John Kerry

The State Assembly has scheduled a vote Thursday on legislation – pushed by Democrats -- that would require New Jersey's electoral votes to be cast for the candidate who wins the national popular vote, not necessarily the statewide count in New Jersey. The bill seeks to include New Jersey in an “Agreement Among the States to Elect the President by National Popular Vote,” which would be effective only if enacted by enough states to "collectively possess the majority of the electoral votes required to decide a presidential win – currently 270 of the 538 electoral votes. So far, only Maryland has passed similar legislation.

States are permitted to decide the rules concerning the election of their own Electoral College members. But what if New Jersey alone had this law in the 2004 General Election?

As recently as the American boyhoods of John Kerry, John McCain and George W. Bush, it was nearly impossible to think of becoming president without going through the ritual of combat.

World War II vets threw down a gauntlet that members of the succeeding generation couldn't hope to wield unless they donned uniforms and picked up rifles. But the motif of warrior as leader goes back most vividly and foundationally to Washington.

The general on horseback myth worked so well and the country's early talent pool tested in war went so deep, few men thereafter could assume the chair of presidential power without showing battle stripes. From the country's founding all the way up to 1908, only the elections of 1800 (Adams v. Jefferson), 1844 (Polk v. Clay) and 1861 (Lincoln v. Douglas) failed to feature war hero candidacies.

One day after ex-baseball star Al Leiter said he wasn't running for U.S. Senate or Congress in 2008, the New York Post reports that rocker Jon Bon Jovi "could be planning one day to run for governor of New Jersey."

SEN. JOHN KERRY TO COMMON SENSE AMERICA: STOP THE ‘SWIFT BOAT’ STYLE POLITICS OF FEAR AND SMEAR

2004 Democratic Nominee, Vietnam Veteran  Smeared by a Similar Shadow Group Calls on Voters to Fight Back Against Right-Wing Political Smear Campaign 

(HAMILTON TWP.) – Senator John Kerry (D-Mass.) today condemned the right-wing political front group spending more than a quarter of a million dollars in a State Legislative election to unseat a moderate Democratic Assemblywoman who led the fight for, and is participating in, the Fair and Clean Elections Pilot Program. 

Mulling a possible GOP primary challenge to Rep. Rodney Frelinghuysen in district 11 Peter Cavicchia II acknowledged today that he gave $1,000 to John Kerry’s campaign in 2004, but says he’s contributed more heavily to the Republican National Committee.

The retired U.S. Secret Service agent says he also ended up voting a second time for George W. Bush in 2004, not Kerry.

John Graham, co-chair of Sen. Hillary Clinton’s finance committee in New Jersey, recalls the moment he received that phone call from John Kerry on Election Day in 2004.

John F. X. Graham and former Rep. Herbert Klein, at a Clinton finance committee meeting at Pal's Cabin in West Orange Tuesday nightIt was early evening, and the Massachusetts senator thanked Graham for delivering the state’s 15 electoral votes.

Graham put the phone down thinking he had just been speaking with the next president of the United States.

Then he turned on the television in bed, and watched Kerry lose the election.

The last time Graham spoke to Kerry, he told him he wouldn’t be raising money for him this year -- or next. Kerry was mortified, said Graham, but the candidate’s inability to secure the win sent the Democratic Party fund-raiser in search of someone else. He swears he gave all of the prospects a thorough review: Barack Obama, John Edwards, others who have already dropped out of the presidential race, including Mark Warner and Evan Bayh.

And Hillary Clinton.

Bergen County GOP Chairman Guy Talarico was right when he told an NJN reporter last night that "as Bergen goes, so goes New Jersey." No Republican has ever won statewide in New Jersey without carrying Bergen County, which went for Democratic U.S. Senator Robert Menendez by a 54%-46% margin over Republican Thomas Kean, Jr. -- a 19,650 vote plurality.

In recent years, GOP candidates have been unable to carry Bergen: Jon Corzine won it by 34,302 in 2005, John Kerry by 17,833 in 2004, Frank Lautenberg by 28,969 in 2002, and James E. McGreevey by 28,994 in 2001. The last Republican statewide candidate to win Bergen was Robert Franks in his 2000 U.S. Senate campaign against Corzine.

Democrat Dennis McNerney was re-elected to a second term as Bergen County Executive by a massive 49,947 vote margin, 61%-39%, over former Freeholder and gubernatorial candidate Todd Caliguire.

Democrats now have a 7-0 majority on the Board of Freeholders -- something they did not have even during the Watergate years. The lone GOP Freeholder, Elizabeth Randall, was defeated in the Republican primary.

GREGG DEMANDS MENENDEZ DENOUNCE KERRY COMMENTS
Former Marine Officer Also Calls On Menendez To Cancel Future Campaigning With Kerry And Demand An Apology To Men And Women Serving In Iraq

Flanders, NJ - Assemblyman Guy Gregg, and former U.S. Marine officer, released the following statement today regarding comments made by Senator John Kerry:

Just 2% of New Jerseyans picked former Virginia Governor Mark Warner as their first choice for the 2008 Democratic presidential nomination in a recent Strategic Vision poll, but Warner has suddenly joined the top tier of contenders for New Jersey's dollars -- and thanks to the new early (February 26) primary -- for delegates as well. He did that by securing the services of three key Democratic fundraisers, including John F.X. Graham, the popular and respected insurance company owner who served as Co-Chairman of John Kerry's 2004 New Jersey campaign organization. Graham (along with Alfred DeCotiis, the head of a politically active North Jersey law firm and a Democratic National Committeeman, and Michael Kempner, who opened a powerful lobbying firm after working as Bob Torricelli's top fundraiser) brings the virtually unknown Warner instant credibility in New Jersey political circles. Graham's decision to raise funds for Warner's political action committee is also a potentially serious blow to Kerry's '08 prospects. Graham signed on with Kerry in early 2002 and played a key role in Kerry's ability to raise $5 million in New Jersey -- his fourth highest revenue producing state. This is also a signal that New Jersey's major Democratic fundraisers won't necessarily sit on the sidelines and wait for Governor Jon Corzine to pick a horse in the '08 race. Democratic insiders specualte that Corzine will back New York Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton if she runs.

In Case You Forgot: A Regena Thomas Fact Sheet

In another abuse of taxpayer resources for partisan political purposes, the Star-Ledger reported today that the Corzine campaign acknowledges that Secretary of State Regena Thomas has been "volunteering" on Jon Corzine's behalf.[i]