I don't think Somerset is going Democrat with the current alignment of things, but it may be a bit closer than usual.

What more needs to be said than boss Florio has been in control for so long that he doesn't even notice the stench around him? Maybe he's been lobbying for the tobacco companies for too long?

Last year Louise Wilson missed picking off an open seat by less than 2,000 votes. If it's any closer this year than it was last year, there will be a Democrat on the freeholder board.

In the worse year since Watergate for R's (2006), the D's still couldn't get it done in Somerset County. Unless the county borders are redrawn, there will be no D's in the county government for the foreseeable future. It's too hard to make people care about the county-level, so people vote their party. Registered R's still easily outnumber D's and that all it takes.

Somerset Republicans dodge a bullet at the filing deadline. Louise Wilson, the mayor of Montgomery and the opponent last year who gave them a run for their money, decided to run for reelection instead of freeholder. Instead they got Marano, who comes from a pretty small town and has only been on the committee a few years. They call he lanslide Marano because she won by two votes the first time she ran, and not many more last year. Wilson comes from a very big town and has an impressive record. She might have won this year given all this park commission business. Marano on the other hand hasn't done all that much as a committeewoman. When Wilson became mayor of Montgomery she really built the party up down there, but Marano apparently hasn't done the same, since no other Democrat has even come close in Green Brook, and she barely wins. In my opinion, Wilson was an A candidate. Marano's a C-. Making matters worse for Marano is that she can't even count on her home town, since Pat Walsh has been mayor of Green Brook for over a decade and wins in landslides each time she runs. But Green Brook isn't very big anyway.

wrote the following when Marano entered the race in March. I found it interesting, since it likely sets up an endorsement for the general election. "We're not in the business of endorsing candidates for 2007 just yet. But we can say this much already: Somerset County Democrats have found themselves a contender for freeholder who has experience in storming a Republican stronghold. We're talking about Green Brook Committeewoman Melonie Marano. Now in her second three year committee term, Marano was the first Democrat elected to the board in Green Brook since 1987. And the county freeholders have been in GOP hands even longer than that." Demosthenes, I don't know enough about Green Brook politics to say whether you're right or not. But "landslide Marano" or not, to get elected to a town council that had not voted Democratic for a decade and a a half is pretty impressive. If the Parks scandal has legs, and if she campaigns energetically (and I believe both to be true), then we might well see an upset in Somerset Count.

.....Wilson is popular because she is a full-time mayor/committee members (i.e., she's unemployed). The Dem party in town is only made up of 6-8 people.....not big deal, but they all work hard during election time. Wilson didn't run for Freeholder or mayor because she knew a big tax increase was needed in this year's budget since she blew our surplus over the past 3 years.  Also, Montgomery is a SMALL town in Somerset County.....Franklin, Hillsborough, Bridgewater, and Somerset Hills (combo of Bernards, Bernardsville, Far Hills, Gladstone/Peapack all vote in a block) are all much bigger.