Frank Lautenberg

Both of New Jersey's Democratic U.S. Senators have taken a slight dip in the job approval ratings since last month, according to a new Quinnipiac University poll released today.

Frank Lautenberg (D-Cliffside Park) is at 43%-40% among likely voters and 42%-39% among registered voters; he was at 44%-36% in June and at 46%-37% in May. Among Independents, Lautenberg is upside-down at 39%-47%.

Robert Menendez (D-Hoboken) has a 40%-37% approval rating among likely voters, and at 39%-37% among registered voters.  He was at 40%-31% in June and 41%-32% in May, among registered voters.  Among Independents, Menendez is upside-down 34%-43%.

In 1990, after then-Gov. Jim Florio raised taxes by $2.4 billion, popular Democratic U.S. Senator Bill Bradley also took a hit with voters: he won re-election with just 50.4% of the vote. 

Obama as a presidential candidate with AFL-CIO workers at the War Memorial in May, 2007.

This time, he is the establishment.

Democratic Party dog-soldiers go back to 2006 with Barack Obama, who campaigned in the Garden State for Bob Menendez and made fast friends with Paterson Councilwoman Vera Ames - among others - when he addressed her personally from the stage at a Passaic County rally.

Since then, Obama came here for numerous private fundrasiers connected to his 2008 presidential campaign, among them an early Bergen County mixer with elected official supporters he could count on two hands at that stage of his career, including state Sen. Loretta Weinberg (D-Teaneck), Newark Mayor Cory Booker and West Ward Councilman Ronald C. Rice; and later a summer soiree at the Middletown manse of Jon Bon Jovi after he secured his party's nomination for the presidency and had the big money behind him. 

Now as Democrats hope to solder their champion to the still-standing but wobbling - if most of the polls are to be believed - candidacy of Gov. Jon Corzine in an attempt to create energy by proximity, President Obama's Thursday evening PNC Bank Center rally with the governor stands within a two-year campaign context.

Paul Brubaker, a former high school social studies teacher who covered politics for the Star-Ledger, the Herald News and the Montclair Times, is the new Communications Director for U.S. Rep. Bill Pascrell (D-Paterson).  Brubaker succeeds Caley Gray, who has moved over to the Senate side to work for U.S. Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-Cliffside Park).

One factoid that has appeared on PolitickerNJ.com numerous times in recent years is being reprinted in honor of Republican National Chairman Michael Steele's visit to the Garden State: Republicans haven't won a statewide election in New Jersey since 1997; since then, 49 other states have elected a Republican to statewide office.

Despite their winning streak, New Jersey Democrats went fourteen years without re-electing an incumbent to statewide office.  U.S. Senator Frank Lautenberg (D-Cliffside Park) was re-elected in 2008, having last won re-election in 1994.  Besides Lautenberg, the last New Jersey Democrat to win re-election was Bill Bradley in 1990.

JERSEY CITY -- After easily winning a low-turnout election in May, Jersey City Mayor Jerramiah Healy was sworn into his second full term today.

The event, which was formal but with the occasional dose of humor, was attended by the state’s top politicians: Gov. Jon Corzine, U.S. Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-Cliffside Park) and U.S. Sen. Bob Menendez (D-Hoboken), who argued that Healy, having won 53% of the vote in a five man race, had won a mandate based on his five-year record.  

Also sworn in were the city’s nine council members, most of whom were already incumbents.  All but one of them ran on Healy’s slate.  
    
Healy gave 30 minute policy-focused inaugural speech that he seemed anxious to get through, occasionally stopping to tell the audience that he was almost done and asking the person running his teleprompter to speed things up.

A lawsuit filed against Hackensack Police Chief Ken Zisa alleging that he extorted campaign contributions from police officers for his campaigns for State Assembly and for other candidates is likely to end Bergen County Freeholder Tomas Padilla's campaign for U.S. Marshal.  Padilla, a Hackensack police captain, is Zisa's co-defendant.  While the allegations against Zisa and Padilla remain unproven, it is unlikely that the White House would nominate a candidate for a federal law enforcement post while a lawsuit that alleges political shakedowns and retaliations against police officers hangs over his head.

Look for Padilla to drop his bid to succeed U.S. Marshal James Plousis soon.  This could put Bergen County Sheriff Leo McGuire, who dropped out and endorsed Padilla, back in the game.  Padilla reportedly had the backing of U.S. Senator Robert Menendez (D-Hoboken), while U.S. Senator Frank Lautenberg (D-Cliffside Park) is reportedly supporting Lourdes Timberman Correa, a 20-year veteran of the U.S. Marshal's office. 

U.S. Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-Cliffside Park), right, and Gov. Jon Corzine.

The headlining presence of former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney at a Chris Christie fundraiser last night in Holmdel rankled U.S. Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-Cliffside Park), who made particular note of Romney and Christie's shared allegiance to former President George W. Bush, a bottom feeder on New Jersey public opinion polls for the bulk of time he served in office.

"Chris Christie is kicking off his (general election) campaign with a conservative Republican whose extreme right-wing positions couldn't be more out of touch with New Jersey residents," Lautenberg said of Romney, a failed 2008 candidate for president.

"Mitt Romney has repeatedly denounced President Obama's economic recovery package, has declared his opposition to a woman's right to choose, condemned the President's selection of Sonia Sotomayor for the Supreme Court, and proven himself to be a prime supporter and was a cheerleader for George W. Bush," Lautenberg said in a Democratic State Committee press release.

While running for president, Romney said he was a "conservative's conservative" and didn't hide his admiration for Bush.

Gov. Jon Corzine today named Sharon Harrington, the Chief Administrator of the New Jersey Motor Vehicle Commission (MVC), to the Casino Control Commission.  Harrington is a former State Director for U.S. Senator Frank Lautenberg, and was Deputy Campaign Manager for Jim Florio's campaign for Governor.  There is still one open seat on the Casino Control Commission.

American Journalists Reporting from China-North Korea Border Charged, Convicted and Sentenced to 12 Years of Hard Labor

Senator Kevin O’Toole (R-40) has written letters to officials of both the United States and China appealing for their assistance in ongoing efforts to obtain the release of a pair of American journalists who were arrested, convicted and sentenced by North Korea to 12 years of hard labor. The reporters, Laura Ling and Euna Lee, were working on a story about the human trafficking of women across the China-North Korea border at the time of their arrest for committing what has only been described as a “grave crime” by the insular nation.

(more…)