In a poll released this morning by Patrick Murray, Executive Director of the Monmouth University Polling Institute, GOP challenger Anna Little has closed the gap in her race to unseat 22 year incumbent Frank Pallone to 7% with a margin of error of +/- 3.9%. An October 6 poll by Murray had Pallone leading by 12%.
Like his October 6 poll, Murray’s sample assumes a heavy Democratic turnout in the 6th congressional district. The partisan break down of the respondents in the earlier poll was 53% registered Democrats, 23% Republicans and 24% Independent. The sample of today’s poll is 51% D, 24% R and 25% “other.”
The registration breakdown of the district is 37% D, 15% R and 48% I.
Murray says Little is leading Pallone in Monmouth County by a margin of 52% to 45%, up from losing 47%-49% on October 6th. Murray says the difference is partisan. However, in the Monmouth County portions of the district, Dems are 29% of registered voters, Rs 19% and Independents 51%.
Murray says Little is losing in the Middlesex, Somerset and Union portions of the district by 58% to 37%. The registration break down in those counties is 44% D, 11% R and 45% I.
Middlesex, Union and Somerset comprise 51% of the voters in the district, Monmouth 49%. In last year’s general election Governor Christie won the district by 8% with Monmouth County accounting for 52% of the turnout.
If Little turns out Monmouth County the way Christie did, and if 35% or more of Independents show up to vote, Little wins. Murray says Little leads Pallone among I’s by 58% to 37% compared to 51% to 38% three weeks ago.
Senator Barbara Buono is on Blue Jersey and The Daily Kos (with links to MMM, my advertisers thank you Senator) pleading with Democrats to support and volunteer for Frank Pallone.
Joe Vas , John Lynch and Jim McGreevey were not available.
With one week to go, who would you rather have in your corner? Chris Christie or Barbara Buono?
Frank Pallone Jr.Asking @MLB World Series teams to ban chewing tobacco. It hurts more than players when so many young ppl watch & are influenced by players.
If there was any doubt left that the Asbury Park Press’s candidate endorsements are irrelevant to the electorate, the Nudniks made the point themselves today when they published an editorial declining to endorse a candidate in the New Jersey’s 3rd congressional district. The 3rd district includes Toms River and 22 other Ocean County towns that the APP purports to serve.
The Neptune Nudniks don’t like GOP candidate Jon Runyan because he is a former NFL star who, they say was once rated the second dirtiest player in the league. They don’t say who rated him that way or why it is relevant to his being elected to Congress. They say Runyan “seems to have stolen the playbook from the conservative elements of the Republican National Committee and adopted it as his own,” as if that was a bad thing. For voters in the 3rd district, who prior to sweeping John Adler into office on Barack Obama’s coattails in 2008 had not sent a Democrat to Washington in decades, Runyan’s conservatism will probably be enough to elect him.
Joe Schilp at More Middlesex Musings reports that he received an automatic polling call from Monmouth University yesterday afternoon:
I just received an automated phone poll call from the Monmouth University Polling Institute seeking the youngest male voter in the household. The following are the questions posed as I best remember them:
1) Are you a voter in District 6? Yes? No? Don’t know?
2) Have you voted? Certain to vote? Likely to vote? Not likely to vote? Uncertain?
3) Are you voting for Frank Pallone? Anna Little? Another candidate?
4) What is your opinion of Frank Pallone? Favorable? Unfavorable? No opinion?
5) What is your opinion of the job that Congress is doing? Favorable? Unfavorable? No opinion?
6) What is your opinion of Barak Obama? Favorable? Unfavorable? No opinion?
7) Do you think America is headed in the right direction? Yes? No? No opinion?
8) Who do you prefer to run Congress? Democrats? Republicans? No preference?
by Roseanne Iurilli, a 19 year old MCC college student
This past Sunday, October 10th, 2010, there was a political debate between incumbent Congressman Frank Pallone and Congressional Candidate Anna Little. This was the first time that I had heard Congressman Pallone speak, and frankly I was shocked at how poorly he spoke. Mr. Pallone has been a member of Congress for twenty-two years, and yet I saw better speakers in the Intro to Public Speaking class that I took at Middlesex County College. In this critique, I cover a few of the main points in a public speaking curriculum.
1. Eye Contact
One of the first things that they teach you in a public speaking class is to look your audience in the eye. At no point did Mr. Pallone look his audience straight in the eye. He talked with head tilted slightly back so that he was looking down his nose like Pinocchio.Mrs. Little looked her audience straight in the eye, and she turned her head to each side in order to address her entire audience.
2. Movement and Posture
Another key thing in public speaking: movement. Movement is allowed if you are in a lecture setting, standing at the front of an audience with a portable microphone. In such a case it is okay to walk around the stage a little. However, this was not the setting of Sunday’s debate. Mr. Pallone and Mrs. Little were sitting behind a table; in such a setting, it is best to sit straight and still. Mrs. Little did a very good job with this, she sat still, her hands for the most part stayed folded on her lap except when she was writing notes on the paper in front of her. Mr. Pallone was forever moving around, he kept leaning back in his chair, then leaning forward, and then leaning back again. Also, he had his hands on the table one second, on this lap the next, and then back to the table. At one point during the speech, he was even rubbing his thighs under the table.
3. Vocal Delivery
Perhaps the most important thing that they teach you in a public speaking class is vocal delivery; Projection, Enunciation, and Articulation.
a) Projection
Whether you are using a microphone or not, it is important to know how to project. When using a microphone, it is important to know how far away to hold the microphone and how loudly to speak into it. Throughout the speech Mr. Pallonelooked like he was fighting with the microphone; he kept clipping and unclippingit from his tie, holding it up to his mouth and then far away, and was told several times by the audience that they couldn’t hear him. Mrs. Little held the microphone for her opening statement (and after determining the pickup capability of the microphone), clipped the microphone to her lapel and left it there throughout the remainder of the night, and she kept her voice at an even understandable level.
b) Enunciation and Articulation
Speaking clearly and fluently is very important in public speaking. Mr. Pallone did not articulate very well, and he mumbled many times throughout the debate. He also had an ‘umm’ in almost every sentence, and stumbled over his words multiples times. Mrs. Little articulated very well, she did not ‘umm’ in any of her speaking, and she only stumbled over her words once.
To summarize, in this debate we had a twenty-two year Congressional incumbent debating a woman who had been a mayor and freeholder for only ten. When you put these two speakers side by side, the difference in their speech mannerisms is amazing. Even if you were to ignore the content of the speeches, and merely focus on the delivery, Mrs. Anna Little would have won this debate hands down. Mr. Pallonewould not even have been able to pass an Intro to Public Speaking class at a community college with the speech skills that he possesses.
((HIGHLANDS, October 22) – Republican Congressional challenger Anna Little – responding to the release of New Jersey’s unemployment figures for the month of September, showing that the state lost another 20,200 jobs, and the unemployment rate dipped two-tenths of a percent because so many working-age residents gave up on finding work and decided to leave the labor force – today asked her opponent, 22-year incumbent Frank Pallone, a simple question: “Where are the jobs?
“Mr. Pallone, today I have just one simple question for you,” said Little. “Where are the jobs?!
“Today’s unemployment figures continue the disturbing trend we’ve seen over the last 20 months – New Jersey continues to lose jobs,” said Little. “In the month of September, New Jersey lost ANOTHER 20,200 jobs.
“That’s the worst jobs report in 18 months,” continued Little. “Not since March of 2009 has a New Jersey jobs report been this bad.
“Since the official end of the recession in June 2009 – well more than a year ago – New Jersey has LOST 62,400 jobs. It’s a sad state of affairs when the government deems a recession officially ‘over,’ but we continue to lose jobs.
“Worse, the unemployment rate in September declined from 9.6 percent to 9.4 percent – not because more people found work, but because more working-age residents have been out of work so long that they GAVE UP on finding work, and removed themselves from the job market,” continued Little.
“That’s a sad, sad commentary on the failure of the Pelosi-Pallone strategy. And it’s not what Frank Pallone and Nancy Pelosi promised when they rammed through their massive trillion-dollar ‘stimulus’ package – they promised, if you’ll recall, that unemployment wouldn’t go higher than 8 percent.
“The best thing the government can do is to lower tax rates and reduce regulation, and create an environment in which the entrepreneurs and job-creators in our nation will put their capital to work for all of us,” continued Little. “Instead, for the last 20 months we’ve gone in exactly the opposite direction. Nancy Pelosi and Frank Pallone have made clear their determination to raise taxes on the job-creating class, and have made clear their determination to keep borrowing money to pay for more failed ‘stimulus’ programs.
“It’s time for a change in direction.
“Remember, you cannot change Washington without changing the people we send to Washington!”
