Gloria Noto

Republicans won all three hotly contested races for County Clerk.  The biggest upset came in Passaic County, where Kristin Corrado, a former assistant counsel to the governor, defeated Woodland Park Councilman Keith Kazmark by a 52%-48% margin.  Cumberland County Clerk Gloria Noto and Salem County Clerk Gilda Gill were also re-elected despite facing aggressive Democratic challenges.

The Passaic County Clerk's office returns to Republican hands after five years of Democratic control.  In 2004, Karen Brown ousted popular GOP Clerk Ronni Nochimson.  Brown quickly fell out of favor with county Democratic leaders and she did not seek re-election.  Democrats picked Kazmark over Nochimson, who switched parties two years ago.  Corrado is allied with a faction of the Passaic County GOP headed by former GOP County Chairmen Peter Murphy and Michael Mecca; she had won a contested primary over the candidate backed by the Passaic County GOP organization.  Her victory, to some extent, marks a political comeback for Murphy, who served time in a federal prison earlier in the decade and was prosecuted by the newly-elected Governor, Christopher Christie.

Cumberland County Democratic Chairman and Freeholder Director Louis Magazzu came out of the November elections on a high.

Democrats -- partly capitalizing on the Obama wave - swept out a Republican sheriff, a surrogate, and won 7-0 control of the freeholder board in this traditionally competitive county.

Even though Magazzu wasn't on the ballot, a significant amount of the Republicans' campaign rhetoric last year turned on his contentious personality.  So after the results came in, he invited Republicans to make his personality a campaign issue again, and set his sights on beating the last county-wide elected GOP official: County Clerk Gloria Noto.

What Magazzu did not predict was that he would help motivate three former Democratic freeholders to run against him, potentially jeopardizing even his own freeholder seat in a year when Republicans are hoping to capitalize on public sentiment hostile to Governor Jon Corzine.

In May, former freeholders Jane Christy and Jennifer Swift announced that they planned to run as independents for three-year terms.  Christy left the freeholder board last year over differences with Magazzu.  Swift, formerly Jennifer Lookabaugh before her remarriage, is a former freeholder director who served on the board from 1989 to 2000.

Shortly after they announced, former Democratic Freeholder Bruce Peterson, the current mayor of Upper Deerfield Township who also left the freeholder board just last year, joined them to run for a one-year unexpired term.

To top it off, Vineland City Councilman Chuck Griffith - another former Democratic freeholder - offered to be their campaign manager.  They accepted.

Magazzu is running with Bridgeton businessman Wade Sjogren and incumbent Nelson Thompson, a labor leader who was appointed earlier this year to fill the unexpired term of Douglas Rainier when he became surrogate.

Republicans fielded Lawrence Township Deputy Mayor Tom Sheppard, former Vineland City Solicitor Rick Tonnetta and Vineland businessman Sam Fiocchi for the unexpired term.

Republicans are hoping to claw their way back to relevance in Cumberland County, where they are trying make up for a crushing blow in last year's election by winning back some seats on the all-Democrat freeholder board.

"Without a doubt it's a great year. With the anti-Corzine sentiment, I think we'll certainly see a good Republican backlash," said Bob Greco, the new Cumberland County Republican Chairman.

The GOP will also seek to re-elect County Clerk Gloria Noto, who is in the crosshairs of Democratic Chairman and Freeholder Director Lou Magazzu.

Cumberland County is traditionally Democratic-leaning, but Republicans were, until recently, a significant minority.  Before being washed away by last year's Democratic wave, all three of the county's constitutional officers - sheriff, surrogate and county clerk - were Republican, along with one member of the freeholder board.  Now, Noto is the last one standing.

Magazzu said that he has four potential candidates who want to take Noto on, although he wouldn't reveal any names.

Cumberland County GOP Chairman Douglas Sorantino, left, is expected to resign the post he took over last year when Larry Pepper, center, retired after 33 years. The leading candidate for the chairmanship is Bob Greco, right, who managed the GOP campaign in 2008.

After a bruising loss in November in which his party lost two constitutional officers and its last seat on the freeholder board, Cumberland County Republican Chairman Doug Sorantino is expected to step down from his post tomorrow.

Two Republican sources say Sorantino, a former freeholder who took over the party last year after 33-year reign of former chairman Larry Pepper, will likely be replaced by Bob Greco, a party activist who managed the Republican county campaigns last year.  Sorantino's name has already been removed from the Republican State Committee website.

Sorantino could not immediately be reached for comment. Greco said that he would leave it up to Sorantino to announce his own plans, but acknowledged that he is interested in taking over the post if there is an opening.

Cumberland County Clerk Gloria Noto

*Updated

For the moment, Cumberland County Clerk Gloria Noto is joined by three other county-wide Republican elected officials. In January, she will be alone.

Democrats won complete control of the freeholder board this month, 7-0, and knocked out two Republican constitutional officers: Sheriff Michael Barruzza and Surrogate Arthur Marchand. That has left Noto, who’s up for reelection next year after 14 years in office, as the last Republican county-wide election official.

“I don’t have to tell you I’m broken hearted. It’s like losing part of your family,” said Noto.

Noto knows there’s a target on her back – that Cumberland Democratic Chairman Lou Magazzu, who’s also the freeholder director, has his sights set on her. But she said she will definitely run again.

Cumberland County Freeholder Douglas Rainear will give up his seat to become Surrogate in January. He defeated GOP incumbent Arthur Marchand

Democratic sources say that the front runner to win a special election convention for Cumberland County Freeholder is Nelson Thompson, a leader of the International Union of Painters and Allied Trades (District Council 711) who has run unsuccessfully for the post in recent years. The Cumberland County Democratic Committee is expected to meet in January to replace Freeholder Douglas Rainear, who was elected Surrogate last week.

Over the course of the next week, brand new U.S. Senate candidate Andy Unanue will have a chance to cement his status as the Republican favorite to take on incumbent Democrat Frank Lautenberg in a marathon series of eight conventions.

Between tomorrow and next Wednesday, there are Republican county conventions coming up in Monmouth, Mercer, Ocean, Atlantic, Cumberland, Salem, Middlesex and Somerset. County committees will decide between Unanue, a businessman who's an heir to the Goya Foods fortune and the heir apparent to the campaign of former candidate Anne Estabrook, and his two Republican competitors: state Sen. Joe Pennacchio and Ramapo College finance professor Murray Sabrin.

The person who each committee picks will be awarded a coveted spot on the party line, which typically provides a boost to the candidate whose name occupies it.

But Pennacchio, not to be counted out, is focusing on winning the line in traditionally Democratic counties where he believes he can appeal to a working-class "Reagan Democrat base" in the general election - specifically Mercer and Middlesex. He already has the line in Bergen County, although that may change if Republican Chairman Rob Ortiz meets with his executive committee and opts to give the line to Unanue, a personal friend who he recruited. He's also got the line in Hunterdon, Passaic and Union counties.