Michael Bloomberg made a hefty contribution towards Arnold Schwarzenegger's effort to get legislative redistricting in California.

But some other notable New Yorkers have opened up their wallets and given to another Schwarzenegger venture: his campaign committee. That's according to a financial report posted yesterday for Governor Schwarzenegger’s California Dream Team:  read more »

Bill O’Reilly, the Republican spokesman, is leaving the communication firm he founded nine years to join a firm headed by former Rudy Giuliani aides George Lence and Cristyne Nicholas.

O’Reilly’s Midtown-based firm had lately specialized in Republican clients running against the Republican establishment: they handled conservative Republican John Faso’s 2006 gubernatorial campaign, when most of the George Pataki-centric party establishment was pulling for Bill Weld. That year, the firm also handled the campaign of K.T. McFarland, a latecomer to the Republican Senate primary race who ultimately lost, but not before she blasted Rupert Murdoch's media empire for their coverage of the race.

O’Reilly, a relative of William F. Buckley, is leaving the firm in the hands of its co-founder, Susan Del Percio.

O’Reilly’s email is after the jump.  read more »

Mitt Romney is in danger of losing his home state next Tuesday.

The former Massachusetts governor is on bad terms with numerous rank-and-file Republican voters in his own state, the result of the widely-held perception that Romney essentially abandoned them halfway through his governorship.

The Massachusetts Republican universe is small -- less than 15 percent of voters are party members -- and turnout in next Tuesday's primary could be comparatively microscopic, particularly if independents vote in the Democratic primary. Polls have shown Romney leading John McCain, who won the state overwhelmingly against George W. Bush in 2000, by about 15 points.

But those surveys were conducted before McCain's recent string of successes. Now, even Romney's top Bay State backers are admitting that defeat is at least possible. "Senator McCain will probably run well in the Northeast. Governor Romney will run well around the country," former Massachusetts Governor Bill Weld, a Romney supporter, told the Boston Herald today.

More after the jump.  read more »