Governor Christie will be in Aberdeen today to accept the endorsement of the Laborers International Union of North America (LIUNA) for his reelection bid.
Before wingnut conservatives get all crestfallen or disgusted, let me remind you that the Teamsters endorsed Ronald Reagan. A labor union’s endorsement doesn’t automatically make that Republican a RINO, unless you consider Reagan a RINO.
Yes, this means that New Jersey is not likely to become a “Right to Work” state so long as Christie is governor, It also means that we will continue to overpay “prevailing wage” on government funded and supported construction projects. As our friends at InTheLobby point out, it also explains why Christie has thwarted efforts to expand legalized gambling in New Jersey to race tracks, but those are all other stories.
What the LIUNA endorsement really means is that New Jersey Democrats are not likely to make a fight of the gubernatorial campaign in 2013. Christie’s post Sandy poll numbers make him look invincible. By locking up a major union endorsement early, Christie is creating an air of inevitability for reelection.
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.
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.
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.
James O’Keefe, the independent journalist and president of Project Veritas who has exposed corruption and malfeasance at ACORN, NPR, the NJEA and Planned Parenthood , released the second video in a series that exposes corruption at SEIU yesterday.
O’Keefe secretly records his meeting with SEIU leaders as he is ostensibly seeking government funding for his project of digging ditches and refilling them.
SEIU Local 617 President Rahaman Muhammad is caught on camera exclaiming that U.S. Senator Bob Menendez would be enthusiastic about the project.
“Menendez is going to be like, ‘Oh for real? SEIU, Oh, good, great!” Muhammad says at the 1:53 mark of the video.
Menendez is not the only politician the union officials discuss. The other is Newark Mayor Cory Booker who fares better, or worse if you believe in wasteful government spending. Booker is not a supporter of the working class, in the assessment of the SEIU officials recorded.
As some national polls show President Obama widening his lead in his race for another term, much has been made about the sampling weights that pollsters use. Analysts on the left insists the polls are accurate. nalysts on the right say the polls are inaccurately favoring Obama by assuming his supporters will come out on election day in the same numbers as they did in 2008.
But its not just weighting that reveals a pollster’s bias. The way the question is asked also makes a difference.
In a Monmouth University/Asbury Park Press poll about the 2013 New Jersey gubernatorial race released this morning, pollster Patrick Murray asked if voters were “bothered” with how Governor Chris Christie interacts with his critics and detractors.
Thinking about Chris Christie’s style and not his policies, does the way he speaks to or about people who disagree with him bother you personally or not bother you? [If BOTHER: Is that a lot or just a little?]
63% of respondents said they weren’t bothered by Christie’s style. 23% said they were bothered a LOT and 11% said they were bothered a LITTLE. Given the way Murray asked the question, one could conclude that 74% of New Jersey voters are indifferent about Christie’s style.
In his narrative of the poll, which sets the tone for how much of the lazy lefty media covers it, Murray highlights his spin on Christie’s style.
“NEW JERSEY ON CHRISTIE’S STYLE: ‘MEH!’ ” is Murray’s headline. His opening sentence:
Governor Chris Christie’s job approval rating has ticked up a few points in the latest Monmouth University/Asbury Park Press Polland few New Jerseyans are particularly bothered by the way he deals with people who disagree with him.
Notice the use of the word few.
Christie’s numbers are the highest they ever been in a Monmouth poll. 55% of registered voters approve of the governor’s performance. 36% do not approve.
Yet Murray spins the results to read that a few people like him better and a few people are bothered about how he talks to people who don’t agree with him. The few who are bothered take top billing over the fact disclosed but not reported that Christie’s numbers are better than ever in Murray’s poll.
To their credit, PolitickerNJ cut through Murray’s spin and covers the poll results very well. They reported the real news of the poll results; New Jersey’s sagging economy is not hurting Christie’s popularity with voters and that of potential Democratic challengers in 2013, only Newark Mayor Cory Booker and former acting Governor Richard Codey have sufficient name recognition to be considered credible candidates for governor next year.
What if instead of asking if voters were bothered by Christie’s style, Murray asked if they liked his style? If Murray had done that, the headline would be:
Prior to last month the buzz about Newark Mayor Cory Booker’s future was that he would run for U.S. Senate in 2014, challenging Senator Frank Launtenberg if necessary. Booker opened a federal PAC last year and Lautenberg has been sniping at him ever since.
But in the weeks leading up to the convention Booker met with county chairs to plant the seeds of a gubernatorial run against Governor Chris Christie last year. In Charlotte he went into full campaign mode without making an announcement. In the process he made himself the front runner for the Democratic gubernatorial nomination in 2013. A Booker candidacy for governor will clear the Democratic field. Without Booker in the race there will be a contentious primary. Senators Dick Codey, Barbara Buono and Steve Sweeney could be contenders. Assemblymen John Wisniewski and Lou Greenwald are acting like candidates. Elizabeth Mayor Chris Bollwage says he will run if Booker doesn’t.
None of the other potential candidates will be able to gain any traction until Booker makes his intentions clear.
As a nod to Booker’s front runner status, Quinnipiac polled a Christie/Booker match up. Christie won the poll by 7%, but Booker’s name was recognised by 60% of those polled. That is an extraordinary high number for a New Jersey politician who has never run a statewide race. Booker has better name recognition than Lt. Gov. Kim Guadagno. He is as well known and better liked than U.S. Senator Bob Menendez.
Booker told the New Jersey delegation in Charlotte that Christie can be beat and that he is only governor because urban Democrats didn’t come out to vote for Jon Corzine in 2009. The implication is that he can get urban voters out, regardless of the desires of Democratic bosses George Norcross in the south and Joe DiVincenzo in the north who didn’t rev their machines for Corzine in 09.
A divided Democratic National Convention amended the platform they had adopted just yesterday to reassert the party’s commitment that Jerusalem be the the capitol of Israel and that God is the source of American values.
The amendment was offered by former Ohio Governor Ted Stickland who served as the chair of the platform committee.
The convention’s by-laws require a 2/3 vote to amend the platform. Convention Chairman Antonio R. Villaraigosa, the mayor of Los Angelos, called for a voice vote three times before he declared that the motion to amend the platform had passed.
Does it look/sound like a 2/3’s majority to you?
The New York Times reports that opposition to the Jerusalem amendment came from Majid Al-Bahadli, an Iraqi-American who is a delegate from Washington. Al-Bahadli spent time as a prisoner of war during the first Gulf War for taking up American calls to rebel against Saddam Hussein.
@CoryBooker, the co-chair of the platform committee, has yet to explain why “God” and “Jerusalem” were omitted in the first place.
