South Jersey Democrats were unable to send their longtime Congressman to the United States Senate, but they have taken two key statewide party posts this month.  Tricia Mueller, a top political operative for the Carpenters Union, will run Barack Obama’s New Jersey presidential campaign, and Mike Muller, who works for Assembly Speaker Joseph Roberts as the head of the Assembly Democratic campaign committee, has been tapped to run the coordinated campaign.

Governor Jon Corzine’s 2009 re-election campaign war chest got a little bigger this weekend after an estimated 100 people attended a fundraiser at the Hunterdon County home of former U.S. Senator Bob Torricelli. Among the guests: South Jersey Democratic leader George Norcross, who arrived by helicopter.

Newark Mayor Cory Booker, backing up Senate President Richard Codey's endorsement of Obama.

Obama Campaign State Director Mark Alexander knew it would be hard to pry Sen. Hillary Clinton’s supporters loose in New Jersey after her victory in New Hampshire.

This was a fight now, and Clinton’s people were solid.

"We have an opportunity here in Hudson - Hudson, Hispanics, Hillary and history," Sen. Robert Menendez (D-NJ) cried to a North Bergen audience of mostly Latinos with Clinton on stage.

The response was near to deafening with Clinton standing on stage with Menendez, U.S. Rep. Albio Sires (D-13) and state Sen. Teresa Ruiz (D-Essex).

But that didn’t mean there weren’t other opportunities for Obama; in fact, one big opportunity, in the form of Senate President Richard Codey (D-Essex), who was at the moment glumly serving as state director for the foundering campaign of John Edwards.

Alexander knew Codey. He also knew Codey was close to former U.S. Sen. Bill Bradley (D-NJ), who had come onto the Obama campaign as an advisor.

Rob Andrews’ Wrong Priorities

Congressional candidate Dale Glading
exposes Rob Andrews’ callous attitude
towards New Jersey’s families and their struggles

BARRINGTON – Dale Glading, candidate for U.S. Congress in New Jersey’s 1st District, questioned Rep. Rob Andrews’ ability to represent his district after Andrews held a controversial hearing on transgender issues in Washington this morning.

“While the families of the 1st District are struggling to make ends meet, with gas prices reaching $4 a gallon and the devastating floods in the Midwest causing food prices to skyrocket even further, Rob Andrews has demonstrated once and for all just how out of touch he is with the people he has failed to represent,” Glading said.

“In tough times, we need real leaders who will stand up and fight for the people they represent,” Glading continued. “Rob Andrews decided instead to pander to yet another special interest group rather than take on the difficult challenges New Jersey families are facing in today’s economy.”

Parents, Families & Friends of Lesbians & Gays – also known as PFLAG – actively promoted Rob Andrews’ Washington hearing this morning. The purpose of the hearing was to “educate lawmakers about the challenges the transgender community faces in the workplace.”

PFLAG defines the transgender community as including “people who identify as transsexual, transgender, crossdressers, genderqueer, bigender, androgynous and others.” (Bringing the Message Home 2008 - PFLAG Lobbying Manual, pg. 10)

“Rob Andrews and the Norcross machine have made it clear to the voters of the 1st District: they do not represent our values, and they do not care about the struggles we face on a daily basis,” Glading added. “I’m not surprised that someone with almost half a million dollars in family income last year, like Rob Andrews, can’t grasp the day-to-day difficulties New Jersey families face – like having to choose between filling up the gas tank and going grocery shopping.”

“I represent the other 98.4 percent of the district that doesn’t make more than $200,000 in a year,” Glading concluded. “I know what it’s like to live paycheck to paycheck, and I make this promise to the people of the 1st District: when I’m elected to Congress, I will fight for the issues that are important to you, not special interest groups.”

Anne Martindell (1914-2008) served in the New Jersey State Senate from 1974 to 1977.State Sen. Anne Martindell of Princeton, who died yesterday at 93, championed the underdog throughout a life marked by public service and a thirst for knowledge and self-improvement. In the words of her son, Princeton Councilman Roger Martindell, "she fought for what she believed in, and she was gracious in the fight."

Elected to the state Senate as a Democrat in 1973 as part of the Watergate backlash that landed a number of Democrats in the Statehouse to form a 28-12 Democratic majority, Martindell served one term before becoming President Jimmy Carter’s Ambassador to New Zealand.

In her eighties, she doubled back on the college career she never completed. Sixty-years after leaving Smith College following her freshman year, Martindell obtained her Bachelor’s degree from Smith and an honorary doctorate of law in 2002.

On Thursday, news of her death brought forth an outpouring of goodwill from those who knew her and those with whom she served in Trenton, including former Gov. Brendan T. Byrne.

South Jersey Democrats are in no great rush to designate a candidate for the first district congressional seat Rob Andrews gave up to campaign for the United States Senate – and they don’t have to be.  Placeholder Camille Andrews, the winner of the Democratic primary for the seat her husband has held for eighteen years, is under no obligation to drop out – and she could wait until very early in October to withdraw (note Angelo’s Law, the Supreme Court ruling that allowed Democrats to nominate Frank Lautenberg when Bob Torricelli dropped out of the race five weeks before the 2002 general election).  That gives Rep. Andrews quite a while to decide if he wants to return to the House, or who George Norcross wants to send to Congress.

The powerful South Jersey Democratic machine has lost their last three statewide primaries: Rob Andrews for Governor in 1997, Jim Florio for U.S. Senate in 2000, and Andrews for Senate in 2008.  That doesn’t say much for the supposed influence of party leader George Norcross, who so far has not been able to extend his clout outside his own region on the state.  Norcross, who was the driving force behind Florio '00 and Andrews '08, was able to help Andrews win some key endorsements in northern New Jersey, but no organizational endorsements or county lines.  Norcross is enormously powerful – ultimately, winning two State Senate seats in 2007 was more important to his organization than a U.S. Senate seat -- but is he just a regional guy?

U.S. Rep. Frank Pallone (D-6) in Long Branch on Monday.

LONG BRANCH - U.S. Rep. Frank Pallone leads the way up to the top of the Windmill and considers a question regarding the main difference between U.S. Sen. Frank Lautenberg and his Democratic Primary challenger, U.S. Rep. Rob Andrews.

He doesn’t hesitate to take a shot.

Pallone’s in this fight, on Lautenberg’s side. All up and down Ocean Avenue and in other vital pockets of the 6th Congressional District stand lawn and street signs to that effect: "Lautenberg-Pallone. Vote June 3."

Andrews’s signs interface his rival’s with only one name on them: his own. And yet it’s the mention of Andrews’s longtime closeness with South Jersey Democratic leader George Norcross III - the unseen figure in this race - that creates an opening for Pallone to draw what he considers a solid argument for Lautenberg.

In Case You Missed It:
Philadelphia Inquirer Endorses Glading for Congress;
Attacks Democrats' "Atrocious" Backroom Politics

Paper calls Andrews' machinations "atrocious";
Glading "most viable candidate in years"

BARRINGTON – Dale Glading, candidate for U.S. Congress in New Jersey's 1st District, today received the endorsement of The Philadelphia Inquirer in the June 3rd Republican primary.

The Inquirer editorial board wrote that Dale Glading "gives GOP voters in the district their most viable candidate in years." ("Editorial: N.J. First District Primary", The Philadelphia Inquirer, May 23, 2008)

The paper, having the 16th largest daily circulation in the United States, also harshly criticized the machine politics of the Andrews family and South Jersey bosses, calling their "scheme" to use Camille Andrews as a placeholder candidate "atrocious."

The paper's editorial board went further to say of the Andrews/Norcross "backroom politics": "Voters want a candidate, not a process that disenfranchises them."

Dale Glading, on the other hand, is running in an open primary and has appeared at public events discussing the issues facing South Jersey voters.

Glading stands in strong opposition to the disenfranchisement of Democrats in South Jersey, and he has risen above party politics to communicate his popular message of lower taxes and real reform.

South Jersey Democrats may not have a real choice on June 3, but Dale Glading gives them a real choice for real change on November 4.

Democrats should remember that when their own party leaders were engaging in "atrocious" backroom dealing, Dale Glading stood alone in truly earning the votes of every South Jerseyan, regardless of party.