Bob Dole

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.