State Senator Barbara Buono (D-Middlesex) is not waiting for Newark Mayor Cory Booker to decide if he’s running for Governor in 2013 or U. S. Senator in 2014. She’ll compete for the Democratic nomination for Governor next year.
Buono launched her campaign website, including a YouTube announcement that she’s running, this morning.
For weeks pundits and Democratic players have said that a Booker for Governor candidacy would clear the field for the gubernatorial nomination. Buono’s announcement nixes that wishful thinking and assures that there will be a contested primary for the right to take on Governor Chris Christie next November. In her video announcement, the candidate said she would not have the support of the party bosses but would “stake her chances on the folks in the grocery stores and train stations.”
Buono’s announcement means there will be a vacancy for the 18th Legislative District Senate seat, which she has held since 2002.
Booker told CBS’s Face the Nation that we would announce his intentions before Christmas.
Should Booker decline to run, expect at bloody primary between Buono and Senate President Steve Sweeney.
Lt. Governor Kim Guadagno will be Governor Chris Chrisitie’s running mate in 2013.
In a statement released by Christie’s campaign, the Governor said,
“After being able to sit down and speak with Kim, I am thrilled that she is going to be part of the team as we seek to serve the people of New Jersey for another four years. She has made the role of Lt. Governor a unique and invaluable one as the State’s number one economic development advocate on behalf of our people, our homegrown talent and our resources. She is a trusted adviser and friend who I’m glad to have as my partner in both reelection and public service.”
When Christie announced that he would seek reelection last week in Port Monmouth, he said that he and Guadagno had not discussed her status on the ticket for another term.
Governor Chris Christie’s choice of running mate for his 2013 reelection campaign will have little to do with Lt. Governor Kim Guadagno’s performance during the first Christie term. By all accounts Guadagno has done her job well. She’s been a good soldier, loyal and obedient surrogate and fine ambassador to the business community.
The hint of scandal that NJ Watchdog has been pushing about Guadagno during her days as Monmouth County Sheriff will have little impact on her status on the ticket. Just like U.S. Senator Robert Menendez’s prostitution scandal, nobody in the media cares about the story Mark Lagerkvitz has been pushing for over two years about Gaudagno arranging for Mickey Donovan being able to collect a police pension while acting as her law enforcement chief in Monmouth. If Trenton Democrats were going to make an issue of Guadagno’s role in Donovan’s double dipping, there probably would already have been hearings in the Senate or Assembly into the matter already.
The imminent decision about Kim Guadagno’s future is all about 2016 and 2017 politics. It has little to do with the 2013 gubernatorial election.
There has been quiet speculation that Guadagno would not be the second term LG for months. A story was floated over the summer that she would become New Jersey’s U.S. Attorney if Mitt Romney was elected president.
If Christie runs for the 2016 GOP presidential nomination he will become a part time governor sometime in 2015. If he becomes the front runner for the nomination he could resign early 2016. Whether he resigns or not, New Jersey would need an acting governor who is really in charge. As often as Guadagno has been acting governor over the past three years, no one believes she was really in charge. If Christie runs for president in 2016, his lt. governor will be running for governor in 2017 as an incumbent, effectively.
Christie probably hasn’t made a decision about 2016. Yet, he undoubtably wants to keep his options open and to leave New Jersey is strong hands should he decide to run.
If Guadagno is the LG candidate in 2013, that would be a signal that Christie believes that she is ready to be governor and ready to lead the NJ Republican Party.
Bergen Record columnist Charles Stile posted a column yesterday speculating about possible Guadango replacements. Stile named Bergen County Executive Kathleen Donovan and six state senators as possible future acting governors; Joe Kyrillos, Tom Kean, JR, Jennifer Beck, Diane Allen, Dawn Marie Addiego and Kevin O’Toole.
Christie chose Guadagno over Donovan, Allen and Beck in 2009. He’s not likely to choose any of them as his running mate in 2013. Choosing Kyrillos would create a context for Joe’s lackluster campaign against Menendez for U.S. Senate this year. Other than Kean, son of the former governor and the 2006 U.S. Senate nominee, none of the other mentions significant statewide name recognition. Kryillos just spent a year and $5 million building statewide name recognition.
The Star Ledger is reporting that State Senate President Steve Sweeney told three Democratic insiders that he will run for the Democratic nomination for Governor in 2013 if Newark Mayor Cory Booker does not.
Booker has said that he will make a decision “as soon as possible.”
Neither man stands much of a chance to defeat Christie if his sky high approval ratings hold up.
In a Rutgers-Eagleton poll released yesterday, Booker performed the best of several Democrats in a head to head match up with Christie by losing by 13%, 53%-34%. Sweeney was not included in the Eagleton poll. Had he been, it is unlikely he would have polled much better than Senator Barbara Buono or Assembly Majority Leader Lou Greenwald who each polled in the low 20’s. In a September Monmouth University/Asbury Park Press poll, 35% of New Jersey voters were familiar with Sweeney. 19% had a favorable impression, 15% had an unfavorable impression.
Both Sweeney and Booker have federal PACs. They both been rumored to covet Frank Lautenberg’s seat in the US. Senate, which is up in 2014 when Lautenberg will be 90. A run for Governor, if he lost respectably, would boost Sweeney’s statewide name recognition and leave him with a better shot to compete for the 2014 Senate nomination against Booker and Congressman Frank Pallone. Pallone is likely to seek the Senate seat only if Lautenberg does not seek another term.
The nomination is Booker’s for the asking due to his high national profile and fund raising ability. National Democrats are hopeful that Booker can beat Christie, thereby taking the Governor out of contention for the 2016 presidential race.
Lt Governor Kim Guadagno. Photo credit: Tim Larsen/Governor's office
Governor Chris Christie said that he has yet to talk to Lt. Governor Kim Guadagno regarding her joining his ticket for reelection.
During a press conference this morning, Christie said that he was extraordinary pleased with Guadagno’s performance as New Jersey’s first Lt. Governor.
Christie announced that he will run for reelection on Monday in Port Monmouth. Today he said that he and Guadagno had not talked about her candidacy yet because they have been busy working on the recovery from Superstorm Sandy.
While Guadagno has gotten high marks for her service as Lt. Governor, she has been dogged by allegations and litigation brought by NJ Watchdog that while Monmouth County Sheriff she inappropriately classified Michael Donovan’s position with the sheriff’s office as “chief warrant officer” when he actually held the position of “chief of the law enforcement division” so that Donovan could collect a $85,000 per year pension while also collecting his current salary. Had Donovan’s position been properly classified, according to NJ Watchdog, he would not have been entitled to collect the pension. Rather, he would be contributing $18,000 per year to the pension fund.
Governor Chris Christie told first responders and volunteers from Monmouth County’s Bayshore that he will seek an second term as New Jersey’s Chief Executive while speaking at a Season of Service event at the Port Monmouth Fire House in Middletown Township.
Christie said that his family unanimously supported his seeking a second term when they discussed it over the Thanksgiving weekend. He said that Hurricane Sandy played a role in his decision. “I think the one thing that strikes me right now is I have a job to finish. It would be wrong for me to leave now.”
In his remarks to the volunteers assembled at the fire house, Christie said, “I will not forget you,” as spoke of New Jerseyans determination to rebuild after the storm.
Democrats reportedly considering a challenge to Christie include Newark Mayor Cory Booker, Senate President Steve Sweeney, former acting Governor Richard Cody, State Senator Barbara Buono, Assemblyman John Wisniewski and Assemblyman Lou Greenwald.
The Democratic nomination is Booker’s for the taking. Booker is also considering a run for U.S. Senate in 2014.
Monmouth University Pollster Patrick Murray told The Star Ledger, “Bruce Springsteen would have to run against Chris Christie to make this a fair fight…But having said that, we’re still a long ways from next November.”
The Christie campaign has set up a temporary website here and is accepting donations here.
Earlier this morning I joked that Newark Mayor Cory Booker hasn’t been active on twitter since the Rutgers-Eagleton poll that indicates Governor Chris Christie’s sky high approval ratings.
Turns out that Booker has much bigger problems.
The Star Ledgeris reporting that a Newark City Council meeting erupted into chaos yesterday over Bookers vote to replace Congressman-elect Donald Payne, JR on the council with Shanique Davis Speight, a long time ally of power broker Steven Abudato, SR, over the angry objections of residents and city council members who preferred that former Mayor Sharpe James son, John Sharpe James.
The a crowd lead by SEIU Local 617 President Rahaman Muhammad rushed the dais after Booker cast his deciding vote for Speight. Police responded by pepper spraying Muhammad, residents, a reporter and at least one other police officer. Councilman Darrin Sharif, who had walked off the dais in protest, told the Ledger that “This truly was an out-of-body experience. The mayor, who goes all around the country to talk about democracy … literally in the back of the room, hiding in the shadows.”
The crowd was shouting, “Cory’s got to go,” according to the Ledger report.
Meanwhile, the conservative website The Daily Caller reported that Booker may soon be living on food stamps. The mayor got into twat (a term I just made up that means twitter spat) with one of his followers, @MWadeMC wherein he challeged the woman to join him in living on food stamps for a week or a month in New Jersey to see what it is like.
The Ledger report and the DC report lead to a colorful public twat between Democratic operatives Jay Lassiter (@jay_lass), Jeff Gardner (@JeffPGardner) and Steve Ayscue (@SteveAyscue). Lassiter and Garnder were critical of Booker’s back room dealing, calling him corrupt. Ayscue defended Booker, saying that comparing what happened in Newark last night over Payne’s council seat to former Mayor James corruption was like comparing apples and oranges. The quick witted Garnder responded, “apples and oranges may be different, but in the end, they’re both still fruit.”
The pollsters that Governor Chris Chrisite called “crap” last month released the first post Hurricane Sandy independent poll this morning. The results give the governor extremely high marks for his handling of the superstorm which ravaged the Jersey Shore and impacted 66% of all New Jersey residents.
On October 9, Christie reacted to a Rutgers-Eagleton poll that indicated improving approval ratings but soft support for his reelection by calling the Eagleton polls “crap.”
“It’s never good, it’s never accurate. When it’s good for me, it’s not right, when it’s bad for me it’s not right,” Christie said according to PolitickerNJ. He said he would not comment about future Eagleton polls.
But Sandy was a live changing event. Don’t be surprised if Christie has something honest and refreshing to say about today’s polling results when questioned by a reporter.
92% of the respondents said that Christie handled Hurricane Sandy well. 69% said he handled it “very well” and 23% rated him “somewhat well.”
The other 8% are cranky and don’t like fleece. (MMM’s assessment, not a poll result)
81% answered that Christie and President Obama showed the “needed cooperation and bipartisanship” in handling the aftermath of Sandy. 12% said Christie went too far in his praise of the president.
Christie’s ovrerall favorability rating now stands at 65%, 67% with registered voters.
49% of Democrats, 70% of Independents and 89% of Republicans now have a favorable impression of the governor. Only 38% of Democrats report an unfavorable impression of him, down from 68% in early October.
Newark Mayor Cory Booker, considered the only Democrat with a chance to defeat Christie in the 2013 general election, has not been active on twitter since the poll was released.
