George W. Bush

A Chris Christie internet video released today likens his campaign’s message to President Obama's, while a Jon Corzine web ad from three days ago ties Christie to former President George W. Bush with his own words.

In Christie’s video, titled “Mr. President” and timed to coincide with Obama’s rally for Corzine today, several Obama speeches are cut together over solemn piano music and images of impoverished parts of New Jersey, including Camden’s Transition City, which Christie has raised on the stump.  In the audio clips, Obama calls for an end to partisan rancor, calls the financial crisis a “direct result of the greed and irresponsibility that has dominate Washington and Wall Street for years now” and talks about challenging “the money and influence that stood in our way.”    

“New Jerseyans are still fighting for change,” reads the text at theend of the ad.  

A Rasmussen poll released yesterday put Obama's approval rating in New Jersey rightside up at 53% approve to 39% disapprove.  

In Corzine’s spot – his most watched internet-only ad, at close to 16,000 views – Christie’s comments are cut out and allowed to stand on their own.  At a press conference the Corzine campaign says took place on March 26, 2007, Christie, then the state’s U.S. Attorney, says "Listen, I plead guilty to having raised money for Governor George W. Bush because I thought he was the best person to be President of the United States.”

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.

Democrats have a real problem in New Jersey, if a new poll released by Public Policy Polling, a North Carolina-based firm that polls mostly for Democratic candidates and Democratic-leaning interest groups, is correct.  The poll has President Barack Obama’s favorables upside-down among N.J. voters, 45%-48%.

The poll has New Jersey’s two Democratic United States Senators also upside-down: Frank Lautenberg (D-Cliffside Park) has approvals of 38%-44%, and Robert Menendez (D-Hoboken) has approvals of 27%-40%. 

“There are more Obama voters in New Jersey now who don’t approve of him than there are (John) McCain voters who believe he’s doing a good job,” said Dean Debnam, President of Public Policy Polling. “This is the first time we’ve found that anywhere and it makes you wonder how effective Obama’s really going to be on behalf of Jon Corzine.”

The weirdest part of the poll: 21% of New Jerseyans believe Obama is not a natural born citizen, 19% say George W. Bush had advance knowledge of 9/11, and 8% say Obama is the Anti-Christ.

Former Florida Governor Jeb Bush, the brother of former President George W. Bush,  turned up at a fundraiser for Republican gubernatorial nominee Chris Christie tonight.  

“He was invited by one of the host committee members,” said Christie spokeswoman Maria Comella.

The host committee member reached out to Bush directly and did not check with the Christie campaign.

Comella did not know whether Bush donated any money at and would not name the host committee member who invited him.  She also could not say whether Bush had any other business in the region.  

Gov. Jon Corzine has spent millions of dollars reminding voters that Christie – who was appointed U.S. Attorney by President Bush in 2001 – was a major fundraiser for Bush’s 2000 campaign, earning the honorary title of “Pioneer.”

In a November, 2008 Quinnipiac University poll, President Bush had an 18% approval rating in New Jersey.

Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush attended a Chris Christie for Governor fundraiser in Princeton earlier this evening.  Democrats have made an issue of Christie's connection to Jeb Bush's brother, former President George W. Bush.

Assemblyman Ralph Caputo (D-Belleville) was one of four Democratic legislators to bash GOP gubernatorial candidate Christopher Christie for opposing the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, which they say could have cost unemployed New Jerseyans $200 million in extended unemployment benefits.

"New Jersey families who are unemployed are struggling to make ends meet, yet Christie would refuse more than $200 million in federal stimulus funding that is a direct lifeline for these families in need," Caputo said in a statement released by the Democratic State Committee.  "Hardworking New Jerseyans who through no fault of their own have already suffered the loss of their job and income deserve support, not Christie's bloated rhetoric and Bush policies that would have devastating impacts on their future."

But Republicans had a good comeback to the use of Caputo as a surrogate, pointing out Caputo's two public offices.

"The irony of state Democrats preaching about unemployment that's climbed to a 32 year high on their watch is only matched by the insensitivity of Assemblyman Ralph Caputo," said Kevin Roberts, a spokesman for the Republican State Committee.  "While struggling, out-of-work New Jerseyans continue looking for jobs that Governor Corzine has lost, Caputo sits on the sidelines collecting two paychecks as a county freeholder and state assemblyman.  How much more out of touch can you be?"

Pollsters got it wrong the last two times a Democratic Governor ran for re-election:  an August 1993 Eagleton-Rutgers poll had Gov. James Florio leading Republican Christine Todd Whitman by nine points, 49%-40%; and Republican Raymond Bateman led Gov. Brendan Byrne by seven points, 46%-39%, in an August 1977 Eagleton-Rutgers poll.

In 1993, Florio had a favorable/unfavorable rating of 49%-40%.  31% rated his job as excellent or good, 36% said he was a fair governor, and 23% rated him as poor.

In 1977, 28% of New Jerseyans viewed Byrne as an excellent or good governor, 39% considered him fair, and 29% said he was doing a poor job.

Whitman beat Florio 49%-48%, and Byrne was re-elected by a 56%-42% margin over Bateman.

Democratic Gov. Jon Corzine trails Republican Christopher Christie by 12 points, 53%-41%, according to a Quinnipiac University poll released today.  Christie is the first Republican to be over 50% in a summer poll since Thomas Kean ran for re-election 24 years ago.

Corzine has upside-down favorables/unfavorables of 34%-58%, and an upside-down job approval rating of 33%-60%. 

In his bid for re-election to the U.S. Senate, Democrat Robert Torricelli had upside-down favorable/unfavorable rating of 15%-36% and an upside-down job approval rating of 28%-49% in an August 2002 Quinnipiac poll. In an August 2008 Quinnipiac poll, President George W. Bush had an upside-down job approval rating of 26%-70%.

The Hill is reporting that Josh Bolten, who served as George W. Bush's White House Chief of Staff from 2006 to 2009, will spend a year in New Jersey as a visiting professor at Princeton University's Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs.  Before joining the Bush administration, Bolten worked with Gov. Jon Corzine at Goldman Sachs.

A group of New Jerseyans with national connections will hold a news conference on Wednesday to talk about the upcoming Senate confirmation of Associate Justice Barry Albin's renomination to the New Jersey Supreme Court: pollster Kellyanne Conway, former Bush White House Associate Counsel Cheryl Stanton, former Alito law clerk Thomas Gentile, and Eric Jaso, who worked for Independent Counsel Kenneth Starr.

Christopher Christie, leading Gov. Jon Corzine 50%-40% in today's Quinnipiac University poll, is the first Republican in twelve years to lead in a statewide race in June, and is likely the first Republican since Thomas Kean, Sr. in 1985 to be at 50% just after the primary election.

Past Quinnipiac University polls: