Barack Obama

President Barack Obama submitted his first seven nominations for U.S. Attorneys on June 4.   The U.S. Senate confirmed five of the seven on August 7, but New Jersey's Paul Fishman was not one of them.  The five who were confirmed came from New York (Southern District), Alabama, Minnesota, New Hampshire and Vermont. 

Until the Senate confirms Fishman, which is unlikely to be any earlier than next month, Acting U.S. Attorney Ralph Marra will remain in the post he's held since Christopher Christie resigned on December 1, 2008 to seek the Republican nomination for Governor.  The Associated Press, citing two unnamed sources, reported earlier this week that the Department of Justice is investigating whether Marra made inappropriate public comments during a high profile announcement of public corruption cases that might have boosted the Christie campaign.

Representatives of New Jersey's two U.S. Senators, Frank Lautenberg (D-Cliffside Park) and Robert Menendez (D-Hoboken), continue to predict a smooth confirmation for Fishman, who jointly recommended his appointment to Obama in February.  But Lautenberg and Menendez have not been able to get the Democratic-controlled Senate to move forward on Fishman.  They have not said why.

President Obama has a 56%-39% job approval rating in New Jersey, down from 61%-33% last month, according to a Quinnipiac University poll released today. 

"For President Barack Obama, the bloom is fading in the Garden State as his approval rating wilts," said Maurice Carroll, director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute.  "The President still is on the positive side when we ask about his overall job approval and his grades for handling the economy.   But the trend - and that's what you always look at - is heading down."

Among independents voters, Obama has an upside-down 45%-48% approval rating.

By a 52%-42% margin, New Jerseyans approve of Obama's handling of the economy.  More than half (51%) say his economic policies will help the economy, while 35% say they will hurt it and 10%  believe it will make no difference.  Just 35% of state voters think Obama's economic plan will help them personally.

They say they've been stymied in their repeated attempts to obtain public information about Chris Christie from the U.S. Attorney's Office, and now the Corzine campaign wants Christie himself to intervene and help deliver need-to-know info, a move the Democrats argue would square the former U.S. Attorney with the GOP candidate advertised.

“Mr. Christie’s campaign website says he will demand greater transparency and accountability in government,” said state Sen. Loretta Weinberg (D-Teaneck), the Democratic candidate for lieutenant governor. “So why doesn’t he start with himself? What’s he hiding?”

Corzine's people say they requested basic government information under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) from Christie's former place of employ, "but more than 20 requests dating back to March remain unfulfilled. As a result, records of Christie’s budgets, travel at taxpayer expense and no-bid contracts he awarded remain secret."

Careful to invoke President Barack Obama - whose administration revamped federal guidelines governing FOIA to create more openness - Weinberg also went after a Christie pressure point: President George W. Bush.

EAST ORANGE - Gov. Jon Corzine's tag line about tanking poll numbers is that the only one that counts is on Election Day.

Today's latest heartbreaker for Team Corzine is a Monmouth University/Gannett poll showing the governor trailing Christie by 14 points among likely voters, leading to the inevitable Press drilling of the governor about his ongoing double digit blues.

Corzine quickly turned the line of questioning around and aimed at his Republican opponent, former U.S. Attorney Chris Christie, who's mostly ridden a diner stop schedule these last few weeks buoyed by a national media story about over two dozen Democratic Party political operatives charged with corruption and summarily shackled and bused to Newark for processing.

"More specifics from the other side would be helpful," said Corzine, who's running as a budget cutter, who today branded Christie as a conservative Republican complete with Bush baggage while amplifying his own alliance with President Barack Obama.

In the Corzine campaign's latest ad, released on Monday on broadcast and cable television, the incumbent governor stands behind President Barack Obama onstage as Obama plugs him in front of an exhuberant Holmdel audience.

"Jon's a leader who's been called to govern in some extraordinary times," says Obama in front of the crowd gathered last month at the PNC Arts Center for an Obama/Corzine rally. "Jon Corzine wasn't just the first governor to pass an economic rcovery plan for his state. He was an ally with the Obama administration in helping us pass a national recovery plan."

Chris Christie's campaign naturally panned the 30-second ad, noting the air time gobbled up by Obama, leaving Corzine with nothing to do but stand in the background.

For Immediate Release:

Contact: Daniel Beckelman

(201)-446-9889

August 4, 2009 

Bloschak Supports  Extending Cash for Clunkers Program

Former Autoworker Calls for Suspension of State Sales Tax on “Clunker” Deals

Belleville-Andrew Bloschak, Republican Assembly candidate in the 28th District and a General Motors employee for twenty-five years, called on the United States Senate to pass an extension of the Car Allowance Rebate System, as well as for the State of New Jersey to charge no sales tax on deals involving “clunker” trade-ins.

Republican gubernatorial nominee Chris Christie leads Governor Jon Corzine by 14 points among likely voters but only four points among registered voters, according to a Monmouth University/Gannett poll released this morning.

Among likely voters, Christie leads Corzine 50% to 36%, with independent Christopher Daggett clocking in at 4%.  That’s up significantly from last month, when Christie held an eight point lead over Corzine.

Among registered voters, Christie leads Corzine 43% to 39% -- similar to the registered voter numbers from Monmouth’s poll last month.  Daggett again pulls 4%. 

“As an election heats up most polls focus only on likely voters with the aim of predicting the eventual outcome. However, we are still in the early days of this race and the role of a public poll should be to increase our understanding of electoral dynamics, including which registered voters may or may not show up on election day,” said Patrick Murray, director of the Monmouth University Polling Institute.  “In this case, we find that Corzine has made some gains with black and Hispanic voters, while Christie has increased his vote share among union workers.  But the bottom line is that Christie’s supporters are more engaged, which is why the Republican’s lead among likely voters has grown.”

Corzine’s favorability rating remains basically unchanged at 39% favorable to 46% unfavorable, but Christie’s have changed significantly.  Christie is seen favorably be 42%, 30% view him unfavorable -- a six point increase since last month and an 18 point increase since January.  That indicates that Corzine’s onslaught of negative ads against Christie have worked.

Socialist candidate Greg Pason

Greg Pason of Maywood finds it amusing when right-wing shock jocks pejoratively call President Barack Obama a socialist.

"It just indicates how far to the right this country has moved for Obama to be classified that way," says Pason. "He doesn't even support single-payer health care."

If Pason doesn't mind when people call him a Socialist, that's because he proudly belongs to the same party that had some traction once when it ran Eugene V. Debs for President in the early 20th Century but has since gone the way of the wooly mammoth if the number of its members in good standing provides any indication.

There are a little over 300 Socialists in the state right now, according to Pason, a perennial candidate for statewide office who's running for governor again this year on a ticket with gubernatorial candidate turned LG hopeful Constantino Rozzo of Vineland.

The Star-Ledger is reporting that Vice President Joseph Biden has moved an event scheduled for Tuesday in Pennsauken to Philadelphia, suggesting that the Obama administration was unwilling to visit New Jersey so soon after dozens of public officials were arrested on federal corruption charges.  Biden and U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder were "originally scheduled to hold the event, on community policing grants."

According to a criminal complaint, Hoboken Mayor Peter Cammarano allegedly accepted a bribe on the same day that he attended a Democratic rally in Holmdel featuring President Barack Obama.  Obama also gave a shout out to Jersey City Mayor Jerramiah Healy, who admitted on Friday that he was one of the local officials referred to in several criminal complaints.

Organizing for America (OFA), a grassroots project of the Democratic National Committee (DNC) that is dedicated to supporting the President Barack Obama's agenda for change, has cancelled a morning news conference on health care with State Sen. Loretta Weinberg (D-Teaneck).  The group probably doesn't want to share the news cycle with the story that several public officials from both parties were arrested today on federal corruption charges.

Could the arrests,and news that law enforcement officials raided the home of Joseph Doria, a member of Gov. Jon Corzine's cabinet, make Weinberg a more attractive candidate for Lt. Governor today than she was yesterday?  Sources say that Corzine has settled on State Sen. Barbara Buono (D-Metuchen) as his running mate.