Christie: “I don’t want to serve another day with a Democratic Legislature”

photo credit: Rhoda Chodosh. Click on photo for larger view. Sen Joe Kyrillos is NOT wearing mouse ears.

He’s finally saying it.

Yesterday afternoon at Bachstadt’s Tavern in North Middletown Governor Chris Christie urged the enthusiastic crowd of several hundred to “vote Republican from the top of the ballot to the bottom. I don’t want to serve another day with a Democratic legislature.”

“He finally said it,” I quipped to Senate Minority Leader Tom Kean, JR who was present at the rally along with Assembly Minority Leader Jon Bramnik.  “He’s been saying it everywhere,” Kean replied.

SaveJersey reports that Christie made a similar appeal in South Jersey’s 2nd legislative district.

“I need Frank Balles in Trenton,” Christie told supporters as he worked the enthusiastic crowd. This trip constituted his second and final announced foray into Southern New Jersey before Election Day. The Governor also had a few harsh words for Balles’s opponent, incumbent state Sen. Jim Whelan, whom Christie rebranded “Grandfather Whelan” and an “animal” simultaneously, implying that the veteran Democrat behaves different back in his district than he does in Trenton.

And PolitickerNJ reports that the Governor declared that the GOP can “turn this blue state red” in Bergen County on Friday.

“We’re driving home for the biggest margin we can get,” Christie said. “We want  to take advantage of this once-in-a-generation opportunity to turn this blue  state red.”

The GOP needs to win five seats in the Senate and nine seats in the Assembly in order to take control of both chambers.

• Tweet

Meet Tom Arnone

By Nicole Sanders, SaveJersey.com

As part of my ongoing effort to introduce candidates to the voting public, Save Jerseyans, I started a weekly column called Meet the Candidates. In essence, it is a past day stump speech updated for the virtual world.

We are now entering the final stretch of this campaign cycle with only a few days left before Election Day 2013. At Save Jersey, we are dedicated to keep you, the voter, informed and that is why I am pleased to introduce you to Monmouth County Freeholder Thomas Arnone.

Freeholder Director Tom Arone

Freeholder Arnone graduated Neptune High School and then went on to attend Brookdale Community College. Since the early 1980’s, he has owned T. Arnone’s Landscaping and he’s currently the Vice President of Property Management at PRC Group in West Long Branch. His prior political experience includes serving as a Neptune City council member from 1997-2003 and then as the mayor from 2004 through 2010. He was elected to the Monmouth County Board of Chosen Freeholders in 2011 and continues to hold that position to this day.

My interview with Freeholder Thomas Arnone is below the fold…

Read the rest of this entry>>

• Tweet

The Auditor: Booker gets prime office space, Belmar Republicans go after Christie and more

The Auditor: Booker gets prime office space, Belmar Republicans go after Christie and more (via NJ.com)

Getting into the U.S. Senate at an unusual time has its perks. After Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) was sworn in on Thursday, he didn’t get the usual rookie hazing: the worst office space available. Instead, the former Newark mayor nabbed Office 141 in…

Read the rest of this entry »

• Tweet

FDU Poll: Christie Up By 19%, 40% Say They Are Republican

The biggest, perhaps only, surprise in the FDU Public Mind Poll of the New Jersey gubernatorial race released this morning is that 40% of the respondents identified themselves as Republicans. 47% said they are Democrats and only 13% said they are Independent or refused to identify their party.

The overall results in the FDU poll are in line with the other Independent/Academic polls of the race: Governor Christie is going to win.  The question is his margin.  Will it be 19% as FDU says this morning, 33% as Quinnipiac said on Tuesday or by 24% as the Monmouth University Poll measured two weeks ago.

In Quinnipiac’s October 29 poll, 30% of likely voters said they were Republican,  34% said they were Democrats and 31% said they were Independent.  Monmouth weighted it’s respondents, 38% Democratic, 28% Republican and 34% Independent.

If there is a surge in New Jersey voters considering themselves Republican, there could be unexpected coattails from Christie’s victory into the legislative races. If that happens, Trenton will have been turned upside down.

• Tweet

Buono and husband earned more than $500K in 2012

Buono and husband earned more than $500K in 2012 (via NJ.com)

TRENTON — Barbara Buono, the Democratic candidate for governor, and her husband, a physician, earned more than a half a million dollars last year, according to tax returns released today by Buono’s campaign. The tax return — which shows a combined…

Read the rest of this entry »

• Tweet

Rally For Christie, 13th District and Monmouth County Republicans on Saturday

Chris Christie at Bachstadt’s Tavern, November 1, 2009

Governor Chris Christie will be returning to Bachstadt’s Tavern in North Middletown on Saturday afternoon, November 2, as his bi-partisan supporters rally to get out the vote for a historic victory.

Bachstadt’s, the traditional venue of Senator Joe Kyrillos’s and his 13th District running mates pre-election rallies, was adopted by Christie for good luck in his 2009 race against Jon Corzine.  It was at the Bachstadt’s rally in 2009 that Kyrillos announced that the troubled Corzine campaign was making robo calls for Independent gubernatorial candidate Chris Daggett, in an unsuccessful effort to suppress Christie’s voter turnout.  MMM confirmed that the calls were paid for by Democrats and was the first to break that story which became national news.

In addition to Christie, 13th District Legislators Kyrillos and Assembly Members Amy Handlin and Declan O’Scanlon, and Monmouth County candidates, Sheriff Shaun Golden and Freeholders Tom Arnone and Serena DiMaso will be present to thank and rally their supporters.

The event is from 1PM-4PM and includes all you can eat and drink for FREE!  Voluntary donations to any the 13th District or Monmouth County candidates will be accepted.

Bachstadt’s is located at 8 Bray Ave, North Middletown, NJ.

In addition to Bachstadt’s on Saturday, Christie will visit Monmouth County Republican Headquarters, 2 Monmouth Ave, Freehold, on Monday morning November 4 at 11:45 am.

Lt. Governor Kim Guadagno will be meeting voters and volunteers on Friday morning, 10:45 at the Middletown Victory Center, 1715 Rt 35 North, Middletown and at the Blue Swan Diner, 2116 Route 35 South, Oakhurst at 11:45 am..  On Tuesday, Guadagno will stop on Monmouth Republican Headquarters at 2:30 PM.

• Tweet

Up By 33%, Christie Making a Push For Legislative Seats

Gov Chris Christie and Sen Brian Stack. Photo credit Mykwain Gainey, ChristieforNJ.com

A Quinnipiac poll released this morning indicates that Governor Chris Christie is running away with his race for reelection with 64% of the vote among likely voters, including support from 31% of Democratics.

More voters say they don’t know enough about Barbara Buono, the Middlesex County State Senator challenging Christie, than say they will vote for her.  35% say the have no opinion of her. 31% say they will vote for her.  Of those saying they will vote for Buono, 7% said there is a good chance they will change their minds before they cast their ballots.

48% said they would like to see Christie run for President of the United States.  41% said they would rather he didn’t run for President.

“From the banks of the Delaware to the beaches of the Atlantic, New Jersey voters like their governor, Christopher Christie.  On the banks of the Potomac?  Less like the governor, but still a lot” said Maurice Carroll, director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute.

With his reelection virtually assured, Christie has devoted campaign resources to pick up three State Senate seats, according to a report in PolitickerNJ.

Democrats now control the 40 seat Senate 24-16 and have thwarted much of Christie’s reform agenda throughout his first term, including failing to confirm 5 of the 6 State Supreme Court nominees the governor has put forward. There are currently 3 vacancies on the Court.

If Christie’s help propels Republicans Peter Inverso (14th District, Mercer-Middlesex), David Stahl (18th District, Buono’s Middlesex seat) and Fernando Alonso (38th District, Bergen) into the Senate, Senator Tom Kean, JR could follow in his father’s footsteps by leading a New Jersey Legislative Chamber while being in the partisan minority. In 1972, four Democrats crossed the aisle to elect Thomas H. Kean Speaker of the General Assembly.

In order for Kean, JR to be elected Senate President in a 21-19 Democratic Senate, two Democrats would have to cross the aisle.  Hudson County’s Brian Stack and Essex County’s Teresa Ruiz would be the most likely to cross over.  Stack has endorsed Christie’s reelection.  Ruiz is the Deputy Chief of Staff to Essex County Executive Joseph DiVincenzo, a Democrat who has also endorsed Christie.

• Tweet

Shaq Assists Christie’s Slam Dunk

• Tweet

Christie’s Victory Celebration Will Be At Asbury Park’s Convention Hall

Governor Chris Christie’s election night victory celebration will be held at the Asbury Park Convention Hall, according to a “save the date” email sent to his supporters this afternoon.

Save the date.

Christie’s last visit to Asbury Park was with President Obama last May.

photo credit: EbruNews

Maybe Bruce Springsteen will show up.

• Tweet

Gopal: When Dems Take Over Monmouth County, Republicans Will Never Win Statewide In New Jersey

There’s little hope for Republicans anyway if they don’t win a legislative chamber this year.

Vin Gopal’s ambitions are bigger than winning Democratic control of Monmouth’s county and municipal governments.  He wants to make sure New Jersey never again has another Republican governor or U.S. senator.

“Once we turn Monmouth County blue, a Republican will never win statewide,”  Gopal said last night at the annual Monmouth County Democrats Annual Chairman’s Ball, according to a report on PolitickerNJ.

State Senate President Steve Sweeney was on hand to boost Gopal’s plan of taking over Monmouth County from the bottom up.

“Build the party, bring as many people as you can to strengthen this  organization, … and then once you create it you can win, there’s no reason why not,” said Senate President Steve Sweeney, who was invited to speak at the  Monmouth County Democrats Annual Chairman Ball.

“It’s the effort that you put in and you’ve got to build from the foundation  up,” he said, explaining first it’s the councils and then the freeholder  boards.

“No Republican can win statewide if we can win this county,” Sweeney said.  “It’s just a matter of attitude, energy and focus, and that’s what I’m seeing  out of this county.”

Unless New Jersey Republicans win at least one chamber of the legislature on November 5, it is unlikely that a post Chris Christie Republican will be elected statewide for the foreseeable future anyway or that Republicans will ever control the legislature again.

If Republicans can’t pick up seats this year when they have a hugely popular governor cruising to a 30 point win on the top of the ticket, when will they?  Not until there is another Jim Florio or Jon Corzine in Drumthwacket, or a Democratic version of Richard Nixon or George W. Bush in the White House, if even then.

Christie is going to be reelected by huge margins.

Read the rest of this entry »

• Tweet