Bob Dole

Former Vice President Al Gore will be in New Jersey today, lending a hand to Gov. Jon Corzine's re-election by addressing an annual meeting of Democrats in Atlantic City.  Gore becomes the second of the eight living Democratic nominees for President to stump for Corzine; Barack Obama was in the state last July.  Democrats expect two others to be in New Jersey over the next few weeks: former President Bill Clinton, and U.S. Sen. John Kerry.  There are no plans for any of the other four onetime Democratic standard bearers to campaign for Corzine: George McGovern, Jimmy Carter, Walter Mondale and Michael Dukakis.

There are four living Republican presidential candidates.  It's almost certain that former Presidents George H.W. Bush and George W. Bush will not campaigning for GOP gubernatorial candidate Christopher Christie.  There is no word if Bob Dole or John McCain will be visiting New Jersey before November.

Gore also puts in checkmark under the living former Vice Presidents column. It seems certain that Christie won't ask Dick Cheney to come to New Jersey this fall - the heavy traffic on Route 1 notwithstanding. There are no apparent invitations for Mondale or Dan Quayle to stump for Corzine or Christie, respectively.

Vice President Joseph Biden appeared at a Corzine rally on the night of the Democratic primary.

Of the other five living former VP candidates, three almost certainly will not be invited: Sarah Palin, John Edwards, and Joseph Lieberman.  Sargent Shriver has health issues and is no longer making public appearances. That leaves Geraldine Ferraro, and there is a decent chance the Corzine campaign won't want her.

With the death of former U.S. Senator James Pearson (R-Kansas) on January 13, 2009 at age 88, New Jersey's Frank Lautenberg moves up to 20th on the list of the oldest current and former members of the world's most exclusive club: the United States Senate.

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

Joseph Biden is the seventh vice presidential nominee from a state that borders New Jersey since William McKinley picked New York Gov. Theodore Roosevelt to run on his ticket in 1900, following the death of Vice President Garrett Hobart, a resident of Paterson. New Jersey hasn’t cast its electoral votes for a border state VP candidate since U.S. Rep. James Sherman (R-Utica) ran with William Howard Taft in 1908. New Yorkers Jack Kemp (1996), Geraldine Ferraro (1984), William Miller, (1964), and Franklin Roosevelt (1920) did not carry New Jersey when they ran with Bob Dole, Walter Mondale, Barry Goldwater and James Cox, respectively. Sherman ran for re-election with Taft in 1912 (he died a few weeks before the election, but Taft decided not to replace him), but New Jersey supported favorite son Woodrow Wilson instead.

For now, Governor Jon Corzine has quietly asked Democratic party leaders to refrain from public endorsements in the race for the 2008 presidential nomination. But Corzine, unlike predecessors James E. McGreevey in 2004 (Howard Dean) and Christine Todd Whitman in 1996 (Bob Dole) and 2000 (George W. Bush), is unlikely to pressure County Chairmen and legislators to follow his own choice -- if he makes one at all. New Jersey Democrats, according to sources close to Corzine, will be free to pick their own candidate.

New Jersey appears to be set for a February 5, 2008 primary. The Senate has already passed a bill moving the date up from February 26, and Assembly Speaker Joseph Roberts has said he will post the bill in the lower house sometime soon. Corzine has pledged to sign the bill.