And So It Goes: Lobbyists Feed Politicans at DNC

A Bloody Mary in the morning, champagne flutes in the afternoon and paté at night. Funded by special interests, enjoyed by politicians and hidden from public view. At hotel lobbies and dive bars and shiny museums far from the floor of the Democratic National Convention in South Philadelphia, democracy is getting fat – and wasted -… Read the rest of this entry »

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How Christie Will Rely on Mouth, Money & Moxie To Run For President

Everywhere Gov. Chris Christie went around the country in the final week of the mid-term elections, people kept praising him for this: “Sit down and shut up!” And they didn’t just like that particular take-down of a guy who interrupted his speech at the Jersey Shore last month. They liked the way he talked about that… Read the rest of this entry »

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Patrick Murray: “New Jersey voters are probably a little more savvy than reporters”

Monmouth University Polling Institute Director Patrick Murray is a “go to guy” for journalists looking for expert opinions and analysis on New Jersey politics.

Philadelphia Inquirer reporter Matt Katz called Murray to ask him why Christie’s approval numbers are so high when many voters used the pejoratives “bully” and “arrogant” when asked to use one word to describe the Governor and when Jersey mainstream media pundits so frequently criticise Christie’s manners.  Katz mentioned The Star Ledger’s Tom Moran, Inquirer opinion writers, and the Courier-Post editorial board.  He could have included most of the Statehouse press corp, save Gannett’s Bob Ingle and the Capitol Quckies crew.

Murray’s answer was Christieesque in its refreshing honesty: “Part of the issue is, voters of New Jersey are probably a little more savvy than reporters.”

Who talks to more reporters and voters in New Jersey than Murray?  His is an expert opinion.

“Ouch,” wrote Katz, who often writes critically of Christie.

Credit Katz for including Murray’s quote in his article.  If you start seeing Ben Dworkin’s name in The Star Ledger more than Murray’s, you’ll know Chrisite was right when he called famously called Moran, the editorial page editor, “the thinnest skinned guy and America.”

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