to be at the Holiday Inn in Concord. Jeanne Shaheen is at the Puritan Backroom in Manchester. Dan Innis and his supporters will be hanging out at The Hotel Portsmouth in Portsmouth. Marilinda Garcia will be at The Draft in Concord. Gary Lambert is close to home at the Nashua Country Club.

Last online polls

Patch is running two more online polls for the Republican primary for U.S. Senate and governor. Don’t forget to vote in them – we’ll post the results on Monday – and don’t forget to really vote on Tuesday.