George W. Bush

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Nobody can accuse Gov. Jon Corzine of not being politically active this election cycle.

He's become one of Barack Obama's point men on the economy, campaigning for him in Philadelphia and Florida and just yesterday appearing on NBC's "Meet the Press" as a surrogate. But when it comes to the campaigns of New Jersey Democrats who are engaged in tight federal races, Corzine has largely played a background role, having made only a couple brief campaign appearances with 7th District congressional candidate Linda Stender and none with 3rd District candidate John Adler.

Nationally, Obama can use Corzine's image as the economically savvy Goldman Sachs CEO. That idea no longer applies in New Jersey. Throughout the campaign, Corzine has been to Republicans what President Bush has been to Democrats: a public figure to rally the troops against, though to a lesser than Bush.

Tonight, Corzine will attend Sen. Hillary Clinton's fundraiser for Stender, but it's not open to the press or general public. Monmouth University pollster Patrick Murray thinks the Democrats want to keep it that way.

"Neither George Bush nor Jon Corzine helps any candidates in those races," said Murray. "So the more Jon Corzine stays out, the better it is. George Bush is the lesser popular of the two figures, so the Democrats want to keep that focus on George Bush and they don't want it muted or neutralized by bringing Jon Corzine into the picture."

Third District Republican congressional candidate Chris Myers raised $369,224 last quarter and has $287,832 on hand, according to Campaign Manager Chris Russell.

That sum does not account for the likely large cash infusion that came from President George W. Bush’s visit to New Jersey last month to raise money for him and fellow Republican House candidate Leonard Lance. Although the fundraiser took place last quarter, the campaign did not receive its share of the proceeds until after September 30th.

Myers' total raised so far is just shy of the million dollar mark, at $995,773 – much of which he had to spend in his contentious primary against Ocean County Freeholder Jack Kelly.

Democratic rival John Adler’s campaign has not released their fundraising totals yet, but as of last quarter he had the largest war chest of any open seat challenger in the country, with $1.46 million on hand.

WESTFIELD -- Assemblywoman Linda Stender today charged that her congressional opponent, State Sen. Leonard Lance, is less pro-choice than he lets on.

Stender held a pres conference in front of a pharmacy, telling about 10 supporters that Lance voted against a bill she authored that barred pharmacists from refusing to fill birth control prescriptions based on their religious or personal beliefs.

“My opponent was one of only six State Senators that voted against this law. You can’t be pro-choice and vote for a bill that will allow a pharmacy to not fill a birth control prescription,” she said. “That’s the essence of what this is about.”

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(Mt. Laurel, NJ) - While President Bush is pushing a $700 billion-dollar bailout of Wall Street on the backs of the American taxpayers, Chris Myers will be raking in campaign money tonight from Bush fund-raisers and associates connected to Big Oil.  That makes it twice this week that Myers has accepted large bundles of cash handouts from his political puppeteer, George W. Bush, and the president's corporate cronies.

Myers Welcomes "Modern-Day Herbert Hoover" Into District, 
Accepts Campaign Cash From President Who Allowed Economy to Spin Out of Control, Forcing Taxpayers To Clean Up The Mess

Mt. Laurel, NJ – Democratic congressional candidate John Adler said today that President Bush's trip to New Jersey today to raise money for Mayor Chris Myers is an affront to the district's residents and Myers embraces Bush amid greatest economic turmoil since the Great Depressionshows that Myers is hopelessly out of touch with their fears and concerns. Adler said that welcoming Bush into New Jersey with open arms - as the nation sits in the very eye of an economic hurricane - shows a blatant insensitivity to the voters by Myers and exposes where his true sympathies lie: with George W. Bush and the corporate elite who triggered this crisis, not the middle-class taxpayers who will be forced to pay for it.

George W. Bush will be in Colts Neck today to raise money for GOP congressional candidates Leonard Lance and Christopher Myers.  This is the President's first political trip to New Jersey this cycle, and his second visit this year.  On March 28, Bush was in Freehold Township in an appearance to promote the White House's "Hope Now" alliance, which was formed to provide relief to homeowners facing foreclosure. 

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Governor Corzine today said that, if state Sen. Leonard Lance really is so different from President Bush, he hasn’t demonstrated it enough.

“I think there are a lot of things that Leonard Lance would agree with President Bush on. I don’t think he is turning his back on the national security policies. I think, if I hear it right, he has generally been on the same side as the president with regard to regulatory policy – that would be no regulation or limited regulation,” said Corzine at a bill signing in Princeton. “There are differences, but if there were such sharp differences I think he would have changed parties. I haven’t seen that happen.”

Corzine’s comments come just days before President Bush comes to Colts Neck to raise money for Lance, who as of June 30th only had $81,000 on hand to Democrat Linda Stender’s $1.2 million, along with fellow Republican candidate Chris Myers.