Newly inaugurated Gov. Ralph Northam and his wife found pillowcases emblazoned with former governor Terry McAuliffe’s face and a favorite saying on their bed in the governor’s mansion. (Photo by Gov. Ralph Northam/Photo by Gov. Ralph Northam) 
 
 The peaceful transfer of power in Virginia would not be complete without a prank pulled by the outgoing governor on his successor. 
 
 So it was that as newly inaugurated Gov. Ralph Northam (D) hit the sack Saturday night after his inauguration, he found something special on his pillowcase — and it was not one of those fancy hotel good-night chocolates. 
 
 An image of former governor Terry McAuliffe (D) was plastered on his pillowcase, emblazoned with one of the go-go-go ex-governor's favorite sayings: "Sleep when you're dead." 
 
 And yes, Virginia's 73rd governor spent his first night in the mansion with his head resting on the 72nd's governor's grinning mug. His wife, first lady Pam Northam, let him use her McAuliffe-covered pillow, too, opting for a plain pillowcase for herself. 
 
 "Let me show you the picture," Northam said, pulling out his cellphone after a brunch hosted by the first lady Sunday at Richmond's Jefferson Hotel. 
 
 The pillowcases are not the only reminders McAuliffe left behind. 
 
 
 
 Gov.Ralph Northam and his wife, Pam, arrive at the south portico before Northam took the oath of office at the Capitol in Richmond, Va., on Saturday. (Kevin Morley/AP) 
 
 "There are pictures of the governor all over the mansion that he left for me," Northam said. "Also, at 3 o'clock this morning, an alarm clock went off, which I have yet to find. I texted him and thanked him, and he said there was more to come." 
 
 The alarm clock trick is not a new one, but certain pranks are bound to get recycled in the only state where the governorship changes hands every four years. Departing governor Robert F. McDonnell (R) set one to go off at 4 a.m. four years ago, giving McAuliffe a jolt on his first weekend in the Executive Mansion. 
 
 Another surprise awaited the newly sworn-in McAuliffe when he got to his office: a huge stuffed bear in the private bathroom. It was no teddy bear. It was the real, taxidermied thing, poached from the office of McDonnell's natural resources secretary Doug Domenech. 
 
 On his way out of the governorship, in 2010, now-Sen. Tim Kaine (D) hid cellphones in the mansion elevator shaft and periodically called them as a trick on McDonnell. It took a few days for McDonnell's team to locate them. 
 
 And before that, now-Sen. Mark R. Warner (D) left a life-size cutout of himself in the governor's mansion shower for Kaine. ||||| Virginia's outgoing governor has pulled a prank on his successor. 
 
 The Washington Post reported Sunday that Democratic Gov. Ralph Northam found images of Terry McAuliffe on his bed pillows at the Governor's Mansion. 
 
 McAuliffe, also a Democrat, emblazoned the pillows with one of his favorite sayings: "Sleep when you're dead." 
 
 Northam and his wife, first lady Pam Northam, spent their first night in the mansion resting their heads on the 72nd's governor's grinning mug. 
 
 The Post reports that the newly inaugurated Governor was also treated to several photos of McAuliffe around the residence and an early morning wake up call. 
 
 "There are pictures of the governor all over the mansion that he left for me," Northam told the Post. "Also, at 3 o'clock this morning, an alarm clock went off, which I have yet to find. I texted him and thanked him, and he said there was more to come. 
 
 Such pranks are common in Virginia, the only state where the governorship changes hands every four years. 
 
 During the last changeover, Republican Bob McDonnell had left a huge stuffed bear in the private bathroom for a newly sworn-in McAuliffe. It was a real bear taken from the office of McDonnell's natural resources secretary Doug Domenech. 
 
 At a chilly ceremony in Richmond surrounded by his family and, further back, a number of former governors, Northam took the oath to become the Old Dominion's 73rd chief executive on Saturday. 
 
 Northam, a Democrat, veteran and pediatrician who was previously the state's lieutenant governor, beat Republican Ed Gillespie for the seat in November. ||||| National Democratic and Republican leaders moved to claim victory in a battle for the political mainstream Tuesday night, as GOP Gov. Chris Christie romped to reelection in New Jersey and former Democratic Party Chairman Terry McAuliffe narrowly pulled out a victory in Virginia’s off-year governor’s race. 
 
 Both elections were closely watched as barometers of the national political mood and as early episodes in the 2016 presidential election: Christie’s landslide win bolsters his standing as a Republican contender for the White House, while McAuliffe benefited throughout his race from the energetic support of Hillary and Bill Clinton. 
 
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 reset Christie victory speech McAuliffe victory speech Bill de Blasio's victory speech 
 
 In New Jersey, Christie’s towering victory margin gives new force to his national brand as a center-right leader who has fought and won on Democratic turf. With nearly 98 percent of precincts reporting, the rambunctious former U.S. attorney was leading Democratic challenger Barbara Buono by nearly 23 percentage points, making him the first New Jersey Republican in nearly 30 years to win an electoral majority statewide — and then some. 
 
 (Also on POLITICO: Christie to critics: ‘I’ve governed conservatively’) 
 
 Already near the top of the Republican Party’s 2016 field, Christie used his address to cast his leadership in Trenton as a national model for politicians in both parties. He challenged his fellow Republicans to campaign before and listen to a broad community of voters, and to both “stand by your principles and still get something done for the people who elected you.” 
 
 “If we can do this in Trenton, N.J., maybe the folks in Washington D.C. should tune in their TVs right now,” Christie said. “When we fight, we fight for those things that really matter in people’s lives.” 
 
 McAuliffe, long perceived as more of a political fixer than a statesman, used his own victory speech to deliver a similar call for unity at the end of a slash-and-burn campaign. He quoted Thomas Jefferson: “Every difference of opinion is not a difference of principle.” 
 
 “The truth is, this election was never a choice between Democrats and Republicans,” McAuliffe said. “It was a choice about whether Virginia would continue the mainstream, bipartisan tradition that has served us so well over the last decade.” 
 
 (PHOTOS: Election Day 2013) 
 
 The conciliatory tone of the two winners was a notable departure from both the savage tone of the larger Virginia campaign and from Christie’s pugilistic political profile. In an age when the national parties have focused on driving up enthusiasm in their respective bases, the victors this week were eager to claim validation from the center. 
 
 In a statement, the White House said that President Barack Obama called McAuliffe to congratulate him on his election and also placed calls to the Democratic mayors-elect in New York and Boston. Obama stumped for McAuliffe in Northern Virginia on Sunday in his only appearance of the campaign. 
 
 The attaboys from national Democrats didn’t come easy to McAuliffe. Unlike Christie’s near-effortless triumph – a testament to his powerful personality, political adroitness and leadership after Hurricane Sandy in 2012 – McAuliffe’s race ended as it began: as a harrowingly close contest between two obviously flawed candidates. 
 
 (SEE RESULTS: 2013 Virginia governor’s race) 
 
 McAuliffe entered Election Day viewed as a solid favorite, and consistently out-maneuvered and out-fundraised his Republican opponent, state Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli. 
 
 But with nearly 100 percent of precincts reporting, McAuliffe had a 2.4-point lead over Cuccinelli, whom the Democrat and his heavily-funded outside-group allies branded over the last few months as an ideological extremist bent on limiting women’s rights and gay rights, and pushing a national tea party agenda that helped shut down the government. 
 
 The modest margin of McAuliffe’s win indicates just how difficult it remains for Democrats to win off-year elections in swing-state Virginia, even against such a compromised foe. Top Virginia Democrats called McAuliffe’s election less a straightforward partisan victory than a rejection of ideological, divisive politics. 
 
 “After Election Day, he knows how to sit down and work with everyone,” Democratic Sen. Tim Kaine said of McAuliffe. 
 
 (WATCH: Election Day 2013 — candidates cast their ballots) 
 
 Democrats could yet record a historic victory if they win all three statewide races on the ballot tonight, even if the results are razor-thin. Earlier in the evening, the Associated Press called the lieutenant governor’s race for Democratic state Sen. Ralph Northam over GOP nominee E.W. Jackson, the firebrand preacher who won his party’s nod in an upset at the state convention last spring. The attorney general race, between Democrat Mark Herring and Republican Mark Obenshain, is still too close to call. 
 
 Cuccinelli himself conceded defeat before 11 p.m. and gave no quarter to his partisan and ideological foes in acknowledging his campaign came up short. He called the closeness of the race a testament to Virginians’ visceral opposition to the Affordable Care Act – a law he hammered regularly in his final days on the trail. 
 
 “Despite being outspent by an unprecedented $15 million, this race came down to the wire because of Obamacare,” Cuccinelli said. 
 
 On election night, Cuccinelli allies lamented the huge spending disparity in the race, and one Virginia strategist declared: “The Republican Party tonight left their candidate on the field.” With the exception of the Republican Governors Association, few conservative outside groups went toe to toe with the array of Democratic interests that lined up for McAuliffe, including environmental groups, organized labor, abortion-rights and gun control groups and the Democratic Governors Association. 
 
 Buono, the losing candidate in New Jersey, directed an even sharper barb at her own side, castigating Democrats for an “onslaught of betrayal” in a campaign that saw numerous local Democrats defect to Christie as national interest groups kept their checkbooks closed to her campaign. 
 
 (Also on POLITICO: What to watch in Virginia) 
 
 Outside the two high-profile governor’s races, a pair of additional elections drew notice as indications of the mood inside both major parties: 
 
 In New York City, Democratic Public Advocate Bill de Blasio was on track to capture the mayor’s office with nearly three quarters of the vote. An unabashed liberal who campaigned on taxing the rich and ending independent Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s most aggressive police tactics, de Blasio will become the city’s first Democratic mayor in 20 years. 
 
 Since de Blasio won his party’s nomination earlier this fall, political analysts and national progressives have pointed to his campaign as a sign of rising populism within the Democratic coalition. 
 
 And in Alabama, the GOP establishment recorded a reassuring win in a special congressional election: Bradley Byrne, a former state legislature backed by congressional GOP leaders and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, wrested his party’s nomination away from Dean Young, a real estate investor and tea party activist known for his flame-throwing rhetoric. 
 
 In two elections of great local significance but few obvious national ramifications, the voters of Boston and Detroit went to the polls to elect new mayors. Massachusetts lawmaker Marty Walsh, a candidate backed by organized labor, was picked to succeed longtime Boston Mayor Tom Menino, who has held the city’s top job for two decades. 
 
 In Detroit, former hospital executive Mike Duggan defeated Wayne County Sheriff Benny Napoleon to become the city’s first new mayor since it declared bankruptcy earlier this year. 
 
 Duggan will be the city’s first white mayor since the 1970s. 
 
 Katie Glueck, Emily Schultheis and Maggie Haberman contributed to this report. 
 
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– Playing pranks on your successor is a tradition among Virginia governors. When Mark Warner moved out of the governor's mansion in 2006, for example, he left a life-size cutout of himself in the shower for the recently elected Tim Kaine, the Washington Post reports. Kaine paid that favor forward four years later when he occasionally called cell phones he'd left in the elevator shafts to irk his successor, Robert McDonnell. But outgoing Gov. Terry McAuliffe may have taken the cake Saturday night, greeting new Gov. Ralph Northam and his wife, Pam, with pillowcases on their new bed plastered with McAuliffe's image. And right above the image was one of McAuliffe's favorite lines: "Sleep when you're dead." Northam took his hazing in stride, spending his first night in office with his head rested on the portrait of his predecessor. He also showed a picture he had taken of the pillowcases to reporters at a brunch the next morning. But McAuliffe's mischief didn't stop there, CBS News reports. He also left pictures of himself throughout the governor's mansion. And, according to Northam, an alarm went off at 3am that first night, an alarm Northam has yet to find. "I texted him and thanked him," Northam said, "and he said there was more to come."