Bill Clinton

PRESIDENT BILL CLINTON RETURNS TO NEW JERSEY TO HEADLINE RALLY & FUNDRAISER TO SUPPORT CORZINE/WEINBERG, DEMOCRATS

(LITTLE FALLS) – President Bill Clinton returned to New Jersey today to headline a rally in Little Falls and a fundraiser in West Orange one week after headlining two rallies that drew thousands of New Jersey residents in Collingswood and New Brunswick to build support for the re-election of Governor Jon S. Corzine, his running-mate Senator Loretta Weinberg and Democrats across the state.

Orange Mayor Eldridge Hawkins arrives at Mayfair Farms on Tuesday evening to hear former President Bill Clinton.

WEST ORANGE - Former President Bill Clinton tried to get the Essex County troops in battle mode this evening at Mayfair Farms as he made the case for Gov. Jon Corzine's reelection.

Standing on a double-decker stage crammed with Democratic Party elected officials, Clinton rammed the good governor in tough economic times argument beside a beaming Corzine.     

"New Jersey is the first state in the country in median income, and the median income increased in 2008," said Clinton, donning glasses to read from notes. "Yours is the first state to have an economic recovery plan.. ...The mortgage foreclosure rate is half the national average. This governor has reduced the size of government while increasing school funding by a billion dollars. Under his watch, there has been an 11% reduction of kids without health insurance. You're the second state in the country to enact Paid Family Leave."

Amid growing applause from the party faithful, who packed the banquet hall here, Clinton noted the drop by 12% in the state's murder rate and a drop by 7.5% in the violent crime rate.

The outcome of the 2009 campaign for Governor of New Jersey is not historically significant to Barack Obama's presidency. It is almost twice as likely that New Jerseyans elect a governor who is not a member of the president's party.  Indeed, the party of the incumbent president is 15-26 in New Jersey gubernatorial races since a Democrat won in Abraham Lincoln's mid-term election.

The last five gubernatorial elections went that way: Republicans lost in 1989 (George H.W. Bush), 2001 and 2005 (George W. Bush), and Democrats lost in 1993 and 1997 (Bill Clinton). But in the seven contests before that, the party of the sitting president went 6-1: Republicans won in 1969 (Richard Nixon), 1981, and 1985 (Ronald Reagan), and Democrats won in 1961 (John Kennedy), 1965 (Lyndon Johnson), and 1977 (Jimmy Carter); Republicans lost in 1973, after the incumbent was defeated in the primary and in an election that was held under the backdrop of the Watergate scandal.

None those twelve campaigns influenced the outcomes of the next presidential campaign, either nationally or in pursuit of New Jersey's electoral votes - although the 1973 results were a harbinger of the 1974 Democratic landslide.  By 1976, New Jersey was supporting a Republican presidential candidate.

Democrats won both gubernatorial elections held during Dwight Eisenhower's presidency, and Republicans won both governors' races held while Harry Truman was president.  During the four campaigns for governor that occurred during Franklin Roosevelt's tenure in the White House, Democrats won two (1937 and 1940) and lost two (1934 and 1943).  Eisenhower carried New Jersey twice, and Roosevelt won the state four times.

A poll of New Jersey voters taken three weeks before the 1968 presidential election had independent George Wallace with 14% of the vote, with Richard Nixon leading Hubert Humphrey by a 43%-38% margin.  Both parties agreed that Wallace was taking more votes from the Democrats than the Republicans. 

A Gallup poll conducted outside two New Jersey auto plants had Wallace getting 73% of the vote among 500 members of the United Auto Workers Union.  "Listen, the men in the plants want to zap the Negros by voting for Wallace.  It's that simple.  And I don't see how anyone can stop them," a UAW official told the New York Times in a quote that 41 years later appears rather incredible.

On Election Day, Nixon carried New Jersey by 61,261 votes, 46%-44%.  Wallace took 9%, less than where he was polling, receiving 262,187 votes.

Two Republican mayors joined former President Bill Clinton at a fundraiser for Trenton Mayor Douglas Palmer's new non-profit organization, Trenton First - an event that turned out to be a virtual love fest for Gov. Jon Corzine's re-election campaign.  John Bencivengo of Hamilton and David Fried of Robbinsville, both supporters of Republican Christopher Christie, attended the $150-per-person fundraiser in support of Palmer.  Fried came within four votes of ousting Mercer County GOP Chairman Roy Wesley in 2008, and has been a frequent critic of Wesley's leadership this year.

Former President Bill Clinton will return to New Jersey next Tuesday to campaign for Gov. Jon Corzine.  He'll attend a rally at the UFCW Meatcutters Hall in Little Falls at 6:45 PM, according to Passaic County Sheriff Gerald Speziale.  Speziale has moved his beefsteak dinner, originally scheduled for that evening, to accommodate the Clinton appearance.

PRESIDENT BILL CLINTON CAMPAIGNS IN SUPPORT
OF CORZINE/WEINBERG & DEMOCRATS ACROSS NJ

42nd President of the United States Headlined Rallies
in Collingswood & New Brunswick To Energize Voters
Prior to Election Day

(NEW BRUNSWICK) – President Bill Clinton, the 42nd President of the United States of America, today headlined two rallies in support of Governor Jon S. Corzine, Lieutenant Governor candidate Loretta Weinberg and Democrats running for office throughout New Jersey.

Mayor Doug Palmer addresses guests at his fundraiser with, from left, Mercer County Executive Brian J. Hughes, Gov. Jon Corzine, Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter, former President Bill Clinton, and Palmer's wife.

TRENTON - A wounded county came out here tonight to get a glimpse of former President Bill Clinton before the Secret Service propelled him away - again - to some more voter-concentrated region of the state for what Democrats hope will be a pay dirt rally at Rutgers University.

"I knew you weren't here to see me," Mayor Doug Palmer told a crowd at his $150 fundraiser for his nonprofit Trenton First, over one of his shoulders stood Gov. Jon Corzine with two weeks to go in a dead-heat gubernatorial contest.

Over Palmer's other shoulder stood Clinton.

"God, he looks great, Clinton - so slim," said Assembly Majority Leader Bonnie Watson Coleman (D-Ewing).

"You're here to see the president," supplied Palmer with a smile and deafening war whoops filled the banquet hall here at the Marriott, a building Palmer helped bring to Trenton.

The mayor acknowledged Corzine at last, and threw in a "first and foremost" when introducing him. Corzine, it should be said, received raucous applause. 

***MEDIA ADVISORY - TUESDAY***

PRESIDENT BILL CLINTON TO CAMPAIGN IN COLLINGSWOOD FOR CORZINE, DEMOCRATS

42nd President of the United States to Headline Collingswood Rally in Support of Corzine-Weinberg & NJ Democrats

(TRENTON) - On Tuesday, Oct. 20, President Bill Clinton will headline two rallies in support of Corzine/Weinberg '09 and the entire Democratic ticket.

As momentum continues to build for Governor Jon S. Corzine's reelection, President Clinton will join the Governor and Lieutenant Governor candidate Senator Loretta Weinberg at a rally with hundreds of Camden County supporters in Collingswood.

***MEDIA ADVISORY - TUESDAY***

PRESIDENT BILL CLINTON TO CAMPAIGN ACROSS NEW JERSEY FOR CORZINE, DEMOCRATS

42nd President of the United States to Headline New Brunswick Rally in Support of Corzine-Weinberg & NJ Democrats

(TRENTON) - On Tuesday, Oct. 20, President Bill Clinton will headline two rallies in support of Corzine/Weinberg '09 and the entire Democratic ticket.

As momentum continues to build for Governor Jon S. Corzine's reelection, President Clinton will join the Governor and Lieutenant Governor candidate Senator Loretta Weinberg at a rally with hundreds of Rutgers University students in New Brunswick.