2009 New Jersey Governor's Race

[Rowan]

Mr. Moderate. My understanding is that Doherty is a pretty extreme conservative. I realize that district 23 is pretty Republican, but will he have trouble in the general?

Nope, zero trouble. Whoever won the primary, would win the general.

[Keystone Phil]

Lonegan pledges to work with Christie. He's being surprisingly gracious.

Mr. Moderate. My understanding is that Doherty is a pretty extreme conservative. I realize that district 23 is pretty Republican, but will he have trouble in the general?

No, he won't. Even the analysts on NJN are repeating how the primary is basically the General around there. It's one of the safest GOP areas of the state.

This Lonegan guy is such a fruit.

Because he has a lisp, Don? Now imagine if a conservative suggested that a moderate was gay...

And this comes from someone, as you know, who doesn't like Lonegan/wanted Christie.

[JohnnyLongtorso]

Looks like the mayor of Morristown got tossed out. What did he do to piss people off?

[Bleeding heart conservative, HTMLdon]

Because he has a lisp, Don? Now imagine if a conservative suggested that a moderate was gay...

And this comes from someone, as you know, who doesn't like Lonegan/wanted Christie.

I actually did not mean to imply that he was gay, though I should have used a different word that wouldn't have given that implication.  What I meant was is that the guy is a bit weird.

[Lunar]

In 2010 New Jersey will either have this guy be their governor:

(without the fat)

or this guy:

(without the beard)

[Keystone Phil]

Looks like the mayor of Morristown got tossed out. What did he do to piss people off?

LOL

Cresitello! He ran for the U.S. Senate in 2008 against Lautenberg (in the primary). He was controversial because of the illegal immigration issue in the city.

[Rowan]

Christie victory speech now.

[Keystone Phil]

It's such a shame that there are so many factors that stand in this guy's way. I really like him. I like that he's actually going to fight for this and he's not a pushover (like others we have seen that have run statewide in NJ).

I really, really hope I'm wrong about this. I really hope NJ won't fall for the same old partisan bullshit again. I can't stand Corzine. I can't stand the NJ Democratic party. I think Christie is the best thing NJ has been offered in a long time.

[Verily]

Arrgh. My candidate for mayor lost by 15 votes

Excellent turnout for Englewood, though. 3,000 votes in an odd-numbered year with no competitive Democratic primary for governor? Thumbs up. Miles ahead of all the other towns in Bergen County with competitive local elections.

[Ronnie]

 Yay!! Christie wins.

[Lunar]

I can't have my wit be buried!

In 2010 New Jersey will either have this guy be their governor:

(without the fat)

or this guy:

(without the beard)

[CARLHAYDEN]

Yay!! Christie wins.

Here's an excerpt from the Star-Ledger about the slimebag:

Chris Christie isn't cutting the mustard on campaign donation questions
Posted by The Star-Ledger Editorial Board April 23, 2009 5:36AM
Categories: Law & Order, Politics

WILLIAM PERLMAN/THE STAR-LEDGER

Christopher Christie is running for the Republican nomination for governor of New Jersey amid questions about some of his campaign contributors.It's often said that the typical prosecutor can get a ham sandwich indicted. By that standard, a United States attorney is like a local prosecutor on steroids. He can not only get the indictment, he can get the bread to turn state's evidence, convict the ham and get a guilty plea from the mustard. Such are the powers of the office.

Republican gubernatorial contender Christopher Christie employed those powers to good effect when, as U.S. attorney for New Jersey, he won conviction of all 132 public officials he indicted on corruption charges. The power of the office is such that those picked out for prosecution rarely escape conviction. It is thus essential that the process be totally separated from the partisan political process.

If his recent statements as a contender for the Republican nomination for governor are any indication, Christie has, so far, failed to grasp that point. His role as U.S. attorney has leaked over to his candidacy.

Christie's main problem stems from what are known as deferred-prosecution agreements. In such an agreement, a company accused of wrongdoing wards off prosecution by agreeing to accept being monitored by an official who represents the federal government.

It's a lucrative opportunity for the law firm that is chosen to do the monitoring. Christie got a lot of well-deserved criticism for giving such a monitoring position to John Ashcroft, his former boss as U.S. attorney general. Christie contended Ashcroft was the most qualified man for the job. Maybe so, but the choice of his former boss still carried a partisan taint better avoided.

Christie came under further criticism when it was disclosed he'd accepted $23,800 from principals of Stern & Kilcullen and their spouses. Christie had chosen the firm to monitor the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey after allegations of irregularities surfaced there.

When those contributions from monitors came up at a Trenton press conference earlier this month, Christie denied any quid pro quo, but he went on to pledge, "I'm not going to take any more contributions from anyone who's been a monitor because I don't want to deal with the distraction that it causes."

That's not a good excuse, but it is a good reason to return those contributions. If the candidate views such contributions as prospectively troublesome, then he must admit they are retrospectively troublesome as well.

Christie also needs to offer a better explanation of another troubling case that involves a powerful U.S. attorney. In 2005 David Kelley, then the U.S. attorney in New York, indicted 15 Wall Street trading specialists on charges they had cheated clients through some tricky trading moves. Meanwhile, five traders who had done essentially the same thing were left unindicted and instead faced civil complaints from the federal Securities and Exchange Commission.

Among those who escaped indictment was Christie's brother Todd, then a trader at Spear Leeds & Kellogg.

By Christie's own description at that press conference, that case was badly bungled by Kelley's office. Yet two years later, when Kelley was in private practice, Christie chose him as monitor in yet another of those deferred-prosecution agreements.

Christie maintains that anyone even suspecting the merest hint of a quid pro quo is guilty of maligning his brother's reputation, his reputation and perhaps even the good name of his son's baseball team. Such umbrage is misplaced. Instead, Christie would be better served by offering some reasonable explanation of why his brother escaped indictment while others who'd engaged in the same activity -- and in some cases much less of it -- faced the prospect of becoming the ham in Kelley's sandwich.

For the public, it remains a bit too much to swallow.

[Zarn]

Carl, shouldn't you be on FreeRepublic?

When you post here, you got to leave the "real" conservative talk behind, or people may find you a bit silly.

[CARLHAYDEN]

Carl, shouldn't you be on FreeRepublic?

When you post here, you got to leave the "real" conservative talk behind, or people may find you a bit silly.

Zarn,

You're a little new here, so I'll explain.

I don't like prosecutors who abuse their office, no matter the party.

[Zarn]

Carl, shouldn't you be on FreeRepublic?

When you post here, you got to leave the "real" conservative talk behind, or people may find you a bit silly.

Zarn,

You're a little new here, so I'll explain.

I don't like prosecutors who abuse their office, no matter the party.

I've seen enough of your posts.

[CARLHAYDEN]

Carl, shouldn't you be on FreeRepublic?

When you post here, you got to leave the "real" conservative talk behind, or people may find you a bit silly.

Zarn,

You're a little new here, so I'll explain.

I don't like prosecutors who abuse their office, no matter the party.

I've seen enough of your posts.

Well, as I didn't say a word about Christie being a conservative, real or otherwise (I merely noted he is a slimebag), I don't understand your assertion.

My post about Christie was about his misbehavior, cited by the Star-Ledger (I've never heard of anyone calling that newspaper "conservative").

[Ronnie]

The question is whether he is more or less of a slimebag than Corzine.

[Eraserhead]

This sh!t was tonight? I forgot all about it. Oh well, now it won't be long before the other shoe drops here. heh.

[Old Man Willow]

It's such a shame that there are so many factors that stand in this guy's way. I really like him. I like that he's actually going to fight for this and he's not a pushover (like others we have seen that have run statewide in NJ).

I really, really hope I'm wrong about this. I really hope NJ won't fall for the same old partisan bullshit again. I can't stand Corzine. I can't stand the NJ Democratic party. I think Christie is the best thing NJ has been offered in a long time.

Exactly. The last thing NJ needs is liberal economics.

[Small Business Owner of Any Repute]

Mr. Moderate. My understanding is that Doherty is a pretty extreme conservative. I realize that district 23 is pretty Republican, but will he have trouble in the general?

Yes, he's definitely a "mountain man" conservative type (the Scott Garrett type), and generally more conservative than you usually see coming out of that district.

I never voted for him when I lived in 23, but lots of other people did. He's a long-term incumbent, and has greatly solidified his position since being first elected.

Aside from this, Democrats are severely hurt by the simple geography of District 23.  It's made up of parts of Hunterdon and Warren County, two of the most reliably Republican counties in the state (for real reliable—only one Democrat has ever won it countywide in my lifetime: Bill Bradley, and he won statewide by 30). The largest towns in 23 are solidly Republican, there's no area of size in it that votes reliably Democratic (the Democratic center of the district is the "gay mecca" Lambertville of population ~3k), and the Democratic bench wouldn't go beyond a town councilman or two.

I think Democrats may have made a "play" for the district in 1997 when the mayor of Flemington ran, but he got crushed (badly) and later switched to the GOP for re-election.

[Small Business Owner of Any Repute]

For those who detest the machine in New Jersey, some good news:

Lonegan won Hunterdon, Warren, and Sussex Counties.

The Lonegan slate won in Districts 3 and 35, and captured Gloucester County (downballot) while losing on the top of the ballot. Passaic narrowly stayed with the "Republican Organization."

None of these are even remotely competitive this year, but still interesting to note.

Also, Jun Choi (D), the mayor of Edison, lost his primary.  That's pretty big news.

[East Coast Republican]

Governor Corzine is already fighting back.

http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2009/06/gov_corzine_argues_chris_chris.html

He's sounding the abortion alarm!  At the end of the day, make it about everything else EXCEPT the main thing that matters to most people.  Seriously who cares about abortion and that he was appointed by President Bush?

Oh I just remembered this is NJ!   This has been a successful tactic in blue states like Jersey...Corzine is very desperate and it shows.  This is amusing and it would be laughable if NJ was filled with voters that actually considered real issues like hmmmm taxes and the NJTP debacle instead of minor arguments about values and worrying about whether the Republican candidate is a spawn of the southern religious right Republican organization.

Oh and KeystonePhil, are you done having a mental spaz out/meltdown over your belief that Lonegan was somehow going to upset Christie?

:-)

[Brittain33]

Oh I just remembered this is NJ!   This has been a successful tactic in blue states like Jersey...Corzine is very desperate and it shows.  This is amusing and it would be laughable if NJ was filled with voters that actually considered real issues like hmmmm taxes and the NJTP debacle instead of minor arguments about values and worrying about whether the Republican candidate is a spawn of the southern religious right Republican organization.

I agree that this is the last debate NJ needs to have right now when the budget is in the toilet... but is this any different from Republicans running on bogus issues like gay marriage and family values in southern or mountain states? It happens all the time because it works.

[Zarn]

People are too upset to go with the current conditions of the state. Christie will get a term or two, and then its back to the Crats.

It's not like we'll get a Republican or independent Senator anytime soon, either.

Democrats are like crack to New Jersey. It's insane. They know it's bad for them, but they still do it.

[Small Business Owner of Any Repute]

Oh I just remembered this is NJ!   This has been a successful tactic in blue states like Jersey...Corzine is very desperate and it shows.  This is amusing and it would be laughable if NJ was filled with voters that actually considered real issues like hmmmm taxes and the NJTP debacle instead of minor arguments about values and worrying about whether the Republican candidate is a spawn of the southern religious right Republican organization.

Actually, in New Jersey, when a Democrat resorts to making the race about abortion, it's generally already over for them.

Virtually "serious" every opponent that Ferguson ever had made the race about abortion.  Somehow, they thought it was a winning issue.  The fact is that no independent or undecided voter seriously cares or bases their votes on abortion, even in New Jersey.