Election Recap

Two of New Jersey’s top political strategists, Republican Chris Russell and Democrat Steve Asycue sat down with NJTV’s Mike Schneider to recap the week’s political news.  Their conversation was much like the rest of the week in Trenton politics….bi-partisan praise for Governor Chris Christie and ongoing animus over the legislative races and Senate President Steve Sweeney’s ongoing feud with Senate Minority Leader Tom Kean, Jr.

My takeaway….the Trenton Dems are already working on 2015 and 2017, and Russell and Asycue wouldn’t mind joining Christie 2016.

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Republican Romp in Monmouth County

Monmouth County voters overwhelming elected  Sheriff Shaun Golden and Freeholder Director Tom Arnone to second terms yesterday.  Deputy Freeholder Director won her second election in as many years, earning her first full term as a freeholder.  DiMaso was elected last year to complete the term of Assemblyman Rob Clifton.

Golden defeated criminal defense attorney Rueben Scolavino  with 102,840 votes. 58,923 people voted for Scolavino.

Only Governor Chris Christie, who earned 70.6% of the vote in Monmouth County, 122,928, outpolled Golden.

Freeholders Arnone and DiMaso bested their Democratic opponents Brian Froelich of Spring Lake and Larry Luttrell of Holmdel by an almost 2-1 margin.  Arnone got 98,832 votes, Dimaso 95,829.  Froelich, who ran for the House of Representative against Congressman Chris Smith last year came in third with 58,450 votes and Luttrell, who was endorsed by the Asbury Park Press, received  56,394 votes.

In the legislative races, Republicans dominated.

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Democrats and Republicans split in Red Bank

With 6 of 9 voting districts reporting in Red Bank, Republican Cindy Burnham and incumbent Democrat Kathy Horgan appear to be headed to victory.

Republican candidate Sean DiSomma said that his count of all districts has him losing to Horgan by 80 votes, and Burnham winning.  Incumbent Councilwoman Sharon Lee appears to be losing.

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Frank Nolan Is Reelected Mayor of Highlands

Mayor Frank L. Nolan was elected to a second term leading the Borough of Highlands today.

Nolan, a Republican earned  46% % of the vote in the Superstorm Sandy ravaged community over his Democratic opponent, Council President Rebecca Kane who earned 39%.   15% of Highlands voters wrote in their chose.   Douglas Card waged a write-in campaign.  There were 1290 votes cast in the borough today.  These results to not include mail-in ballots.

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Monmouth Vote By Mail Going 2-1 for Christie

As of 4pm, mail in ballots in Monmouth County were breaking 2-1 in favor of Governor Chris Christie. Two thirds of the ballots had already been counted, according to a reliable source.

Christie has coattails in Monmouth County.  Our source said the election is looking to be a Republican landslide throughout the county and in all legislative districts.

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Municipal Races To Watch

The Battle of Monmouth is in the municipalities today.

Monmouth Democratic Chairman Vin Gopal is hoping to be the Gene Michael of politics. Michael, the New York Yankees General Manger in the early 1990’s, rebuilt the mediocre team back to dominant glory by focusing on new talent in the farm system.  As a player, Michael was a master of the hidden ball trick.  In baseball the hidden ball trick is when a position player fakes throwing the ball back to the pitcher after a play, only to tag out the base runner when he take a lead off the base.

Like Michael, Gopal is trying to build his farm team in Monmouth County municipal races, knowing he can’t win the big show in the short term, with an eye on future dominance of Monmouth County government and the State of New Jersey.  Also like Michael, Gopal always has a trick up his sleeve behind his youthful smile and pleasant demeanor.

Gopal hasn’t even fielded a team in 23 races in 16 Monmouth County towns.  Yet he has the press and New Jersey’s Democratic leadership convinced he’s building a future empire from the bottom up.

But if he doesn’t deliver the goods tonight, Gopal could end up as a Hardy Peterson, the Yankees General Manager who only lasted in the job for one year, 1990, instead of Michael, and find himself challenged for the county chairmanship when his first term ends in June.

The towns to watch tonight are Red Bank, Aberdeen, Eatontown, Highlands, Hazlet and Marlboro.

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Control of the N.J. Legislature is up for grabs today

Control of the N.J. Legislature is up for grabs today (via NJ.com)

TRENTON — Will Gov. Chris Christie turn the blue state Legislature red? With the Republican governor leading Democrat Barbara Buono by anywhere from 20 to 36 points in the latest polls, that’s the question on everyone’s mind. All 120 seats —…

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Predictions

Governor Chris Christie will be reelected with 59.9875% of the vote.  In Monmouth County, Christie-Guadagno will win 68% of the vote.

Monmouth County Sheriff Shaun Golden will be elected with 69% of the vote.

Freeholders Tom Arnone and Serena DiMaso will win by 68% and 68.4%, respectively. DiMaso’s extra votes will be attributable to the negative ads the Monmouth County Dems have run against her, and prove that the Asbury Park Press’s endorsement is meaningless.

Brian Froelich will get more votes for Freeholder than Larry Luttrell gets, proving that the Asbury Park Press’s endorsement is meaningless and that negative advertising doesn’t beat a quality incumbent.

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Stuff to know about Freeholders Arnone and DiMaso

By Tom DeSeno

Sen Jennifer Beck, her husband Dan Shields and Freeholders Serena DiMaso and Tom Arnone @ Highlands Mayor Frank Nolan’s Rally @Bahr’s Landing. November 3.

The Freeholder Board runs the county government.  It’s always been puzzling why political parties are so entrenched in the process of selecting candidates, because the job of Freeholder has so little to do with the center-right and center-left political ideologies that the parties have come to represent.

The Freeholder board transcends the purely political because the issues they deal with don’t lend themselves to the various divisive topics that get folks to arguing.  The reality of being Freeholder is this – delivering quality government services at the least possible price.

With that understanding, let’s take a look at two of the candidates for Monmouth County Freeholder.

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FDU Poll: Christie Is Immune From Anger At Washington Republicans, But Other NJ Republicans Are Not

We’ll find out tomorrow night if Governor Chris Christie’s 11th push for coattails is working, but an FDU Public Mind Poll released this morning indicates that the Republican brand has been damaged by the antics of Congressional Republicans and that Christie’s personal popularity is not enough to overcome New Jersey’s Democratic tilt.

FDU surveyed 1206 registered voters last week on how they feel about the job Christie is doing in New Jersey, President Obama’s handling of the federal budget negotiations and  Congressional Democrats and Republicans handling of the federal budget negotiations.

As has consistently been the case over the last year, Christie’s approval numbers are very strong. The governor’s approval rating is positive 61%-24%.  Obama’s handling of the federal budget is disapproved of by 52% of NJ voters and approved by only 38%. Congressional Democrats got a negative rating from 57% with only 32% approving.  75% disapprove of how Congressional Republicans have handled the federal budget, including 79% of Independents and 58% of Republican voters.  Only 14% of NJ voters, 33% of Republicans, approve of the job Congressional Republicans are doing on the budget.

FDU altered the order of their questions before asking participants their partisan identification.   Those who were asked about Congressional Republicans immediately before being asked their party ID, were less likely to say they are Republican or that they would vote Republican.

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