Chris Christie’s independent streak continues to confound liberals and conservative alike, Save Jerseyans.
Just the latest example: sometime yesterday, New York’s Capitol Confidential blog (hosted by The Albany Times Union) highlighted a Glens Falls Chronicle interview with the political director for the United Association of Plumbers, Pipefitters and Steamfitter.
The relevance for New Jersey political watchers? Governor Christie purportedly called this gentlemen to thank him for union donations to the Sandy relief effort. I’m sure you’ll find the details of their convo (as recalled by the political director, Mr. Bulman) as interesting as we did:
[Bulman] said when he told Mr. Christie he is from upstate New York, “he said, ‘I’m not much different from Andrew Cuomo. I probably agree with him on 98% of the issues.’ ” Mr. Bulman said Gov. Christie “sees value in the building trades, which are private sector unions. He complimented us and said he uses us as an example of a pro-business union.
Mr. Bulman, asked if he thinks Gov. Christie will run for president, said, “I don’t know, but he talked about Israel, and he wanted to make sure we knew he had been traveling abroad.”
A Monmouth University/Asbury Park Press Poll released this morning echoed the recent Quinnipiac and Rutgers-Eagleton Polls. Over 70% of New Jersey voters approve of Governor Chris Christie’s performance and over 60% favor his reelection. Christie is trouncing presumptive Democratic gubernatorial nominee Senator Barbara Buono by more than 40 points.
78% of voters haven’t heard enough of Buono to form an opinion about her. Polling Director Patrick Murray said the race is likely to narrow to a 20% gap in favor of Christie and the Democratic challenger becomes better known.
“There is a long history that shows horse race polling has little predictive value this far out from an election. This is especially true when there is a popular incumbent and a largely unknown challenger. The important number here is that 6-in-10 voters support Gov. Christie’s re-election,” said Patrick Murray, director of the Monmouth University Polling Institute. “This suggests that the race should close in on a 20 point margin as the campaign progresses and Buono becomes better known. The question remains whether the challenger can peel off Christie supporters to shrink that gap even more.”
Murray says that jobs, property taxes, schools, storm recovery and gun control are very important issues to the New Jersey electorate. Minimum wage is an important issue with most voters supporting an increase. However, Christie’s conditional veto of a minimum wage increase has not hurt his support with most voters.
According to Murray’s analysis, Buono has the potential to motivate 7% of the electorate to switch from voting for Christie to voting for her. If she gets all of them, Christie still wins with over 50% of the vote.
Monmouth polling staff attempted to identify voters who could potentially be motivated to switch support from the incumbent because of this issue. This group includes voters who: feel Gov. Christie deserves re-election, are dissatisfied with his veto, say they will vote to support a minimum wage ballot measure, and report that the issue is very important to their vote for governor. Analysis shows that this group comprises about 7% of the total electorate. Hypothetically, if Sen. Buono were able to convince all of these voters to abandon their support for Christie, his re-election support would remain above the 50% mark.
Atlantic City Attorney Seth Grossman will kick off his campaign to deny Chris Christie the GOP nomination for governor this morning outside the Revel Casino and in Newark across from Red Bull Stadium this afternoon.
The former Atlantic County freeholder and Atlantic City councilman who was arrested with Steve Lonegan for trespassing outside of one of Governor Jon Corzine’s Town Hall meetings in 2008 wants the State to refuse to pay bonds that were not approved by the voters and to cap public pensions at $50,000 per year per retiree. He says New Jersey is in the same mess it was in three years ago when Christie took office, but now its a bi-partisan mess, not just a Democratic mess now.
Grossman told MMM that he has raised $5,000 for his endeavor thus far. He hopes to raise $15,000 by the end of this week to open an office. If he can raise another $45,000 by the end of February, he hopes to hire a campaign manager and appeal to national conservatives to who are upset with how Christie embraced President Obama after Superstorm Sandy for the rest of the $388,000 he will need to qualify for State matching funds for the primary.
In a Rutgers-Eagleton poll released this morning, 64% of New Jersey voters, including 87% of Republicans, say that Christie deserves to be reelected. The Governor has raised well over $2 million for his reelection campaign and will not take State matching funds for the primary. Christie will not be in New Jersey for Grossman’s announcement. He is in California for a fundraising tour including an event at the home of facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg.
Even the liberal media is smelling blood in Senator Bob Menendez’s water. Sometimes a week really is a lifetime in politics.
MSNBC political analyst Steve Kornacki went on the Rachel Maddow Show to talk about the potential political fallout of Menendez scandal.
Kornacki said that Jets owner Woody Johnson would likely be Governor Christie’s choice to fill Menendez’s seat should the senator leave office this year in time for a special election in November.
Don’t count on it happening. Senator Bob Mendendez as already survived a recall effort, an FBI investigation while Chris Christie was U.S. Attorney, Tom Kean JR and Joe Kyrillos. There’s little reason, so far, to think Menendez won’t survive his latest scandals involving illegal campaign donations and gifts, a sex offender illegal immigrant intern and allegations of engaging with prostitutes and underage girls in the Dominican Republic.Why would Menedez resign? It’s not as if he tweeted nude pictures of himself, or anything as bad as that.
For a senator to be expelled requires a 2/3 vote in the Senate. The Senate Select Committee on Ethics has not responded to State Senator Sam Thompson’s complaint about Menendez filed last November. There is no reason to think the Democratically controlled Senate will even consider censuring Menendez, much less expelling him, unless the FBI’s current investigation results in an indictment and/or conviction.
But if Menendez’s seat in the Senate were to become vacant this year, it would put New Jersey politics into a fabulous turmoil that would be fun to cover and generate unprecedented blog traffic. “Peter Williams,” if you’re reading, please cooperate with the FBI and bring the Domincan girls with you to the USofA!
Monmouth County’s newest Demcratic office holder, Marlboro Councilwoman Carol Mazzola, is not ready to join Mayor Jon Hormik on the Barbara Buono for Governor bandwagon.
“I love Chris Christie!’ Mazzola exclaimed when asked what she thought about the Governor. But she stopped short of endorsing the New Jersey head of her former party. “Ask me in the fall when its time to make a decision.”
Mazzola was elected to the Marlboro Township Committee as a Republican in 2009. She announced earlier this month that she will run for reelection as a Democrat on Hornik’s team.
Republican Governors Association communications director Mike Schrimpf issued the following statement on the New Jersey governor’s race following the Democratic Governors Association embrace of state senator Barbara Buono’s candidacy earlier today:
“After failing to recruit their first, second, third or fourth choice candidates into the campaign for governor, Democrats have finally settled on state senator Barbara Buono.
Given the tremendous leadership Governor Christie has displayed in closing an $11 billion budget deficit without raising taxes, capping property taxes, and enacting pension and education reforms, the Democrats’ inability to recruit one of their preferred candidates into the race is not surprising. That said, we look forward to contrasting Governor Christie’s record of reform with Senator Buono’s record of higher taxes, increased spending and deeper debt.
While we commend Senator Buono for running, we are confident voters will want to continue the progress New Jersey has made since he took office.”
Vermont Governor Peter Shumlin, Chairman of the Democratic Governors Association, issued the following statement about State Senator Barbara Buono, the presumptive Democratic nominee for New Jersey Governor:
“Barbara Buono understands the challenges facing New Jersey’s middle-class families because she’s lived through them. That’s why she’s spent her entire career fighting to create jobs, improve education, expand access to quality health care, and balance budgets. Unfortunately, Governor Christie has failed to deliver on his promise to turn the state around. He’s blown a hole in the budget while New Jersey ranks near the bottom of the nation in unemployment, foreclosures, property taxes, and business climate. New Jersey needs a governor focused on creating jobs and expanding opportunity for New Jersey’s working families and that’s exactly the kind of governor Barbara Buono will be.”
Marlboro Mayor Jon Hornik joined the growing list of New Jersey Democrats in lining up behind State Senator Barbara Buono as the party’s nominee to take on Governor Chris Christie this fall.
In a statement released to MoreMonmouthMusings, Honik said that Buono is ready to lead for New Jersey’s middle class and that she is the best candidate to get our economy moving and creating jobs.
“Senator Buono understands the principle challenge facing New Jersey is a need for good-paying jobs. It’s a failure of the Governor when nearly one of every 10 New Jerseyans is out of work.
“There is no comeback when one in 10 is left behind. I know Senator Buono is prepared to make job creation her first priority.
“Senator Buono and I also share the same concern for protecting all of our residents, but in particular our children from gun violence. I applaud her call for a special session of the Legislature to pass common-sense gun safety laws.”
Senate President Steve Sweeney issued the following statement this morning announcing that he will not challenge Senator Barbara Buono for the Democratic nomination for Governor:
After careful consideration and much deliberation, I will not be a candidate for governor in 2013. I’ve decided my work now needs to be focused on ensuring the Legislature remains in Democratic control. Is there any question about the havoc and pain a Republican Legislature would inflict on the middle class, labor, women, and our seniors? For over a decade New Jersey voters have ensured we have a strong Democratic majority in both houses and I view it as absolutely essential and my job to keep that streak going. We will.
Chris Christie’s independent streak continues to confound liberals and conservative alike, Save Jerseyans.
Atlantic City Attorney Seth Grossman will kick off his campaign to deny Chris Christie the GOP nomination for governor this morning outside the Revel Casino and in Newark across from Red Bull Stadium this afternoon.