Joan Haberle

State Sen. Joe Kyrillos (R-Middletown) says there’s a “strong undercurrent” of Democratic support for Republican gubernatorial nominee Chris Christie, though few Democrats will come out and say it.

“I can tell you that Chris has talked to a lot of Democrats, a lot of prominent Democrats. People who want to build relationships with him, want to start on the right foot and reach out to someone they think will be the next governor of New Jersey,” said Kyrillos, the chairman of Christie’s campaign,  in a conference call with reporters today.  “Mayors, leaders tell me I can’t really step out front, but I’m with you. You won’t see a big vote turnout here, you won’t see a lot of organization in this town there.”

The point of the conference call was highlight three Democrats who are supporting Christie, though one – Hillside Mayor Joseph Menza – did not wind up on the call and is actually an independent.  The other two were Joan Haberle, who was secretary of state during the first half of former Governor Jim Florio’s administration, and Garfield Councilwoman Tana Raymond, who has appeared for months in Christie campaign commercials and press releases.

Haberle, who Republicans similarly trotted out to support John McCain for president last year, maintained that she usually does vote Democrat.  

“I have always been a Democrat. In fact I was a county leader – I was chairman of the Democratic Party in Hunterdon County,” she said.

Despite major endorsements from prominent Democrats like former New Jersey Secretary of State Joan Haberle and her daughter, Dawn, and support from Alfredo Gutierrez, the owner of Xtra Supermarket in Newark, John McCain has fallen far behind Barack Obama in the race for New Jersey's fifteen electoral votes.  A Quinnipiac University poll released this morning has Obama with a 23-point lead, 59%-36%, while a new Monmouth University/Gannett New Jersey poll shows similar numbers: Obama 55%, McCain 38%.

One week after scoring major Democratic endorsements from former Secretary of State Joan Haberle and her daughter, John McCain now has the support of Alfredo Gutierrez, the owner of Xtra Supermarket in Newark. “He sits on the board of United States Hispanic Chamber of Commerce," said spokesman Peter Feldman.  "He is the first Dominican to ever hold a seat on the board.”   Gutierrez was the only New Jerseyan on a list of fifty Latino endorsements announced by the McCain campaign nationally.

WOODBRIDGE -- John McCain’s New Jersey campaign today rolled out three Garden State Democrats who are backing the Republican presidential candidate. It’s evidence, they say, that despite Barack Obama’s double-digit lead in the polls, “The Maverick” is making inroads with the state’s traditionally Democratic voters -- even if at least two of the Democrats they showed off today already voted Republican in the last presidential election.

At McCain’s regional headquarters in Woodbridge, former Real Estate Commission Executive Director Dawn Rafferty – a self-described life-long Democrat who served under Governors McGreevey and Codey -- said that she fears for her children’s future if Barack Obama is elected president. She was joined at the press conference by the voice of her mother, former Secretary of State Joan Haberly, who endorsed McCain via speakerphone while on a business trip in Las Vegas.

John McCain's New Jersey campaign held a news conference today to announce the endorsements of  "current and former New Jersey Democratic officials," but with disappointing results: George Fallon, a former Mayor of Waterford; Joan Haberle, who served as New Jersey Secretary of State during the first half of Jim Florio's governorship; and Dawn Rafferty, the former Executive Director of the New Jersey Real Estate Commission under Governors James E. McGreevey and Richard Codey.  Rafferty is Haberle's daughter.