Joe Cryan

EAST BRUNSWICK - It's over.

State Sen. Loretta Weinberg (D-Teaneck) takes the microphone onstage here at the Hilton.

"There is not one minute of this that I would ever trade in," says Weinberg. "I have been driving in a car for five months with Rocco Mazza and the GPS. I've got to tell you, I grew to hate the woman and the GPS. I want to give him a personal thank you." 

The Democratic State Committee now admits paying for a robocall to Somerset County voters that slams Republican Chris Christie and promotes independent gubernatorial candidate Christopher Daggett.

A Democratic spokeswoman says the party’s chairman, Joe Cryan, was not aware of the robocalls when he denied that the state committee had anything to do with them yesterday afternoon.

Cryan, who told PolitickerNJ.com yesterday afternoon that the Democratic State Committee had “absolutely” nothing to do with the call, could not immediately be reached for comment.

The call angered Republicans and further fueled conspiracy theories that Daggett is in cahoots with the Corzine camp.  A disclaimer at the end says it was paid for by Victory ’09, “a project of the NJDSC” (Democratic State Committee), and gave the committee’s Trenton address.  

Daggett, for his part, disavowed the call.

“Voters hate robocalls. This is just another instance of the dishonest ways Democrats and Republicans use to win campaigns and to fool voters,” he said in a statement this afternoon. “It is little wonder more and more voters are rejecting these kind of desperate dirty tricks and turning to my campaign for a positive message about how to make New Jersey more affordable and competitive.’’

Bobby Kennedy, Jr., right, with Gov. Jon Corzine

ELIZABETH - First came Caroline Kennedy, then Patrick Kennedy, and tonight at the Portuguese Social Club, Bobby Kennedy, Jr. appeared in support of Gov. Jon Corzine.

Heedless of specific state issues, Kennedy went right for the jugular.

"We cannot reward Republicans for what they did to this country during the eight years prior to Barack Obama," said the son of the late Attorney General and 1968 candidate for president. "How can Chris Christie come over and seriously run for governor? It's time for them (Republicans) to sit down and let someone else run the state."

More than one thumb and forefinger blew a shrill and long whistle of approval into the big room amid resounding hand claps.

In an email to supporters, Chris Christie Campaign Manager Bill Stepien struck an optimistic tone despite the Quinnipiac University poll from this morning showing his candidate trailing Gov. Jon Corzine by five points.

“The good news is that voters are paying attention: 2 of the 3 public polls released in the last 24 hours show Chris ahead!” said Stepien, referring to surveys from Rasmussen Reports and Public Policy Polling that both showed Christie with a four point lead.

But neither of those polls have the heft of Quinnipiac.  The campaign itself seized on Quinnipiac’s summer poll numbers, which showed Christie leading by double digits.  

Stepien did not discount today’s poll, but he did pick out one statistic that looked positive for Christie.  

“Chris's lead among the all-important Independent voters grew from 9 points to 15 points since their last poll,” he said.

Caroline Kennedy, and Democratic State Party Chairman Joe Cryan

BELMAR - Appearing Wednesday night here at the Barclay in support of Democratic Gov. Jon Corzine, Caroline Kennedy reached back to 1980 when her late uncle, Sen. Edward Kennedy, campaigned for the presidency and won the Democratic Primary in New Jersey.

"I remember campaigning with Teddy in Elizabeth, Jersey City and Hoboken, and that victory you gave to him meant the most to him," said Kennedy, recalling other campaign visits throughout the years too, but dwelling on that Jersey win, when incumbent President Jimmy Carter defeated her uncle in 24 of 34 primaries but failed to turn him back here.

When Corzine mentioned how the senator, who died on August 25th after battling brain cancer, stood in the same spot in 2005 to help Corzine in his first run for the governorship, State Party Chairman Joe Cryan choked up at the memory before the governor added, "Nobody looks out for Jon Corzine like this Irishman, Joe Cryan."

There was sustained applause for Cryan and the late Kennedy from this Irish-American crowd that packed the split-level bar and banquet hall a block away from the capital beach for a community hovering at near 16% of the total population in New Jersey, for whom Caroline Kennedy remains a beloved symbol.

Corzine then invoked another Irish politician in the room, former Gov. Brendan Byrne, who occupied the chair of honor between Kennedy on one side, and a stage packed with Irish-American Mayors, including Jersey City Mayor Jerramiah Healy, on the other.

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State Sen. Raymond Lesniak, above, is unhappy with the way Attorney General Anne Milgram handled the prosecution of a Democratic Councilman from their district

ELIZABETH - Union County party allies of Gov. Jon Corzine are leveling hard charges at someone who's used to doing the charging herself: Attorney General Anne Milgram, whose pursuit of a voter fraud case against Roselle Council President Jamel Holley this month resulted in a virtual dead end.

"Disappointment is an understatement," state Sen. Ray Lesniak (D-Elizabeth) said of Milgram, the Corzine administration's attorney general, for bringing charges against Holley in the first place.

Already feeling antagonized by the presence of corruption buster former U.S. Attorney Chris Christie in the governor's race, Democratic Party operatives in at least two or three of their base voter-rich regions, including Unon, have for months felt dogged by Milgram, who indicted Holley by accusation on Aug. 27th with illegally filling out portions of fewer than 30 absentee ballots.

In a Thursday letter to the Union County Local Source, Lesniak and his legislative colleagues, Assemblyman Joe Cryan (D-Union Twp.) and Assemblywoman Annette Quijano (D-Elizabeth), ripped Milgram over what they see as her unjust targeting of Holley, which might have had ruinous consequences for a young man seen by his allies see as a comer in Union County Democratic Party politics.  

State Party Chairman Joe Cryan (center) at last week's LG debate at Monmouth University.

Democratic State Chairman Joe Cryan today amplified news about next week's rally with President Barack Obama and a Monday appearance in Middlesex by Vice President Joe Biden by announcing an incoming procession of party leaders for Gov. Jon Corzine, including former President William J. Clinton, United States Congressional members Michael Honda (D-CA) and Loretta Sanchez (D-CA), Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis, and Caroline Kennedy.

Clinton will attend a rally with state Sen. Loretta Weinberg (D-Teaneck) next Tuesday afternoon at the Collingswood Ballroom in Collingswood; and a rally with Corzine at Rutgers University in New Brunswick on Tuesday evening.

Honda is scheduled to bond with voters at a Saturday, Oct. 17 Filipino American Heritage Month Rally in Old Bridge, a Chinese Americans’ Moon Festival Rally in Princeton, and a Korean Americans’ Harvest Moon Festival Rally in Engelwood.

The chairman of Chris Christie’s campaign stood up for his fellow Republican today, taking a swipe at two top Democrats who called Christie fat.

State Sen. Joe Kyrillos (R-Middletown) took issue with comments about Christie’s girth from state Sen. Raymond Lesniak (D-Elizabeth) and Democratic State  hairman/Assemblyman Joseph Cryan (D-Union).

Lesniak told New York Magazine that Christie “looks hideous! And unhealthy... That doesn’t portray the discipline that’s necessary to lead this state.”

Cryan last night asked a crowd of Essex County Democrats “What would it feel like if the next governor weighs 350 pounds?”

Kyrillos today said the comments “shameful,” and blamed Gov. Jon Corzine’s campaign, which created the now famous ad that says Christie “threw his weight around” to get out of a traffic ticket. 

Senate Majority Leader Steve Sweeney (D-West Deptford), left, and Essex County Executive Joe DiVincenzo Wednesday night at Durkin's fundraiser.

BELLEVILLE - It was fitting that the main man at the microphone tonight at Nanina's in the Park was County Clerk Chris Durkin, a walking hybrid of two opposing political camps, which 20 days before a gubernatorial election can already see the delineations of a county executive battle in 2010.

"Dick Codey was ready to lead when he became governor and he made us all so proud to live, work and play in this state," Durkin said of the former governor and sitting senate president, in the next breath noting of his boss, the Essex County Executive, "Joe DiVincenzo has made Essex County the envy not only of the state but of the country. He is the taxpayers' best friend, and a bureaucrat's worst nightmare."

If it sounded like homage paid to opposing warlords, Durkin is indeed ensconced in the administration of the powerful county executive, but his mother, Joan, is a Codey, cousin of Senate President Richard Codey (D-Roseland), who last month was unofficially forced off the senate throne in a north-south Jersey Democratic Party coup that hinged on DiVincenzo backing Senate Majority Leader Steve Sweeney (D-West Deptford) as the new senate president.

Tonight, Durkin - an amiable presence belying a torturous Codey v. DiVincenzo undercurrent - greeted guests to his $150-a-plate fundraiser, including headlining speaker Newark Mayor Cory Booker and the governor himself, who posed for pictures with Durkin before ascending a staircase where South Jerseyan Sweeney stood in a milling, hors d'oeuvres munching crowd with DiVincenzo. 

Badgered for months by poll numbers showing Gov. Jon Corzine trailing badly, New Jersey Democratic State Chairman Joseph P. Cryan celebrated the results of today's Farleigh Dickinson University (FDU) Poll, which shows Corzine in a statistical tie with Republican challenger Chris Christie.

“Today’s poll shows the strength and ongoing support for Governor Jon S. Corzine, Senator Loretta Weinberg and the Democratic Party that continues to grow each day," Cryan said in a statement. “Together, we are fighting for what matters most to New Jersey voters. New Jerseyans recognize that Jon Corzine is fighting for our families – he has ensured nearly 100,000 more New Jersey children have health coverage, he is a strong advocate for a woman’s right to choose and is one of only a handful of governors who have made paid family leave the law to make sure New Jerseyans can care for newborns and sick relatives while still getting paid."