James Treffinger

Former U.S. Attorney Christopher Christie may have a nine point lead in today's Quinnipiac University poll of the 2009 race for governor, but more New Jerseyans, by a 42%-36% margin, would rather spend an afternoon in the Sandy Hook beach with Gov. Jon Corzine, according to the poll.

Among women, Corzine is the preferred date by a 46%-31% margin, while men (42%-38%) say they would prefer a day with Christie. 

In all, about two out of three voters (65%) told Quinnipiac that when they pick their governor, a "likeable personality" is either very important or somewhat important.

If anyone cares, The Inside Edge remains undecided on a preferred beach buddy.  Corzine could help his guests avoid traffic by using his state helicopter, and the governor has the nice beach house.  But Christie could load up his IPod with his collection of Jim Treffinger wiretaps.  It's a close call.

Democrats do not view the race for State Assembly in the 21st district as winnable even with the death of popular Assemblyman Eric Munoz (R-Summit) and are unlikely to put up much of a fight in November against the winner of a special election convention to fill the vacant State Assembly seat.  Munoz and Assembly Minority Whip Jon Bramnick won re-election by more than 10,000 votes in 2007.

A decade ago, there were ten Republicans who dominated politics in their counties: Bill Gormley in Atlantic, Pat Schuber in Bergen, Glenn Paulsen in Burlington, James Treffinger in Essex, Robert Prunetti in Mercer, Harry Larrison in Monmouth, George Gilmore in Ocean, Peter Murphy in Passaic, Dale Florio in Somerset, and Donald DiFrancesco in Union. Today, Democrats now govern six of those counties, and only Gilmore and Florio remain in power.

In 1999, Bergen Republicans controlled the County Executive post (Schuber won re-election in '98), had a majority on the Freeholder Board, and had GOP State Senators in districts 38, 39 and 40.  Democrats won the County Executive office when Schuber retired in 2002, and now hold all seven Freeholder seats; County Clerk Kathleen Donovan is the lone Republican elected countywide.  And Gerald Cardinale is the lone Republican Senator from Bergen County.

Former U.S. Attorney Christopher Christie will enter the race for Governor today.

Former U.S. Attorney Christopher Christie is expected to announce today that he intends to seek the Republican nomination for Governor.  Christie will file formal papers with the New Jersey Election Law Enforcement Commission.

Christie, 46, served as New Jersey’s federal prosecutor from 2002 to 2008, where he led a virtual war on political corruption.  His convictions included former Newark Mayor Sharpe James, former Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Wayne Bryant, and Essex County Executive James Treffinger.

Essex County Executive Joseph DiVincenzo and his Deputy Chief of Staff, State Sen. Teresa Ruiz (D-Newark)

An event in Essex County today honoring former U.S. Attorney Christopher Christie has several top Democrats seething as the soon-to-be Republican gubernatorial candidate makes his first public appearance since leaving office at 12:01 this morning at a tribute planned by Essex County Executive Joseph DiVincenzo and Sheriff Armando Fontoura, both Democrats.  The potential love fest could be viewed as a shot at Jon Corzine, the Democratic Governor who could face Christie in the 2009 election.

One Democratic Essex County mayor, who asked that his name be withheld, suggested that the event is payback for a huge favor Christie did for DiVincenzo during the final days of DiVincenzo’s rancorous 2002 Democratic County Executive primary against Thomas Giblin, which was occurring two months after a raid on the offices of the Republican incumbent, James Treffinger.  There had been rumors that DiVincenzo, then the Freeholder Board President, was the target of a federal probe.  Christie ended the speculation with a two-sentence letter confirming that DiVincenzo was “not a subject or target of the grand jury investigation."  

"Now it is indisputable that I am not the focus of any federal inquiry," DiVincenzo said in a written statement released by his campaign.  "The U.S. Attorney's letter should serve as notice to Tom Giblin to end his reckless and libelous campaign."

Essex County Executive Joseph DiVincenzo intends to seek re-election to a third term in 2010, and he should be viewed as a strong favorite to win.  Since Essex County Democratic politics is especially volatile these days, and DiVincenzo isn’t about to take his race for granted.  He’s concerned that he would face a challenge from a candidate backed by Newark Mayor Cory Booker, who is also up for re-election that year.  

U.S. Attorney Christopher Christie spoke at Fairleigh Dickinson University today: Scott Giglio Photo
U.S. Attorney Christopher J. Christie, a likely candidate for the 2009 Republican nomination for Governor, was on home turf this morning at a speaking engagement at Fairleigh Dickinson University’s Madison campus -- just a short drive from his house in Mendham.

It was another stop on the corruption busting prosecutor’s public circuit: once again he rattled off his 125 convictions, recounted stories of jaw amazingly blatant corruption and fended off what he said were politically-inspired attacks on his record -- without going into specifics.

Christie made no reference to the ongoing controversy over his appointment of John Ashcroft to a federal monitoring contract worth between $27 and $52 million, instead arguing more broadly that his office has been accused of acting with political motivations by both parties. After the event, Christie said that he would not answer any questions regarding Ashcroft or the contract.

Tom Blakely (1961-2008)Political consultant Tom Blakely’s sudden death on Saturday left his New Jersey friends and colleagues shocked at the passing of a man who had realized success and who, at only 46-years-old, had the potential to achieve so much more.

“The best was ahead of him,” said state Sen. Kevin O’Toole, a friend of Blakely and a cousin by marriage.

Blakely’s rise to prominence in the behind-the-scenes political world began with the 1990 12th district Congressional campaign of Dick Zimmer, after strategist Larry Weitzner, who was the then Zimmer’s campaign manager, advised Zimmer to take him on as a field worker. Zimmer was so happy with his performance that he hired him as his district director after he was elected, and he eventually managed his unsuccessful Senate campaign against Robert Toricelli in 1996.

“He was utterly reliable, very pragmatic, and it set my mind at ease asking him to do something because I knew he would do it,” said Zimmer.

Republican political consultant Tom Blakely died this morning after collapsing during a 5k run in Bordentown. He was 47.

Blakely was the President of Jamestown Associates, a New Jersey-based GOP consulting firm. A U.S. Marine Corps veteran, he served as an aide to Rep. Dick Zimmer and was Campaign Manager of Zimmer’s 1996 U.S. Senate bid against Robert Torricelli. He also ran County Executive campaigns for James Treffinger and Robert Prunetti, and was Director of Appointments for Gov. Christine Todd Whitman.

New Jersey has become accustomed to statewide candidates dropping out of the race. Bob Torricelli dropped out twice in two years: he announced a bid for Governor in 2000 and then pulled out twelve days later, and he ended his own Senate re-election bid in 2002, five weeks before Election Day.