Chris Smith

With the House likely to vote on the revised bailout package tomorrow, six of the seven New Jersey congressmen who voted against it on Monday have either not decided or not indicated how they will vote tomorrow. 

Only Scott Garrett (R-Wantage) has given any inkling as to how he’ll vote.  On Fox News this morning, he said that the bill has barely changed.

“Basically we’re getting the exact same bill with some pork added to it to sweeten things up.  And that doesn’t make matters better. It really makes matters worse,” he said. 

The New Jersey delegation's vote on the bailout bill was close, and did not occur along party lines.

But while there were some odd vote combinations, with liberal Congressmen like U.S. Rep. Steve Rothman (D-Fair Lawn) voting the same way as his conservative neighbor, Scott Garrett (R-Wantage), they tended to cite different reasons.

Ultimately, New Jersey Congressmen voted against the bill by a 7-6 margin. None, however, enthusiastically supported it. Nor did any of its detractors express glee at its downfall, and some expressed more openness to voting for a new compromise package than others.

By far the most vociferous opponent of the bailout was Garrett, who yesterday took to the floor and excoriated his colleagues who supported it.

Josh Zeitz, left, speaks to a Saturday crowd that includes Mercer County Executive Brian J. Hughes, right.: Politicker photo 

TRENTON - Since the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee last week listed the 4th Congressional race as one to watch, Democratic challenger Josh Zeitz has received, on average, cash commitments of $10,000 per day for his campaign, according to spokesman Steven D’Amico.

"It’s more than what we were getting before," said D’Amico, who wouldn’t specify exactly how much more.

Bolstered by the cash infusion, Zeitz took the floor at Saturday’s Obama HQ opening and declared that Nov. 4th will usher in a Democratic sweep.

Assemblywoman Linda Stender (D-Fanwood) and Josh Zeitz in Trenton this afternoon.: Politicker photo 

TRENTON - Wall Street is melting down while President George W. Bush fundraises in Colts Neck for candidates who will continue his failed policies, argued Democrats at a Statehouse press conference this afternoon.

State Democratic Chairman Joseph Cryan stood with congressional candidates, Assemblywoman Linda Stender (D-Fanwood) and professor Joshua Zeitz of Bordentown. They all whiplashed Republicans for allowing Bush to come and raise money in a state where the latest Strategic Vision poll shows the president with a 20 percent job approval rating.

Fourth district congressional candidate Josh Zeitz has been added to the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee’s “races to watch” list.

The placement could put Zeitz, who’s challenging long-term incumbent U.S. Rep. Chris Smith (R-Hamilton), on deck to receive fundraising help from the DCCC over the next two months.

The “races to watch” category is the third tier of the group’s prospects. The first tier – the “Red to Blue” program - provides fundraising help in the most competitive districts. Assemblywoman Linda Stender, who’s running against Republican state Sen. Leonard Lance for an open seat in District 7, and State Sen. John Adler, who’s running Republican Medford Mayor Chris Myers for an open seat in District 3, are in that program. Blind rabbi/psychologist Dennis Shulman, who’s running against U.S. Rep. Scott Garrett in the 5th District, is in the second tier “emerging races” program.

Republican Chris Smith is seeking his 15th term in Congress. He was first elected in 1980.: Getty Images Photo
An outraged U.S. Rep. Christopher H. Smith (R-Hamilton) wants an apology from his Democratic challenger for calling him a bigot and for falsely charging that he concealed campaign contributions from two conservative Christian groups.

Democrat Josh Zeitz, a college history professor challenging the fourteen-term Congressman, released a video this week seeking to dispel the notion that Smith is a moderate. Yesterday he took that a step further, calling Smith a “bigot.”

Zeitz’s claims were amplified by an article in The New Republic, a left leaning magazine, which yesterday outlined Smith’s ties to what Zeitz called “religious-right hate groups.”

Today, the magazine retracted part of their story and, Smith says, apologized to him.

BLOOMINGTON, Minn. -- U.S. Rep. Chris Smith said he votes differently than the Bush Administration’s policies and his own party more than any other New Jersey Republican.

But Smith takes a measured tone when reflecting on what the legacy of the Bush era will look like.

“I think there’s a tremendous amount of anger directed at him.  He gets blamed for all kinds of things,” said Smith.

MINNEAPOLIS - Stunned by Sen. John McCain’s (R-Ariz.) headline-snatching announcement last Friday that he selected Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin as his running mate, N.J. Democrats this week re-set after taking a three-day hard look at Palin.

So far, they’re having a difficult time squaring an obscure Alaskan with New Jersey’s hard-edged, ethnically diverse environs, despite Republicans’ best efforts - in the words of State GOP Chairman Tom Wilson - to make a case for why "New Jersey will love Sarah Palin."

"They have Eskimos in Alaska," former Summit Councilwoman Kelly Hatfield said to the suggestion that Palin may not have experience relating to the kinds of ethnic groups whose myriad cultures saturate New Jersey.

As for the fact that Palin’s a woman - a younger, slimmer verison of Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-NY) with an attitude to tempt backlash voters over to the GOP after Clinton’s primary loss - Democrats remain unimpressed.

BLOOMINGTON, Minn. -- U.S. Rep. Chris Smith tends to shun the spotlight, but he couldn’t avoid the congratulations coming from his fellow Republicans today.

Smith (R-Hamilton) made an appearance this morning at the delegation breakfast, just weeks after making headlines for extracting two of his constituents from their grandparents’ home in the Republic of Georgia.

Ocean County Republican Chairman George Gilmore came over to greet smith, who represents part of his county.

“You’re looking good,” he said.

Smith last month got an email from one of his constituents, Joseph Evans, telling him that his two daughters were stuck at their grandparents farm in the Republic of Georgia. Smith sprung into action from his district office in Hamilton, spending a week working the phones from Hamilton before heading to Tbilisi himself.

U.S. Rep. Chris Smith (R-Hamilton): Politicker photo 

MINNEAPOLIS - U.S. Rep. Chris Smith (R-Hamilton) said New Jersey is now in play because of the governor of Alaska.

"We will have a competent woman as the next vice president of the United States," Smith said of presumptive Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin.

"She rejected the bridge to nowhere. She's a reformer. We need to work overtime....If New Jersey was held two months ago, maybe there would be a different outcome, but not now, not today," Smith said.