Christie Slow Jams The Special Senate Election With Jimmy Fallon

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Long Branch Mayor Adam Schneider To Endorse Christie

Long Branch Mayor Adam Schneider is the second Monmouth County Democratic mayor to publicly declare support for Republican Governor Chris Christie’s reelection.

Schneider told The Star Ledger that he will formally endorse Christie on Monday.

“He understands New Jersey and there’s no doubt in my mind is right now the last thing we need to do is reinvent the wheel,” Schneider said.

Sea Bright’s Democratic Mayor Dina Long endorsed the Governor in February.   Schneider said he decided to support Christie in January when the governor criticized House Speaker John Boehner for holding up the Superstorm Sandy recovery funds.

Long and Schneider are among a long and growing list of Democrats who are supporting Christie over the Democratic nominee, State Senator Barbara Buono.  Earlier this week State Senator Brian Stack of Hudson County and Essex County Executive Joseph DiVincenzo formally endorsed Christie.

Monmouth County Democratic Chairman Vin Gopal issued the following statement about Schneider endorsing Christie:

“Adam Schenider is the Mayor of a nonpartisan town. He has endorsed numerous Republicans and Democrats in the past – as recently as 2011 when he endorsed a Republican Assemblywoman. As the mayor of a town which has nonpartisan form of governing, Mayor Schneider has said numerous times that he is not involved in either of the two major political parties in the county. Congressman Frank Pallone, the Democratic Municipal Chairman in Long Branch and his Democratic municipal committee is aggressively supporting Senator Barbara Buono’s campaign for Governor. Senator Buono opposed the cuts in UEZ funding in Governor Christie’s budget and she will also support an increase in the minimum wage – two issues which are important to Long Branch. I am confident that Long Branch residents will overwhelmingly support Senator Buono in November”

When Long endorsed Christie, Gopal issued a statement promising political retribution against the Sea Bright mayor, prompting Christie to say that “Vin represents the politics of yesterday.”

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Quinnipiac Poll: Booker, Christie have large leads

In poll conducted over the weekend before Assembly Speaker Sheila Oliver got into the U.S. Senate race, the Quinnipiac Polling Institute reports that Newark Mayor Cory Booker has leads of over 40% against Congressmen Frank Pallone and Rush Holt for the Democratic Special Election nomination for U.S. Senate.

In the gubernatorial race, Governor Chris Christie is maintaining his 30 point lead over State Senator Barbara Buono, the Democratic nominee.  Buono’s name recognition as risen from the high twenties to the low forties, but as voters get to know her, they don’t like her. Buono’s favorability rating is negative 18-23 percent, with 56% not knowing enough about her to express an opinion.

Presumptive GOP nominee for Senate, Steve Lonegan, trails Booker by 54%-27%.   Independents favor Booker over Lonegan 50%-25%.

Lonegan is within 10 points of Frank Pallone, and is virtually tied with the Monmouth County Democrat among Independents, leading by 29%-28%.

Lonegan loses to Holt by only 5% and is also tied with Independents against Holt.

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What if Christie picks…..

Could John Bennett be heading back to Trenton?

…Senator Joe Kyillos?

By virtue of his long term friendship with Governor Christie and his campaign for U.S. Senate last year, State Senator Joe Kyrillos is on every Christie mind reader’s short list of possible U.S. Senators to replace the late Frank Lautenberg.

Assuming Kyrillos defeats Leigh-Ann Bellew in the primary today, his move to the U.S. Senate would create a vacancy for the nomination for State Senate in LD 13.  If either Assemblywoman Amy Handlin or Assemblyman Declan O’Scanlon move up to the Senate slot, as would be expected, there will be an Assembly nomination vacancy.

Neither Handlin nor O’Scanlon will say if they want the State Senate seat, which probably means they both want it. Even so, I would expect that they would work that out amongst themselves rather than have a convention fight.

A nominating convention for the resulting Assembly vacancy would bring out a wealth of Republican talent.

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When the moon hits your eye like a big pizza pie…

Former Democratic Senate, Assembly and Freeholder candidate Lenny Inzerillo and Democratic Gubernatorial candidate posing with pizza this evening at a Middletown Democratic fundraiser. facebook photo

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The other GOP candidate for governor

By Seth Grossman

Gov. Christie is not yet running for reelection against state Sen. Barbara Buono (D., Middlesex). He is not officially the Republican party nominee until he defeats his GOP opponent in the June 4 primary election. That opponent is me.

With such a small percentage of voters taking part in primary elections, one vote carries more weight than in November general elections. That’s why primary challenges terrify the insiders who dominate the Democratic and Republican parties with big campaign contributions.

I am running for governor against Christie because I am far more qualified to shrink the size and cost of government, to cut taxes, business, and insurance costs, and to rebuild the New Jersey economy.

Growing up in Atlantic City, I heard stories of how the town thrived during the Depression because people who lost their jobs started new businesses. They never could have been successful if they were burdened with all the regulations and need for lawyers, consultants, permits, and political “access” that are par for the course for starting a business today.

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Buono to Obama: “Hello Mr. President, I’m Barbara Buono”

Today was another disastrous day for Barbara ‘Dawn Quixote’ Buono.

The presumptive Democratic gubernatorial nominee’s campaign announced this morning that the candidate would have a private meeting with President Obama in Asbury Park.  They later retracted the statement when news broke that Buono was one of about thirty people to meet the president in Asbury Park’s Convention Hall prior to Obama delivering his public remarks.

When Obama met Buono, he did not know who she was, according to a source who was in the room.  “Barbara had to introduce herself to the president,” the source told MMM.

“A senior admin official says that Barbara Buono, a Democrat running for NJ  governor, was part of a group of approximately 30 state and local officials who met briefly with Obama before his speech in Asbury Park today. There were both  Democrats and Republicans among the state/local electeds present. There was a  photo line but no separate meeting,” according to a pool report from Obama’s  trip.

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Christie Angers Global Warming Cultists

By Matt Rooney, Save Jersey

You may’ve missed this the other day, Save Jerseyans, but some WNYC reporter asked Chris Christie at his Lavallette presser whether NJ Transit had been under-prepared for climate change ahead of Superstorm Sandy. Yes, you read that correctly. Apparently the reporter had never ridden NJ Transit before or she’d know that its problems predate the global warming fad!

Virtually everyone in the country, however, knows that the Governor of New Jersey has a very low tolerance for dumb questions; he responded NO to the WNYC question, “cause I don’t think there’s been any proof thus far that Sandy was caused by climate change…”

Well, first of all, I don’t agree with the premise of your question because I don’t think there’s been any proof thus far that Sandy was caused by climate change,” Christie said, as residents and officials from Lavallette clapped. “But I would absolutely expect that that’s exactly what WNYC would say, because you know liberal public radio always has an agenda. And so since I disagree with the premise of your question I don’t feel like I have to answer the rest of it.” (You can hear the full audio at the bottom of this post.)”

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Buono’s Best Friend

She hasn’t officially secured the Democratic nomination yet and the wheels are falling off State Senator Barbara Buono’s gubernatorial campaign.

Buono will be the nominee.  Her only competition on the ballot is Troy Webster, an aide to East Orange Mayor Robert Bowser.  Webster isn’t really running for governor.  He agreed to through his hat in the ring on the same slate as Bowser for ballot positioning purposes in the primary.

But the wheels are falling off the Buono wagon. She can’t raise money.  She defiantly divided the party and broke with the legislative leadership with her choice of State Democratic Chairman. MSNBC’s Chris Matthews dubbed her Dawn Quixote.

Buono is on track to be the first major party candidate not to qualify for state matching funds for her campaign. She named Assemblyman Jason O’Donnell her choice as State Chairman, against the advice of Senate President Steve Sweeney and over the objections of Assembly Speaker Shelia Oliver.  A prominent Monmouth County Democrat told MMM “Buono should never go on TV again,” after her appearance on Matthew’s Hardball.

Just when things couldn’t get any worse for Buono they did. Over the weekend former  Democratic Governor Brendan Byrne, on a teleconference with former Republican Governor Tom Kean, told The Star Ledger that Buono should consider dropping out of the gubernatorial race.

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Buono Claims Gallagher’s Endorsement

With Governor Chris Christie racking up endorsements from Democratic elected officials, State Senator Barbara Buono, the cash strapped presumptive Democratic nominee for governor, has resorted to false advertising on facebook.

She is claiming Republican blogger Art Gallagher’s endorsement.

Gallagher is the publisher of MoreMonmouthMusings and a frequent contributor to SaveJersey.

Rather than protest or “unlike” Barbarba Buono for NJ, Gallagher encourages his facebook friends and followers to click on the link when they see it. “By clicking on Barbara Buono’s ad, her campaign will be charged more money by facebook,” Gallagher said to himself while writing this article, “that will weaken her campaign further and give facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg more money to donate to Christie.”

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