Bill Clinton

Former President Bill Clinton is running late, leaving more than 1,000 Democrats waiting on the Saturday before the election at a rally for Democratic congressional candidate Linda Stender.  The rally began at 12:30 PM, with Clinton expected about an hour later.  It's now 2:20 PM and the former President has not yet arrived.  That's tough on the master of ceremonies, State Sen. Raymond Lesniak, who is trying hard to come up with new material to keep the crowd engaged.

Yesterday, Union County Republican Chairman Phil Morin faxed a letter to the president and the communications head of Union County College to ask why they were making an exception to their own policy in order to host Bill Clinton’s rally for Democratic Congressional candidate Linda Stender tomorrow.

So far, he has not heard back from either of them.

So today, Morin fired off an email, this time to Trustee Edward J. Hobbie, complaining that the college’s staff was avoiding him.

“In your capacity as a member of the Board of Trustees and vice chair of the Board of Governors of the College, I am requesting that you inquire why they are ducking me and the media on this issue and why they are allowing partisan political activity on campus when the facility use rules and regulations specifically prohibit it,” wrote Morin (Hobbie’s brother Mark responded immediately to Morin, saying that he would try to reach Edward).

Bill Clinton is coming to New Jersey because Linda Stender is trailing Leonard Lance in the race for the 7th district congressional seat.  The decision of national Democrats to dispatch Clinton to help Stender and not John Adler might be an indication of their confidence in winning the third district race.  It's noteworthy that Clinton will be in the state and not traveling the extra hour to help Adler; it seems the Democrats have made a decision that they're comforable with Adler's chances against Republican Christopher Myers.

Linda Stender trails Leonard Lance by four percentage points in her campaign's most recent internal poll, according to sources in the Stender campaign -- and confirmed by Democratic officials familiar with the 7th district campaign. Former President Bill Clinton is being dispatched to Cranford on Saturday to help boost Stender's chances to win the open House seat -- which Republicans have held continuously since 1956. 

If Linda Stender loses her race for Congress next week, New Jersey Democrats are prepared to blame Emily's List and other Washington-based organizations for her defeat, according to sources within the Stender campaign.  The seventh district House seat has been viewed as a likely pickup for Democrats, but internal polling from both campaigns is showing that Republican Leonard Lance can win the seat that Stender nearly took away from retiring U.S. Rep. Mike Ferguson two years ago.  Suddenly worried about blowing an opportunity to take a seat the GOP has held since 1956, Democrats are bringing in big guns, like former President Bill Clinton, to help Stender win.

The conventional wisdom in New Jersey -- and in Washington, where congressional races are carefully tracked -- is that New Jersey's seventh district was a likely pickup for the Democrats. But news that national Democrats are dispatching former President Bill Clinton to campaign for Linda Stender on Saturday might be interpreted as a sign that the four-term Assemblywoman has not yet closed the deal on the seat, and lends credibility to GOP claims that Republican State Sen. Leonard Lance's campaign has internal polling numbers that show him ahead by nine percentage points.  Democrats would not be sending Clinton, one of their most effective campaigners, to Central New Jersey on the weekend before the election if they weren't worried about the race.

Bill Clinton came to New Jersey the weekend before the 2006 election to stump for Bob Menendez and Linda Stender

Former President Bill Clinton will be come to New Jersey on Saturday to campaign for Assemblywoman Linda Stender’s (D-Fanwood) Congressional bid, according to a Democrat close to the campaign. The time, place and date have not yet been set, but it will be somewhere in the 7th District, where Stender is facing off against State Sen. Leonard Lance (R-Flemington).  PolitickerNJ.com will have more details as the schedule takes shape. 

CLICK HERE TO READ WALLY EDGE'S VIEW OF WHAT THE CLINTON VISIT MEANS TO THE 7TH DISTRICT RACE

A quick look at several old New Jersey presidential polls taken (mostly) in September:

BLOOMINGTON, Minn. -- Former Gov. Tom Kean, Sr. has been offered three cabinet positions by two presidents – both Democrat and Republican – during his career. He turned them down each time.

If John McCain wins the presidency, Kean said, this time will be no different.

“Obviously I’d help the president out in any way I could if there was a commission or something I could help on a temporary basis, but I’m not looking for a full time position in Washington. I never have been,” he said.

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