George H.W. Bush

Former Vice President Al Gore will be in New Jersey today, lending a hand to Gov. Jon Corzine's re-election by addressing an annual meeting of Democrats in Atlantic City.  Gore becomes the second of the eight living Democratic nominees for President to stump for Corzine; Barack Obama was in the state last July.  Democrats expect two others to be in New Jersey over the next few weeks: former President Bill Clinton, and U.S. Sen. John Kerry.  There are no plans for any of the other four onetime Democratic standard bearers to campaign for Corzine: George McGovern, Jimmy Carter, Walter Mondale and Michael Dukakis.

There are four living Republican presidential candidates.  It's almost certain that former Presidents George H.W. Bush and George W. Bush will not campaigning for GOP gubernatorial candidate Christopher Christie.  There is no word if Bob Dole or John McCain will be visiting New Jersey before November.

Gore also puts in checkmark under the living former Vice Presidents column. It seems certain that Christie won't ask Dick Cheney to come to New Jersey this fall - the heavy traffic on Route 1 notwithstanding. There are no apparent invitations for Mondale or Dan Quayle to stump for Corzine or Christie, respectively.

Vice President Joseph Biden appeared at a Corzine rally on the night of the Democratic primary.

Of the other five living former VP candidates, three almost certainly will not be invited: Sarah Palin, John Edwards, and Joseph Lieberman.  Sargent Shriver has health issues and is no longer making public appearances. That leaves Geraldine Ferraro, and there is a decent chance the Corzine campaign won't want her.

Bill Palatucci, Chris Christie's former law partner, managed campaigns for Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush, and Tom Kean.

Democrats seem determined to tie former U.S. Attorney Christopher Christie to President Bush if he becomes the Republican nominee for Governor, but Christie’s allies say that it was the ex-Prosecutor’s friend and top strategist, William Palatucci, who avidly championed Bush when he began running for President in the late 1990’s.

Christie, who was Palatucci’s law partner, raised money for George W. Bush’s 2000 presidential campaign as part of a bigger effort coordinated by Palatucci, a veteran Republican operative who ran campaigns for Ronald Reagan, Thomas Kean and George H.W. Bush.

“It’s hard to imagine the Democrats not using every opportunity possible to highlight the fact that Chris Christie was part of an effort that raised significant money for George W. Bush, one of the most unpopular politicians in a generation” said Ben Dworkin, director of the David Rebovich Institute of New Jersey Politics at Rider University. “He’s had an outstanding career as U.S. Attorney. But the connection is different from the one the Democrats tried to use against U.S. Rep. Leonard Lance.”

Assemblywoman Linda Stender (D-Fanwood), the Democratic candidate for Congress against Lance, ran repeated TV ads of Lance’s face interposed with that of Bush.  Lance won by nine percentage points.

“But Christie’s different than Lance because Lance didn’t become an assemblyman and senator because George Bush picked him,” said Dworkin. “Christie became U.S. Attorney because George Bush did.”

The main strand of the Bush-Christie connection hinges on what for Palatucci was a fortuitous encounter with the younger Bush as the then-Texas governor geared up for his 2000 presidential campaign.

At that point, Palatucci’s relationship with the Bushes was already long and recurring, and it was in his role as the New Jersey chief of the presidential campaigns of Bush’s father that he developed a relationship with the younger Bush.

Getty Images Photo

Former Gov. Tom Kean at a GOP rally earlier this year with John McCain and Joe Lieberman

Former Gov. Tom Kean will not comment on whether he’s been asked about or vetted for a cabinet position in the Obama Administration. But don’t read anything into that.

“I don’t comment on those things. I can’t,” said Kean, a Republican whose name surfaced in media reports both as a potential pick for Secretary of Education and for Department of Homeland Security Secretary (which is likely to go to Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano).

Being vetted for a cabinet position is a tricky situation. If the administration has talked to you, you’re not supposed to comment on it, and it’s better to err on the side of caution and not say even if you have not been contacted about it.

“It’s an elaborate dance,” he said.

Two former Presidents will be in New Jersey today campaigning for their party nominee for United States Senator. George H.W. Bush attend a $500-per-person fundraiser for Republican Thomas Kean, Jr. in Bridgewater -- $5,000-per-person with a picture. Bill Clinton will attend a $1,000-per-person cocktail party and a $10,000 VIP reception for Democrat Bob Menendez at the Elizabeth home of State Senator Raymond Lesniak.

The death of Lloyd Bensten leaves George W. Bush as the only living Texan to never win electoral votes from New Jersey in a national campaign. Texans have traditionally run well in the Garden State: New Jersey voters have supported John Nance Garner (for Vice President in 1932 and 1936), Lyndon Johnson (for Vice President in 1960 and President in 1964), and George H.W. Bush (for Vice President in 1980 and 1984 and President in 1988), but not Bentsen, the Democratic nominee for Vice President in 1988, or Bush, who lost New Jersey in 2000 and 2004.