A new survey of New York state voters from Quinnipiac University shows Democrat Andrew Cuomo slipping slightly but still maintaining a healthy lead over incumbent Democratic Governor David Paterson:

Cuomo 55 (-5 vs. last poll in December)
Paterson 23 (nc)
Undecided 20 (+4)

Paterson has slipped behind Republican Rick Lazio in a general election match up while Cuomo performs much better:

Lazio (R) 40 (+3 vs. last poll)
Paterson (D) 39 (-2)

Cuomo (D) 57 (-5 vs. last poll)
Lazio (R) 25 (+3)

In the Senate race, incumbent Kirsten Gillibrand leads possible challenger Harold Ford, Jr. 36% to 18% with 40% undecided.

After popping back up briefly, Governor Paterson's approval rating has taken another downward turn: 37% currently approve of the job he's doing while 54% disapprove. In December those numbers were 40% and 49%, respectively. A whopping 61% say Paterson does not deserve to be reelected.

Gillibrand's approval rating is 42%, up two points from December. However, her disapproval rating is also up 7 points from December to 28%.

Senator Charles Schumer, who had an approval rating in the Marist poll of under 50% for the first time in a decade, has a 55% approval rating in the Quinnipiac survey, down from 62% in December. However, his 30% disapproval rating is the highest on record for Quinnipiac.

Lastly, President Obama's job approval rating in New York state is at an all time low of 57% and his disapproval rating is at a high of 38%.

A couple of quick observations about last night's Senate primary in Illinois. The short version is that Republicans probably couldn't have scripted a better outcome to set up a pick up opportunity in November. Here's why:

1) Kirk cruised. Mark Kirk was not a favorite of the conservative Republican base, and he was pummeled for (among other things) voting for the Democrats' cap-and-trade bill in the House last year. One unresolved question before Tuesday was whether conservatives would either stay home yesterday or defect in serious numbers to demonstrate a level of weakness for Kirk in November. Neither happened. Kirk won a very solid 56.6% of the vote to Hughes' 19.3% on good turnout (more on that in a second).

2) Alexi prevailed. Democratic voters put forth a valiant effort against the machine yesterday in trying to prevent Giannoulias' coronation but came up just short with Hoffman pulling in 33.8% to Alexi's 39.0%. Clearly, however, there's not a terrible amount of enthusiasm for Giannoulias given that 61% of Democrats voted for someone else. He will need all of these Democrats unified behind him in November.

And, of course, there's his baggage. The NRSC has already unloaded the first suitcase, and there will be plenty more to come during the course of the campaign. Of all the years to nominate a candidate with ties to corrupt government figures and a history of shading deal making, this was the wrong year.

3) Turnout. A quick comparison to 2004 tells the tale. Of course, 2004 was a presidential year that generated a lot more enthusiasm on the Democratic side, but it was also the last time Illinois had a competitive Senate primary on both sides.

In '04, turnout in the Republican Senate primary was 661,804. This year it was 736,137, an 11 percent increase. In '04 Barack Obama won his party's nomination taking 53% of the vote on turnout of 1,242,996. This year turnout in the Democratic primary was just 885,268, a decrease of nearly 30 percent.

So Republicans exit Tuesday's primary with an energized base and solid party support behind a moderate candidate, while Democrat enter the general election seemingly less enthusiastic and with a candidate with real political vulnerabilities.

The bottom line is that in order for any Republican to win statewide in Illinois they must win a combination of conservative voters in the southern part of the state and moderate voters in the suburbs outside of Chicago. Kirk is well positioned to do the latter. Barring a third party "Tea Party" type candidate who might siphon off conservative support, if Kirk can win over energized Republican voters downstate he will have a very real chance of picking up Obama's seat in November.

It looks like we may not have a GOP nominee for Illinois governor tonight. With 97.1 percent of the precincts reporting as of 12:15 am ET, state Sen. Bill Brady is the surprise leader, edging state Sen. Kirk Dillard by about 2,400 votes. Brady was the only downstate candidate; only Public Policy Polling (D) had him within the margin of error among the final polls. Of the six counties that still have outstanding precincts, Brady leads Dillard in four. But the counties where Dillard leads Brady had far more total votes cast.

In the Democratic race, Gov. Pat Quinn has been holding on to a lead of about 5,000 votes over Comptroller Dan Hynes. He's looking to avoid being the first incumbent governor to lose his party's primary since Alaska's Frank Murkowski finished third in a race won by Sarah Palin in 2006.

Results as of 12:15 am ET:
IL GOV (D): Quinn 50.3% -- Hynes 49.7%
IL GOV (R): Brady 20.6% -- Dillard 20.3% -- McKenna 18.9% -- Ryan 16.9% -- Andrzejewski 14.5%

Ethan Hastert, son of the former House Speaker, has lost his bid to reclaim that seat for the family. State Sen. Randy Hultgren (R) will now face off against Rep. Bill Foster (D) in the 14th Congressional District.

The hottest race of the night continues to be the Republican primary for governor, where Kirk Dillard -- who famously appeared in a TV ad for Barack Obama's presidential campaign -- is clinging to the slimmest of leads over state Sen. Bill Brady. In the Democratic race, Gov. Pat Quinn (D) is also holding on to a small lead.

Results as of 11:42 pm ET:
IL GOV (D): Quinn 50.3% -- Hynes 49.7%
IL GOV (R): Dillard 20.2% -- Brady 20.1% -- McKenna 19.2% -- Ryan 17.1% -- Andrzejewski 14.6%
IL 10 (D): Seals 48.0% -- Hamos 46.6%
IL 10 (R): Dold 38.6% -- Coulson 30.6%
IL 14 (R): Hultgren 54.7% -- Hastert 45.3%
IL SEN (D): Giannoulias 39.0% -- Hoffman 34.0% -- Jackson 19.4%
IL SEN (R): Kirk 56.5 -- Hughes 19.3

Following Rep. Mark Kirk's GOP primary win tonight, National Republican Senatorial Committee Chairman John Cornyn said "the Republican Party has a real opportunity to pick up the President's former Senate seat in the blue state of Illinois."

Cornyn previewed what Republicans will be focusing on as Kirk faces state Treasurer Alexi Giannoulias, whose family-owned bank has come under scrutiny for practices he oversaw while working there and is closely linked with infamous Chicago politics.

Giannoulias, said Cornyn, "is a product of the ethically-tainted political machine in Chicago that was run by disgraced Governor Rod Blagojevich. As the state's first term Treasurer, Giannoulias has eagerly endorsed his party's out-of-control spending agenda in Washington, and he has failed to reject the Obama Administration's plans to detain and try terrorists on American soil."

UPDATE: The NRSC comes out swinging hard against Giannoulias. Check out this Web video that includes Gov. Rod Blagojevich and talk of "mob ties."

Shocking news Tuesday night: As the political world focused on Illinois primaries, word that former Sen. Dan Coats (R) will announce his candidacy for Senate tomorrow in Indiana, challenging incumbent Evan Bayh.

Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee Chairman Robert Menendez released the following statement tonight after Illinois Treasurer Alexi Giannoulias won the Democratic nomination for the Senate:

"Congratulations to Alexi Giannoulias on today's hard-fought victory. Each of the Democrats waged spirited, aggressive campaigns - the same approach it will take to keep this seat blue. I look forward to doing whatever I can to help the State Treasurer transition into the general election and of course win in November. We know that in this environment, Democrats cannot take anything for granted, and that is why Alexi's campaign is already working hard to frame the race. Voters in Illinois will face a stark choice in this election: moving forward with a candidate who has a record of saving Illinois jobs, or moving backwards with a Washington insider who wants to return to the failed policies that created the economic mess we now face."

David Hoffman has conceded the Democratic primary for U.S. Senate in Illinois to state Treas. Alexi Giannoulias. Giannoulias will now face Rep. Mark Kirk (R) this November. Hoffman, speaking moments ago at his election night headquarters, says Giannoulias has his full support.

Giannoulias leads by just under 5 points, pointing to his vulnerability as the Democratic nominee looking to hold President Obama's former Senate seat. You can take a look at some of the pre-primary Kirk-Giannoulias polling here.

Both primaries for governor are too close to call, with three different candidates now trading leads on the Republican side, and Gov. Pat Quinn narrowly holding off Compt. Dan Hynes.

Results as of 10:55 pm ET:
IL SEN (D): Giannoulias 38.9% -- Hoffman 34.0% -- Jackson 19.6%
IL SEN (R): Kirk 56.4 -- Hughes 19.2
IL GOV (D): Quinn 50.4% -- Hynes 49.6%
IL GOV (R): Brady 20.4% -- Dillard 19.9% -- McKenna 19.4% -- Ryan 16.7% -- Andrzejewski 14.8%
IL 10 (R): Dold 38.6% -- Coulson 30.3%
IL 10 (D): Seals 48% -- Hamos 46.5%
IL 14 (R): Hultgren 54.2% -- Hastert 45.8%

The Associated Press has declared Rep. Mark Kirk (R) the winner of the GOP nomination for U.S. Senate in Illinois. He easily defeated Patrick Hughes, who ran to the right of the Chicago-area Congressman with support from the Tea Party movement.

Other results as of 10 pm ET:
IL SEN (D): Giannoulias 38.3% -- Hoffman 34.5% -- Jackson 20.4%
IL GOV (D): Quinn 51.4% -- Hynes 48.6%
IL GOV (R): McKenna 21.6% -- Dillard 19.6% -- Brady 17.3% -- Ryan 17.2% -- Andrzejewski 15%
IL 10 (R): Dold 38.7% -- Coulson 30.3%
IL 10 (D): Seals 48% -- Hamos 46.6%
IL 14 (R): Hultgren 52.2% -- Hastert 47.8%

Rasmussen's latest poll of the Republican gubernatorial primary in Texas shows time is running out for Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison to close the gap with incumbent Rick Perry. Meanwhile, a third candidate continues to see movement upward after some positive reviews for her debate performance.

Primary Election Matchup
Perry 44 (+1 vs. last poll, 1/17)
Hutchison 29 (-4)
Medina 16 (+4)
Und 11 (unch)

Medina's surge could shake up the race. Hutchison yesterday raised the possibility that no candidate will receive enough share of the vote on March 2 to avoid a primary runoff, which would take place in April.

The poll was conducted Feb. 1 among 538 likely primary voters, with a margin of error of +/- 4%).