April 16, 2008 - 8:02am
News

Smartest Legislator '08: Rudder beats Tucker, will face Adler in Round 1

Get ready to decide who the smartest member of the New Jersey Legislature is – voting starts tomorrow. Watch the Cinderella match as Assemblyman Scott Rudder (R-Burlington) takes on our #1 seed, State Sen. John Adler (D-Camden). In a poll of PolitickerNJ.com readers, Rudder defeated Assemblywoman Cleopatra Tucker (D-Essex) by a 53%-47% margin for the 64th slot.

The PolitickerNJ.com Smartest Legislator Tournament is intended to be a contest of sheer intelligence – an online, interactive contest among readers to determine New Jersey’s most intellectually talented state legislator. This is not about political parties, vote-getting abilities, fundraising prowess, legislative achievements, or personal popularity – it’s a contest to look at the minds of the legislators. Think about their ability to reason, to solve problems, to comprehend complicated ideas, to think abstractly, to articulate their views, and to learn. Consider their personal wisdom, their knowledge, and their ability to deal with cognitive complexity.

We’ve put 64 of New Jersey’s 120 legislators into four divisions of sixteen legislators. The regions are named after four truly brilliant legislators of the past: Perskie, Gormley, Wiley and DeKorte.

You can vote in each of the matchups, starting with Round 1 on April 17-21 – but only once every ten minutes. Round 2 will run April 22-23, Sweet Sixteen on April 24-35, Elite 8 on April 26-28, Final 4 on April 29, and Finals on April 30.

Editor can be reached via email at editor@politicsnj.com.

Comments

My Vote is for Rudder


Do not know him well, but I will take a conservative Republican over a weasel liberal any day.

04/16/08 9:40 am

This is one stupid contest


The end.

04/16/08 10:22 am

Voting Process


The PolitickerNJ.com Smartest Legislator Tournament is intended to be a contest of sheer intelligence – an online, interactive contest among readers to determine New Jersey’s most intellectually talented state legislator.

 

And you can only vote every 10 minutes!

So tell me about the people who can sit at their computers and vote every 10 minutes. Won't that interrupt with their listening to 101.5 or reading the AP? 

 

This appears to be a test of non intelligence shared by PolitickerNJ and  the participants! 

04/16/08 10:53 am

Waste of Time


Scott Rudder is no where near John Adler for this contest. I have no doubt Adler will come away with this competition yet again.

04/16/08 12:59 pm

Full Bracket?


I'm curious to see who the field of 64 includes. Is there a full bracket for this somewhere?

04/16/08 3:48 pm