Tuesday, June 02, 2009
Jersey Repugs
Jersey Repugs have fair chance to elect governor this year. They didn't have stellar candidates in the primary. Our neanderthal right thinks incumbent Gov. Corzine is so weak that even their guy, a screwball former mayor named Steve Lonegan, could win in November. Lonegan has kept many of his screwball views out of sight during the primary. But he headlined Joe The Bigot Wurzelbacher at a key fundraising event, partly an act of desperation I think - Steve seemed to have gone out of his way not to be photographed with the infamous skinhead. Many Democrats were hoping for a Lonegan win. I wasn't so sure. A candidate willing to showcase Joe is capable of all kinds of angry white guy nastiness should be find himself lagging behind Corzine in the polls. Jersey has been blessedly free of social values type elections & referendums. We lack a strong, organized religious right here, but that doesn't mean they aren't around. I'll give Lonegan credit for inspiring enthusiasm in his supporters. I have never had that pleasure in a gubernatorial primary or general election here.
The Repug primary winner is Chris Christie, a double chin Bush-appointed prosecutor & the candidate of the "moderates." He's carrying some baggage that hasn't all been unpacked in public yet. He's up against an equally uninspiring incumbent Democrat, Gov. Jon Corzine, but a politician who has been, I think, pretty straight with Jerseyans on our budgetary shortfalls, & pretty determined to protect the most vulnerable of our residents from the worst of the cuts. He's a liberal. He may not be so popular, but he's not generally despised. He also has two allies named Barack & Hillary, very popular in Jersey ( as is former Prez Bill) & who can campaign for Corzine without risking any of their political capital. Joe Biden came to Jersey today, telegraphing how important the White House views this race. Corzine could run a variation on Hillary's famous 3 AM phone call commercial but where Christie tries to call the White House & nobody picks up the phone. "Sorry Chris, you don't have a friend there anymore." Can the Obamas & the Clintons help Corzine's re-election? You betcha. Not by swinging a lot of independent voters but by charging up the Democratic base, who have a considerable advantage in registered voters & stronger get-out-the-vote operations.
"If a nation expects to be ignorant and free, in a state of civilization, it expects what never was and never will be." Thomas Jefferson
The Repug primary winner is Chris Christie, a double chin Bush-appointed prosecutor & the candidate of the "moderates." He's carrying some baggage that hasn't all been unpacked in public yet. He's up against an equally uninspiring incumbent Democrat, Gov. Jon Corzine, but a politician who has been, I think, pretty straight with Jerseyans on our budgetary shortfalls, & pretty determined to protect the most vulnerable of our residents from the worst of the cuts. He's a liberal. He may not be so popular, but he's not generally despised. He also has two allies named Barack & Hillary, very popular in Jersey ( as is former Prez Bill) & who can campaign for Corzine without risking any of their political capital. Joe Biden came to Jersey today, telegraphing how important the White House views this race. Corzine could run a variation on Hillary's famous 3 AM phone call commercial but where Christie tries to call the White House & nobody picks up the phone. "Sorry Chris, you don't have a friend there anymore." Can the Obamas & the Clintons help Corzine's re-election? You betcha. Not by swinging a lot of independent voters but by charging up the Democratic base, who have a considerable advantage in registered voters & stronger get-out-the-vote operations.
Labels: New Jersey politics
