Bill Baroni

McCain State Chair Sen. Bill Baroni (R-Mercer): Politicker file photo

DENVER - New Jersey Republicans jeered Barack Obama’s choice for vice president in a Saturday afternoon conference call today, with state Sen. Bill Baroni (R-Mercer) describing as "historic," presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Sen. Barack Obama’s (D-Il.) decision to name Sen. Joe Biden (D-DE) as his running mate.

"Yesterday, Sen. Obama picked someone who does not believe his own running mate is ready to be president of the United States," said Baroni, chair of the McCain campaign in New Jersey.

Citing a Democratic Primary debate exchange between ABC moderator George Stephanopoulos and then-presidential candidate Biden in which the latter said he does not believe the presidency is the proper venue for on-the-job training, Baroni focused on the freshman Senator Obama’s lack of experience.

"That’s not me saying it, it’s Joe Biden," said Baroni, echoing a McCain television ad that is now up and running in South Jersey.

One more item on the Republican primary for U.S. Attorney: it’s worth noting that State Sen. Bill Baroni accompanied Cindy McCain to a diner in Red Bank yesterday morning, and then was in John McCain’s afternoon motorcade from Newark Airport to Teaneck.  Baroni, the Chairman of McCain’s New Jersey campaign, joined the Arizona Senator’s presidential effort in 1999 working advance on the national staff.

RED BANK - In quintessential New Jersey fashion, potential First Lady Cindy McCain made her first solo public campaign stop today at a diner.

With State Sens. Jennifer Beck (R-Red Bank) and Bill Baroni (R-Hamilton) at her side, McCain shook hands and briefly conversed with patrons at the Broadway Diner in Red Bank, sharing the usual niceties we’ve come to expect at such events.

On her way out, McCain took one question from reporters about whether her husband, presumptive Republican nominee John McCain, actually had a shot at carrying a state no GOP presidential candidate has carried since 1988.

“Absolutely. We’ve not written off New Jersey,” she said. “This is a very important state. We’re going to be up very late on November 4th, and New Jersey is a very important part of that. We intend to be here quite a bit before the election. I’m happy to be here on a great day. It was stormy a few days ago so maybe I brought the sunshine with me.”

LINDEN -- To millions of non-residents who pass through New Jersey on the Turnpike, it's Linden and its environs that tend to leave the strongest impression. It's here that oil refineries and railroad tracks serve as the symbols of the stereotypical rough-around-the-edges Jersey town.

State Sen. Bill Baroni (R-Hamilton), who heads up John McCain's New Jersey presidential campaign, was trying to capture that blue collar aura as he trotted out Linden Mayor Richard Gerbounka, a long-time Democrat who turned independent in 2006, and four of the city's councilmen to endorse McCain for president.

The endorsement comes one day before McCain and his wife, Cindy, make a fundraising swing through New Jersey, which according to Baroni will include some as-yet undisclosed public campaign stops.

There's another statewide campaign in New Jersey next winter: the race to succeed Christopher Christie as the United States Attorney - a post that holds considerable power and visibility, and potentially a launching pad for higher public office.   By tradition, federal prosecutors submit their resignations to coincide with the inauguration of a new President. 

If John McCain wins, possible candidate for U.S. Attorney include McCain state campaign director Rick Mroz, a former Chief Counsel to Gov. Christine Todd Whitman; and State Sen. Bill Baroni, the Chairman of McCain's New Jersey campaign.  Mroz runs former Assemblyman/BPU Commissioner Edward Salmon's consulting firm, and is associated with former Cumberland County GOP Chairman Lawrence Pepper's law firm.  Baroni is a Seton Hall University law professor, and has been on Team McCain since 1999, when he worked on the national campaign staff as McCain's advanceman. 

McCain could also go with one of Christie's deputies, like First Assistant U.S. Attorney Ralph Marra or Executive Assistant U.S. Attorney Michele Brown.

Assemblyman Albert Coutinho (D-Newark) on Adams Street in the Ironbound: Politicker photo 

NEWARK - Standing outside East Ward Democratic Party headquarters on Adams Street, Assemblyman Albert Coutinho (D-Newark) occupies that central part of the 29th Legislative District that encompasses north and south Newark.

Coutinho’s running mates, state Sen. Teresa Ruiz (D-Essex) and Assemblywoman Grace Spencer (D-Newark) come out of the north and south wards Newark respectively.

The East Ward, which is made up Portugese and Italians, and fits into the Ironbound neighborhood, is Coutinho’s home.

"We’ve always been an independent ward," says Joseph Parlavecchio, the assemblyman’s mentor, who on this day sits inside party HQ, giving an interview to a young woman who’s writing a book about city politics.

TRENTON -- With the future of the Fair and Clean Elections program hanging in the balance and its supporters set to try to negotiate its fate in two weeks, four of its opponents gathered in the State House today to question not only the program's effectiveness, but the sincerity of some of its proponents.

Assembly members Jay Webber (R-Morris Plains) and Allison Littell McHose (R-Franklin) joined Virginia-based Center for Competitive Politics (CCP) President Sean Parnell and Center for Policy Research (CPR) of New Jersey Executive Director Greg Edwards to outline preliminary findings of the CCP's report that they say shows the program has been ineffective in virtually all of its stated goals.

Most notable, according to Parnell, was the fact that special interest groups still appeared to exert large influence in collecting the hundreds of $10 donations needed to participate in the program.

An unofficial legislative committee will meet in two weeks to figure out the future of the state’s Fair and Clean Elections program, the status of which is in serious jeopardy.

The bill renewing the program, which was tested as a pilot project in 2005 and 2007, was pulled from consideration in June after both the programs’ backers and detractors raised concerns about the new legislation.

Last month it was dealt an even more serious setback, when the U.S. Supreme Court, in Davis v. Federal Election Commission, struck down the federal Millionaire’s Amendment, which allows out-funded candidates more leeway with campaign contribution limits. At the request of Assembly Democrats, the non-partisan Office of Legislative Services (OLS) wrote an opinion stating that the Clean Elections program’s “rescue funds” – meant to give a boost to candidates facing attacks from an outside group or a well-funded opponent who opted out of the program – would likely be ruled unconstitutional under the Supreme Court precedent.

Is Jon Corzine following the Barack Obama model and auditioning candidates for Lieutenant Governor by taking a road trip?  The Governor, who says he’ll seek re-election next year, is leaving today for Fort Bliss in Texas, where he’ll lead a bi-partisan delegation to visit with New Jersey National Guard troops.  Four of the five Democrats joining him have been mentioned as possible candidates for Lt. Governor: Newark Mayor Cory Booker, Senate Majority Leader Steve Sweeney, Assembly Majority Leader Bonnie Watson Coleman, and State Sen. Teresa Ruiz.   

There’s even a Chuck Hagel-type on the trip: former Republican Congressman Bob Franks, who nearly beat Corzine in the 2000 U.S. Senate race but has now become a close friend and sometime policy advisor.

Dr. Frederick Herrmann, the longtime ELEC Executive DirectorFrom time to time, the New Jersey legislature will pass new regulations to constrain politicians' behavior, such as the pay-to play laws and the proposed clean elections law that would result in public financing of campaigns.  But the Election Law Enforcement Commission, the regulatory agency charged with monitoring compliance is not receiving funding increases equal to these new responsibilities.

Just ask Democratic State Sen. Loretta Weinberg (D-Teaneck), who had to amend the governor's fiscal 2009 budget in May to stop the state from cutting $750,000 in funding from ELEC's administrative budget in order to give it a more modest cut of $250,000, to $4.647 million.

"What I did was lobby, and state in front of the state government committee how important I thought it was," Weinberg said. "It was nothing heroic.  I was just calling attention to the facts here."

Republican State Sen. Bill Baroni (R-Hamilton), who teaches election and campaign finance law at Seton Hall Law School, also pushed for the reinstatement of funding, although he believed that no funding should have been cut whatsoever. When the cuts were first announced in April, Baroni wrote a letter to Gov. Jon Corzine about ELEC's budget troubles, including its inability to fill 21 vacancies in its staff with present funding levels.