Brian Levine

HAMILTON -- Former U.S. Attorney Chris Christie rolled up another county line in his quest for the Republican gubernatorial nomination tonight, winning the Mercer County Republican Convention.

Christie got 99 votes to rival Steve Lonegan’s 16, Assemblyman Rick Merkt’s 14 and Franklin Township Mayor Brian Levine’s two.  Candidate David Brown did not receive any votes.

Christie, Merkt, Levine and Brown all showed up and gave six minute stump speeches.  Lonegan had a fundraising engagement, but was represented by campaign staffer Hank Butehorn.

There is some speculation that Franklin Mayor Brian Levine will drop his bid for the GOP nomination for Governor before the April 2 Somerset County Republican Convention.  While the buzz from party events is that Levine is smart and likeable, he has not been doing well in early contests and, sources say, is unlikely to raise the $340,000 to qualify for matching funds.   Out of more than 1600 votes cast in local Republican conventions and screening committees so far, just six have been cast for Levine. 

Franklin Township has 94 delegates to the Somerset GOP convention, and if Levine gets less votes from his hometown than the total number of delegates it sends, the gubernatorial campaign could be viewed as a net loss for  him as he looks toward a potentially competitive 2011 re-election campaign.

From left to right: Assemblyman Richard Merkt (R-Mendham), former Bogota Mayor Steve Lonegan, and inventor David Brown

NORTH PLAINFIELD – The Republican candidates for governor not named Chris Christie or Brian D. Levine stood in front of a small crowd of North Plainfield Republicans Tuesday night and took two questions from the audience at the direction of municipal GOP chair Richard Blundin.

Campaign literature bearing the face of a grizzly bear and paying homage to Sarah Palin meant that South Brunswick inventor David Brown could not have been far to have distributed those materials, and there he was alongside former Bogota Mayor Steve Lonegan and Assemblyman Richard Merkt (R-Mendham).

Lonegan and Merkt each emphasized what they see as the problem of illegal immigration in New Jersey, and Brown liked what he heard from both of them.

Tom Wilson's best chance at keeping his job may be for Brian Levine to win the Republican nomination for Governor.  Sources close to the two leading candidates, Christopher Christie and Steven Lonegan, say that Wilson is a goner with no hope of holding on as GOP State Chairman after the June primary.  Another candidate, Richard Merkt, called for Wilson's ouster last year.  By tradition, the winner of the gubernatorial primary gets to pick the new state party chairman.

With new polls released by Quinnipiac University and Rasmussen Reports, Fairleigh Dickinson University decided to re-release their March 4 poll on the New Jersey gubernatorial primaries this morning.  The data in their previous poll appears to be the same as the one released today. 

Mayor Brian Levine

FRANKLIN TWP. – There’s a woman at a town hall microphone and she’s mad.

“We need more cricket fields,” she cries, and she hardly appears pacified as the Franklin Town Council kicks around some answers before At-large Councilman Rajiv Prasad leans over and hands her his card and tells her, “I’m a cricketer.”

“Good,” she exclaims. “I need a cricketer.”

The exchange causes a man in a soccer jacket to come out of his chair and now he’s up at the microphone and telling Mayor Brian D. Levine and the council that cricket consumes an entire day to play.

“Cricket is a dominant sport,” he explains, not angry but forceful. “It takes an area and it dominates it for eight hours, and it is played eight or nine months each year.”

Former Bogota Mayor Steven Lonegan has gained in his bid to win the Republican nomination for Governor.  In a Quinnipiac University matchup of Republican primary contenders, former U.S. Attorney Christopher Christie leads Lonegan by 21 points, 40%-19%.  For Lonegan, those numbers are an improvement: Christie led 44%-17% in a February 4 Quinnipiac poll.

While Christie has a nine-point lead over the Democratic Governor, Jon Corzine, Lonegan’s numbers are not too shabby for a Republican in March with 29% statewide name ID.  Lonegan trails Corzine by just four points, 41%-37%.

Chris Christie

GOP gubernatorial candidate Chris Christie blew away the rest of the field here today at the Northeastern Republican Organization (NERO) convention, earning 91.7% of the vote of District 39 committee members. 

“Let’s not take our foot off the gas pedal,” Christie told a crowd gathered outside the Hillsdale Municipal Building. “Tomorrow, Mary Pat and I are celebrating our 23rd wedding anniversary, and you all gave us our gift today.” 

Christie won 212 votes, trailed by former Bogota Mayor Steve Lonegan’s tally of 18, and Assemblyman Richard Merkt’s mark of 1. Franklin Township Mayor Brian Levine received zero votes.

State Sen. Joe Kyrillos (R-Middletown), right, greets GOP gubernatorial candidate Chris Christie

The start of this Northeastern Republican Organization (NERO) convention is delayed until former U.S. Attorney Chris Christie arrives and when he gets here with a packed room at the Hillsdale Municipal Building waiting, he’s the first speaker.

“Alphabetical order,” explains Mike Ryan of Harrington Park, the chairman of NERO.

Christie makes brief remarks.

“This election is extraordinarily important,” the front running Christie tells the crowd. “You feel the sense of desperation people are feeling, probably for the first time in my lifetime. …We had a governor who four years ago said he would increase property tax rebates 40% over four years and now he wants to zero those out. …If he wonders why people are cynical he ought to get up in the morning and look at himself in the mirror.”

In the race for the GOP gubernatorial nomination, Christopher Christie won the backing of the Middlesex County Republican Screening Committee tonight, defeating Steve Lonegan 57-9.  Rick Merkt received two votes, and Brian Levine won one vote.