Brendan Byrne

The Philadelphia Phillies and the New York Yankees have met in a Word Series only once before: in 1950.  The Governor of New Jersey was Alfred Driscoll, a Republican from Haddonfield and a serious Phillies fan. There were no statewide elections that year, and thirteen Congressmen running for re-election won; the GOP held an open seat in the old seventh district (Bergen County in those days) with 70% of the vote.

The Phillies have only been in the World Series during one New Jersey gubernatorial election year: 1993, when Republican Christine Todd Whitman ousted incumbent James Florio, a Camden County Democrat. 

New Jersey has elected Governors eleven times in a year when the Yankees won the World Series.  Democrats have won in seven of those years, and the Republicans in four.  In those years, when the Democrats win the governorship, the Yankees win the World Series 57% of the time; when the GOP elects a Governor, the Yankees are world champions 75% of the time.

Caroline Kennedy, and Democratic State Party Chairman Joe Cryan

BELMAR - Appearing Wednesday night here at the Barclay in support of Democratic Gov. Jon Corzine, Caroline Kennedy reached back to 1980 when her late uncle, Sen. Edward Kennedy, campaigned for the presidency and won the Democratic Primary in New Jersey.

"I remember campaigning with Teddy in Elizabeth, Jersey City and Hoboken, and that victory you gave to him meant the most to him," said Kennedy, recalling other campaign visits throughout the years too, but dwelling on that Jersey win, when incumbent President Jimmy Carter defeated her uncle in 24 of 34 primaries but failed to turn him back here.

When Corzine mentioned how the senator, who died on August 25th after battling brain cancer, stood in the same spot in 2005 to help Corzine in his first run for the governorship, State Party Chairman Joe Cryan choked up at the memory before the governor added, "Nobody looks out for Jon Corzine like this Irishman, Joe Cryan."

There was sustained applause for Cryan and the late Kennedy from this Irish-American crowd that packed the split-level bar and banquet hall a block away from the capital beach for a community hovering at near 16% of the total population in New Jersey, for whom Caroline Kennedy remains a beloved symbol.

Corzine then invoked another Irish politician in the room, former Gov. Brendan Byrne, who occupied the chair of honor between Kennedy on one side, and a stage packed with Irish-American Mayors, including Jersey City Mayor Jerramiah Healy, on the other.

The Eagleton Institute of Politics at Rutgers University will release a poll on the race for Governor on Thursday morning.  Eagleton began polling in September 1971 (Gov. William Cahill had an upside-down 45%-49% job approval rating), and they polled their first gubernatorial race in 1973 -- Democrat Brendan Byrne had a 43%-23% lead over Republican Charles Sandman in October, their fourth poll of the year; Byrne won by 721,000 votes, 66%-32%.

Barack Obama is the fourth President to visit to New Jersey to campaign for the re-election of an incumbent Governor. This is his second visit; there is speculation that he will return again before Election Day.

Bill Clinton stumped for Jim Florio in 1993, Ronald Reagan for Thomas Kean in 1985, and Jimmy Carter for Brendan Byrne in 1977.  Lyndon Johnson did not visit New Jersey when Richard Hughes ran for re-election in 1965, although the First Lady did join Hughes for a tour of a Head Start center in Newark.  And Richard Nixon did not come to New Jersey in support of William Cahill, who lost the Republican primary to a White House ally, U.S. Rep. Charles Sandman.

If Jon Corzine wins re-election, it will be the first time since 1961 that any political party has won three consecutive races for Governor of New Jersey.  If Christopher Christie wins, he will become the first Governor to win his first statewide campaign since 1973.

Republicans won in 1946 and 1949, Democrats in 1953, 1957, 1961 and 1965, Republicans in 1969, Democrats in 1973 and 1977, Republicans in 1981 and 1985, Democrats in 1989, Republicans in 1993 and 1997, and Democrats in 2001 and 2005.

Since Brendan Byrne won in 1973 - his first bid for public office -- future Governors had made prior statewide bids: Thomas Kean lost a 1977 GOP gubernatorial primary before winning in 1981; Jim Florio was elected in 1989 after losing the 1977 Democratic primary and the 1981 general election; Christine Todd Whitman lost a race for U.S. Senate three years before winning the 1993 gubernatorial campaign; James E. McGreevey lost to Whitman in 1997 and won in 2001; and Corzine had run successfully for the U.S. Senate before running for Governor.

Since 1961, the New York Times has endorsed the winner in nine of the last twelve campaigns for Governor of New Jersey.   They have also backed incumbents in each of the last six races where a sitting Governor sought re-election, including their support of Gov. Jon Corzine, and have backed Democrats nine times and Republicans three times.

In races where incumbents were seeking second terms, the New York Times endorsed Christine Todd Whitman in 1997, James Florio in 1993, Thomas Kean in 1985, Brendan Byrne in 1977,and Richard Hughes in 1965.  Florio, Byrne and Hughes were Democrats; Whitman and Kean were Republicans.  Only Florio was defeated; he lost to Whitman.

In contests for open seats, the New York Times backed Corzine in 2005, James E. McGreevey in 2001, Florio in 1989, Kean in 1981, Byrne in 1973, Robert Meyner in 1969, and James Mitchell in 1961.  Kean and Mitchell were Republicans.  Meyner, a former  two-term Governor seeking a comeback, and Mitchell, who was U.S. Secretary of Labor in the Eisenhower administration, were defeated.  Meyner lost to William Cahill and Hughes defeated Mitchell.

When he leaves office in January, Joseph Roberts will become one of eleven living for Speakers of the New Jersey General Assembly. 

Living Speakers:

In a photograph taken in the mid-1970's, left to right: Sen. Harrison Williams, U.S. Reps. Peter Rodino and Jim Howard, Gov. Brendan Byrne, Sen. Ted Kennedy, and Democratic State Chairman Jim Dugan

Ted Kennedy easily won the only campaign when his name appeared on the ballot in New Jersey: his 1980 bid for the Democratic presidential nomination against incumbent Jimmy Carter.  Kennedy won a hotly contested New Jersey primary (held at a time when no candidate had clinched enough delegates to become the nominee) by a 58%-39% margin and a plurality of 102,722 votes.

Kennedy carried 19 of 21 counties, losing only Cape May (by 7 votes) and Salem (by 198 votes).  He narrowly won Hudson (48%-46%), but won solid victories in Bergen (63%-32%), Camden (60%-32%), Essex (62%-33%), and Middlesex (52%-41%).

A Draft Kennedy campaign in New Jersey was launched in September, 1979 by former State Sen. James Dugan (D-Bayonne), who had served as Democratic State Chairman from 1973 to 1977.  Five Democratic State Senators - Frank "Pat" Dodd (D-West Orange), Eugene Bedell (D-Keansburg), Angelo Errichetti (D-Camden), John Gregorio (D-Linden), and Raymond Zane (D-Woodbury) signed on, along with Assemblymen Richard Van Wagner (D-Middletown) and James Bornheimer (D-East Brunswick).

Once Kennedy entered the race, U.S. Rep. James Howard (D-Spring Lake) and Essex County Executive Peter Shapiro became the chairs of his New Jersey campaign.  Fran Rein, a Democratic operative who worked for Shapiro, was the Kennedy state director.  When the New Jersey primary became critical to Kennedy's national campaigns strategy, a young operative named John Sasso, came in to run the day to day operations.  Sasso later ran Michael Dukakis' campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination and was a senior advisor when John Kerry ran for president.

Carter's New Jersey campaign was led by Gov. Brendan Byrne, and activist Daniel Gaby, now the Executive Director of E3 (Excellent Education for Everyone), ran the state campaign.

Since convention delegates are apportioned, Kennedy had 68 delegates from New Jersey and Carter had 45. 

There is some precedent to law enforcement officials mulling political futures from non-political posts.  Brendan Byrne (in 1973)  resigned their his post as Superior Court Judges after the demonstration of some significant support for the Democratic gubernatorial nomination. 

In 1977, Frederick Lacey, a respected U.S. District Court Judge and former U.S. Attorney, was serious about entering the race for the Republican gubernatorial nomination, and some say he wanted to run. After a meeting at his home, at least one major county GOP organization was prepared to back him. That fell apart over a small, but important, detail: Lacey wanted the endorsement to come first, and the Republicans wanted him to resign from the bench and enter the race before they would announce their backing. That was based on the precedent set four years earlier when Byrne delivered his resignation to the Governor's Office and then went outside the statehouse to announce that he would run for Governor.

The New Jersey Supreme Court meets to discuss cases during the 1970s. (Left to right): Associate Justices Sidney Schreiber, Morris Pashman, Worrall Mountain, Chief Justice Richard Hughes, Associates Justices Mark Sullivan, Robert Clifford, and Alan Handler.

Sidney Schreiber, who served as an Associate Justice of the New Jersey Supreme Court from 1975 to 1984, died on Wednesday in West Palm Beach, Florida.  He was 94.

A former Yale Law Review editor and a Republican, Schreiber was named to the top court by Democratic Gov. Brendan Byrne following the retirement of Justice Nathan Jacobs.  He began his legal career as an associate at the law firm of Joseph Weintraub, who served as Chief Justice from 1957 to 1973.  Gov. William Cahill appointed him to serve as a Superior Court Judge in 1972.  He came from Elizabeth.