New Jersey 2013

[Small Business Owner of Any Repute]

Christie is on track to draw and win against a McGreevey-level candidate.

[Small Business Owner of Any Repute]

Christie is on track to draw and win against a McGreevey-level candidate.

Who or whom is/are the "McGreevey-level" candidate or candidates?  That is a rather damning indictment of the Dem bench in NJ it seems to me.

There's not much bench on either side. The governor's seat is still one of only three seats with statewide profile, and Lautenberg and Menendez aren't running. You could argue that Cory Booker has some statewide appeal, but he's very close with the Christie administration, is the entire North Ward Dem machine.

Because of this alliance, you should expect Christie's eventual opponent to come from South Jersey. Someone like State Senator Sweeney or even former Rep. Adler. Pallone has been gearing up for a statewide run, but presumably, he's aiming for Senate.

[Small Business Owner of Any Repute]

Christie and Booker are also both united in their support of school choice, an issue supported by an interesting subset of urban New Jersey Democrats, mostly in the north.

[Small Business Owner of Any Repute]

Booker won't run against Christie and that's pretty much obvious to anyone that is paying attention.

I've been paying attention as much as anybody, my roommate is a school teacher in Newark and I read like a hundred articles on Booker's blizzard efforts when I was stuck in California as a result of the blizzard.

And I can say that I'd have my doubts about what you just said.  Booker backed Christie's property tax relief, but that doesn't mean they can't be electoral opponents

It's not a "paying attention" thing. It's an understanding Essex County politics thing.

Christie is backed by the Essex County Democratic machine -- he has incredibly strong ties to North Ward powerbroker Adubado, who made Booker, not to mention his ties with Essex County Exec DiVincenzo.

New Jersey politics is weird. When it comes to the machines, partisanship doesn't matter so long as you're getting what you want. And believe me, Essex County Democrats are getting what they want.