Diane Allen

The decision of Senate Minority Leader Thomas Kean, Jr. (R-Westfield) to remove his name from consideration for Lt. Governor removes one of the top names from Chris Christie's list, and makes State Sen. Diane Allen (R-Edgewater Park) and Bergen County Clerk Kathleen Donovan more serious contenders.  Kean was reportedly one of the leading contenders to become Christie's running mate.

Democratic sources say that Senate Appropriations Committee Chair Barbara Buono (D-Metuchen) remains a strong candidate to run with Gov. Jon Corzine. Other names being mentioned by party leaders this week include two Republicans, New Jersey Chamber of Commerce President Joan Verplanck and Rev. DeForest "Buster" Soaries, a former N.J. Secretary of State.  It's hard to imagine Soaries is a real contender: he was an early supporter of George W. Bush for President in 2000, and national Republicans helped him in his congressional campaign against Democrat Rush Holt in 2002.  His presence on the ticket might make it more difficult for Democrats to tie Christie to Bush, as they did at Corzine's campaign kickoff on Tuesday.

HANOVER - Both rumored as lieutenant governor prospects for GOP gubernatorial nominee Chris Christie, state Senate Minority Leader Tom Kean (R-Westfield) and state Sen. Diane Allen (R-Burlington) wouldn't delve into the LG question on Tuesday night.

"The only ones thinking about lieutenant governor right now are you guys at PolitickerNJ.com," said Allen, shortly before Christie accepted the Republican nomination.

Allen has said before she would consider the job if asked, and repeated her interest tonight - if her presence on the ticket served the party.

Kean waved off the LG question.

"Tonight is about Chris," he said of the nominee. "What Chris was talking about tonight was our need for a leader willing to make the tough choices, which Jon Corzine has been unwilling to make."

If Christopher Christie becomes the Republican nominee for Governor, he'll have thirty days to decide on a running mate.  Republican leaders close to the former U.S. Attorney seem to think the race for Lt. Governor is down to two finalists: Senate Minority Leader Thomas Kean, Jr. (R-Westfield) and State Sen. Diane Allen (R-Edgewater Park), with Bergen County Clerk Kathleen Donovan sitting third on the list.

Kean's fledgling candidacy is helped by his previous statewide experience and his knowledge of state issues.  He was the GOP nominee for U.S. Senate in 2006, and while he sometimes struggled as a candidate - his avoidance of reporters in an Atlantic City elevator comes to find - his 44% in a bad Republican year had to be a growing experience.  And he's been vetted by the thorough opposition research of Bob Menendez, which means it is unlikely that anything in Kean's background would embarrass Christie.

He has won good reviews for his role as Senate Republican leader from colleagues who view him as more partisan and more aggressive than his predecessor, Leonard Lance.  He seems well-liked, and understands vast details of state government - a quality that might be a good balance for Christie, who has served as a Freeholder and as a federal prosecutor.

The 40-year-old Kean comes from a prominent political family: his father served two terms as Governor and later as Drew University President and as Chairman of the 9/11 Commission; his grandfather was a ten-term Congressman, and his great-grandfather served in the United States Senate.

But Kean's greatest weakness as a candidate for Lt. Governor is his natural hesitation to be an attack dog.  While he has become more combative since his 2006 defeat, he is not exactly the kind of guy who will criticize Democrats just for being Democrats.  He's often reluctant to get his hands dirty.  Kean may not attract voters that Christie won't get on his own, but he won't hurt Christie either.

Allen, 61, has a legitimate base in South Jersey, where she was well known as a television news anchorwoman for a Philadelphia network affiliate before launching a career in politics in 1995.  She has won five races in a district that has elected Democrats to the Assembly for the last twelve years, and got received seasoning as a candidate for the GOP U.S. Senate nomination in 2002.  She helps Christie in Burlington, Camden and Gloucester counties - places Republicans will need to better than they have in recent statewide elections if they want to beat Gov. Jon Corzine.  And Allen might be more willing than Kean to be act in a fiercely partisan manner.

College is so expensive that most parents can't afford to make mistakes when choosing where to send their children. This bill will help both parents and students make better choices about where to spend their precious educational dollars.

Moorestown investor John Culbertson said today that he is not interested in running for Congress in 2010.

“I’ve given a lot of thought.   I’ve actually spoken to a number of people and consulted a variety of folks, and I’ve decided that 2010 is not the right time for me to run – primarily for personal reasons,” said Culbertson.  “I am not a candidate for 2010, but I am certainly interested if the time is right in the future.”
 
Although he did not have much of a history with the Republican Party in his native Burlington County, Culbertson was an intriguing candidate to some GOP insiders because of his ability to self-fund. 

Republicans are working hard to recruit a candidate early to take on freshman U.S. Rep. John Adler (D-Cherry Hill), who was the first Democrat to win a seat in the 3rd District since the late 19th century.  Adler, obviously aware that national Republicans plan to target his seat next year, raised almost $500,000 last quarter. 

Senator Diane Allen introduces vitally important legislation aimed at preventing violent gang members from escaping justice.

Bill Pascoe managed Republican statewide primaries in New Jersey in 2001 and 2002. He won both of them.

Republican consultant Bill Pascoe, who has managed several statewide campaigns in New Jersey, said that, if asked, he would advise presumed GOP frontrunner Chris Christie to shore up the primary vote by tightening his attacks on Gov. Corzine.

Pascoe said that today's Quinnipiac poll of likely Republican primary voters showing Christie ahead of rival Steve Lonegan by nine points - a much narrower gap than Christie's numbers against Lonegan among registered Republicans in past surveys - means that Christie ignores the primary challenge at his own peril.  Pascoe said that Christie can appeal to conservatives by going even harder after Corzine.

In 2002, Pascoe managed Doug Forester's U.S. Senate campaign, and said he managed to make him appeal to conservatives to win the primary.

"We made the moderate Doug Forester look like he was the most conservative guy in the Republican primary because we did a better job of attacking the incumbent Democrat that all the conservatives in New Jersey couldn't stand, Bob Torricelli."

Freshman U.S. Rep. John Adler has $426,587 cash on hand

With news that freshman U.S. Rep. John Adler (D-Cherry Hill) has raised more money than any other incumbent in a potentially competitive 2010 race during the first quarter of 2009, it is worth noting that Republicans still don't have a candidate to challenge him in a district that they held from 1884 until 2008.  Adler beat Medford Mayor Christopher Myers 52%-48% for the seat of Republican James Saxton, who retired after twelve terms in Congress.

Adler raised $464,125 last quarter and has $426,587 cash on hand. Republicans think they can beat Adler next year, but the National Republican Congressional Committee sent signals earlier this year that they want the candidate in place soon so that he or she can begin fundraising.  That's what Adler did in 2006, before Saxton had announced his intention to retire.  If the third district Republican candidate does not meet certain early fundraising goals, sources say that the NRCC might not become fully engaged in the race, according to one House Republican staffer familiar with NRCC operations.

So far, one candidate has said he expects to run: former Tabernacle Committeeman Justin Murphy, who surprised political observers last year when he won 25.2% of the vote in the Republican primary for Congress.  Murphy finished third, just 37 votes behind Ocean County Freeholder Jack Kelly, who had the powerful organization line in Ocean.

State Sen. Diane Allen (R-Edgewater Park) is widely mentioned as a possible candidate for Lt. Governor if Chris Christie wins the GOP primary.

One major obstacle for Diane Allen as a potential candidate for Lieutenant Governor is the objection of Burlington County Republican leaders who have been feuding with the popular South Jersey State Senator from the last two years.  Allen, a former TV anchorwoman has proven herself as a strong vote-getter in the suburban Philadelphia region, winning five successive general elections in a Democratic-leaning district.

Allen nearly entered the race for Congress in 2008 after Jim Saxton announced his retirement, but withdrew when it became apparent that her home county organization would not support her.  Some pundits think that Allen would have kept the seat in Republican hands against Democrat John Adler, who won the seat 52%-48% against the lesser known Christopher Myers. The same pundits say that Allen’s presence on the ballot might have prevented Republicans from losing two Freeholder seats and the County Clerk’s office.

Beck in Bernards.

BERNARDS – The Somerset County Federation of Republican Women (SCFRW) on Thursday night at the Bernards Inn honored state Sen. Jennifer Beck (R-Red Bank) with their 17th Annual Millicent Fenwick Award for Outstanding Public Service.

A packed banquet hall included “sister Senator” Marcia Karrow (R-Raritan Twp.), Assemblyman Pete Biondi (R-Hillsborough), past award recipients Assemblywoman Denise Coyle (R-Bernards) and Somerset County Freeholder Pat Walsh, Somerset County GOP Chairman Dale Florio (who worked as a congressional aide for Fenwick), Somerset County Freeholder Jack M. Ciattarelli, Union County GOP Finance Chair Kelly Hatfield, and many others.