Christine Todd Whitman

Congressional candidate Kate Whitman is joined by her mother, former Gov. Christie Whitman, at a dinner in Scotch Plains
SCOTCH PLAINS - A familiar face joined 7th District Congressional candidate Kate Whitman as she trailed through diners along US-22 today, her mother former Gov. Christie Whitman.

"I thought I was done with this," the former governor said jokingly. Her public presence, only the second time in this campaign, lent a familiar face to voters who seemed to be caught off guard that today was Primary Day.

"I didn't even know she was running for anything," Cindy Soloway of Scotch Plains told PolitickerNJ.com, "What is she running for?"

When one diner asked Whitman who else was running, Whitman raised her right hand and swiftly rattled off the names of her 6 opponents, "Its me, Leonard Lance, Kelly Hatfield…" she continued, counting her finger tips.

Over the past year, former Governor Christine Todd Whitman has offered keen political commentary as a PolitickerNJ.com blogger, voicing her positions on a multitude of local, state and national issues. Her participation has enhanced political discourse within the New Jersey political arena. We have been honored by her presence and are truly grateful for her willingness to share her views with the New Jersey political community. Christie Whitman deeply cares about this state and its future, and when she speaks, all New Jerseyans ought to reflect on what she has to say.

Judy Shaw is retiring as a partner in one of Trenton's biggest lobbying firmsCiting health issues, Judy Shaw, a former Chief of Staff to Gov. Christine Todd Whitman and a partner in a major State Street lobbying firm, announced her retirement today.  She will remain with MBI GluckShaw as “of counsel” in the firm she started with Hazel Gluck.

Shaw underwent extensive back surgery in February and requires extensive rehabilitation. She will divide her time between homes in Florida and Massachusetts. 

New Jersey Supreme Court Justice Virginia Long has four years left before she reaches the mandatory retirement age of seventy, but there is some speculation in higher echelon political circles that she will retire early – opening up another Supreme Court appointment for Gov. Jon Corzine before he seeks re-election in November 2009.  Long turns 70 in March 2012.

Insiders say that there are three leading candidates for Somerset County Democratic Chairman: Michael Ceponis, who was the last Democrat to win election to the Somerset County Board of Freeholders (Christie Whitman unseated him in 1982); former Warren Township Board of Education Rebecca Perkins, who ran a close race for Freeholder in 1999; and Margaret Schaffer, the Bedminster Democratic Municipal Chair.  The incumbent, Elia Pelios, is not seeking re-election.

Republican political consultant Tom Blakely died this morning after collapsing during a 5k run in Bordentown. He was 47.

Blakely was the President of Jamestown Associates, a New Jersey-based GOP consulting firm. A U.S. Marine Corps veteran, he served as an aide to Rep. Dick Zimmer and was Campaign Manager of Zimmer’s 1996 U.S. Senate bid against Robert Torricelli. He also ran County Executive campaigns for James Treffinger and Robert Prunetti, and was Director of Appointments for Gov. Christine Todd Whitman.