George Bush

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As he coasts out of office next week making the point to CNN’s Larry King that historians are still trying to figure out George Washington’s place in history, after all; and history, not polling, matters, President George W. Bush enjoys a five percent job approval rating uptick among New Jersey voters, according to Fairleigh Dickinson University PublicMind poll today released today. 

That puts him at a still abysmal 21 percent job approval rating here in the Garden State, an historical low mark from New Jersey voters but for Bush’s nearly bottomed out pre-election totem. Seventy-percent of voters disapprove of the lame duck's job performance.

Conversely and not surprisingly given honeymoon period history for national leaders, President-elect Barack Obama comes to office with high marks. 

The numbers: Thirty-four percent of New Jerseyans now say the country’s on the right track, up from 13 percent taken before the Nov. 4th presidential election. Fifty-two percent say the country is on the wrong track, declining from a high of 78 percent before the November election. "That change," according to the poll, "is reflected strongly among Democrats and independents rather than Republicans."

On the day Secretary of Homeland Security Michael Chertoff came back to his hometown to address students at Kean University in the waning days of his term of service with the Bush administration, U.S. Rep. Rob Andrews (D-Haddon Heights) took a moment to access his legacy.

“We were fortunate to have a person of Secretary Chertoff's abilities and level of commitment serving our country,” said Andrews said in a statement. “He served well at a difficult time.”

In his speech at Kean, the Union County-born secretary expressed frustration with the traditional committee system in Congress.

Michael Chertoff with President George W. Bush in a 2005 White House photograph.

UNION – Talk to people in New Jersey’s legal profession and no one denies that what Secretary of Homeland Security Michael Chertoff perhaps lacks in charisma or courtroom presence, he compensates for with something more fundamental:  profound powers of reason. 

“Going back 20 years, he was a great lawyer, a brilliant lawyer – hard but fair,” said attorney Ted Wells.

His friends in the New Jersey political world say Chertoff’s a creature of hard analysis not politics.  “This is one of the brilliant legal minds of the country,” said Assemblyman Jon Bramnick (R-Westfield), who introduced Chertoff today at Kean University, where the Homeland Security Secretary and author of the USA Patriot Act reflected on his three-year term in the Bush administration.

His tenure included his grim mea culpa in front of Congress following what he acknowledged was his department’s 2005 failure to respond effectively to Hurricane Katrina. 

But Katrina didn’t come up today as a cross-section of audience members in friendly fashion mostly picked the Elizabeth native’s brain about general public policy during the question and answer portion of his presentation.

Normal 0 Big Oil Donates to Lance to Continue Failed Bush Energy Policy

Lance Campaign Provoked by Accurate Claims on Women’s Health Issues

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State Sen. Leonard Lance (R-Hunterdon): Politicker file photo 

It’s Rangel versus Bush in the 7th Congressional District, where apparently voters will ultimately have to decide which of these two is the more toxic campaign sugar daddy.

Roll Call reports that Freedom’s Watch, a hard-right group founded in part by former Bush spokesman Ari Fleischer, has purchased $500,000 in ad time for 7th District Republican candidate state Sen. Leonard Lance (R-Hunterdon).

That makes the money they’re dumping into New Jersey’s 7th District, Freedom Watch’s largest expenditure for any single race, according to the Washington D.C.-based newspaper.

Struggling to raise money after a tough primary, Lance turned to President George W. Bush this week for a private fundraiser in Colts Neck. Lance wants to gain traction in his fight with big money candidate Assemblywoman Linda Stender (D-Fanwood).

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.

A quick look at several old New Jersey presidential polls taken (mostly) in September: