John McCain

Senate President Richard Codey (D-Essex): Politicker photoState Sen. Richard Codey (D-Essex) said he strongly agrees with the provision in Gov. Jon Corzine’s executive order that would ban the practice of wheeling, but he wants to look at the fine print in basically every other aspect of the ethics package.

"I would go further; I would make the anti-wheeling measure stronger," said Codey, who said he did not attend today’s press conference with the governor because of a scheduling conflict.

Not only does Codey support a ban on wheeling across county lines - but across state lines.

"I would say ‘you can’t wheel money in, and you can’t wheel out," the former governor said.

U.S. Rep. Frank Pallone (D-Long Branch) and 4th District Congressional District candidate Josh Zeitz want America to pull the plug on the war in Iraq.

Speaking on a conference call this afternoon, they tallied the $4.5 billion total cost of the six-year old war to the 4th and 6th districts, according to Obama presidential campaign spokesman Andrew Poag, and tied those numbers to the record and campaign rhetoric of GOP presidential hopeful Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.).

"We can’t afford another president who will continue George W. Bush’s failed foreign policies," said Pallone, one of four New Jersey congressmen who voted against the initial resolution authorizing Bush to go into Iraq. 

"Senator Barack Obama (who at the outset opposed the war in a speech he gave in 2002) has proposed a safe and responsible plan to bring our troops home, but John McCain has no plan to end the war," Pallone added.

If he's re-elected, Frank Lautenberg would be 90 at the end of his next term: Getty Images Photo
Three months after former U.S. Rep. Dick Zimmer held a press conference and said he would not make age an issue in his U.S. Senate run against incumbent Democrat Frank Lautenberg, Republican State Chairman Tom Wilson stood in the same State House conference room and brought the issue front and center, making repeated references to the 84-year-old Senator’s senior status.

“If you’re too afraid, too incompetent or too old to campaign, then you’re surely not fit for six more years in the U.S. Senate,” said Wilson. “It’s time to let voters decide whether you’re up to serving in the United States Senate until you’re 90 years old.”

Wilson called the press conference to attack Lautenberg for the way he’s run his campaign – or rather, his lack of a campaign.

Lautenberg, said Wilson, has been missing on the campaign trail, making only a public appearance here and there while giving the media little time for questions and refusing to accept one of the roughly 20 debate invitations that have been issued so far.

By not engaging his opponent or the voters on the issues, Wilson said, Lautenberg has brought attention to his age by raising the question of whether he really is up to the task of serving another six year term, at the end of which he’ll have just turned 91. He contrasted Lautenberg’s public schedule with U.S. Sen. Arlen Specter (R-Penn.), 78, who although not up for reelection has been holding town hall meetings on behalf of John McCain in every one of his state’s counties.

To view more cartoons by Politicker.com editorial cartoonist Rob Tornoe, click here.

- Presidential Candidates Agree to Three Prime Time Debates, Lautenberg Is AWOL -

State Democratic Party Chairman Joseph Cryan address the crowd at Obama HQ on Saturday.: Politicker photo

WEST WINDSOR - The sense here on Saturday is the presidential race is no longer deadlocked nationally.

At this moment.

So when State Democratic Chairman Joseph Cryan asks the crowd of 260 Obama canvassers to demonstrate an upbeat mood, they respond with full-throated gusto in the packed headquarters of Obama’s campaign headquarters.

No one committed to a candidate in this cycle lets pass an opportunity to celebrate the good fortune of his or her presidential aspirant, be he Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) or Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.).

To hear the media tell the story, the fortunes appear too transient.

If this event occurred a week ago, the mood would have been borderline gloomy. But today Washington is mulling a $700 billion bail-out package for a flat-lining Wall Street and Sen. John McCain - longtime champion of deregulation in the private sector - also lugs a five-day old burden of suggesting that America’s economy is fundamentally sound.

Yet another poll shows John McCain closing in on Barack Obama in The Garden State.

A Strategic Vision poll of 800 likely voters released today shows the Barack Obama/Joe Biden presidential ticket leading John McCain/Sarah Palin by a margin of 47%-43%.  

Today's poll comes on top of several recent polls that show McCain closing in on Obama, though September polls historically show Republicans closer in New Jersey.

State Sen. Loretta Weinberg (D-Bergen): Politicker file photoDemocratic women legislators today upbraided presidential candidate Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) over his opposition to recent legislation promoting equal pay for women, expansion children’s healthcare; and his stance against Roe vs. Wade.

McCain’s pick of a pro-life vice presidential candidate, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, simply concretized the Democrats’ dismay over the prospect of a McCain presidency.

The Statehouse press conference included Sen. Loretta Weinberg (D-Bergen), Assembly Majority Leader Bonnie Watson Coleman (D-Ewing), and Laurel Brennan, secretary treasurer of the New Jersey AFL-CIO.

"This is not the John McCain of 2000, he is no maverick," said Weinberg, a longtime supporter of Obama’s.

Gov. Jon Corzine: Politicker file photo 

It's a battle cry sounded by the Republicans on the issue of energy.

But Gov. Jon Corzine denounces the "Drill baby, drill" philosophy as a monothematic way to further American dependency on oil, at odds with a multi-pronged approach, in which developing other energy sources, including solar, wind and biofuels, is foundational. 

Corzine made the comment today in a conference call with reporters.

The governor's presidential candidate, Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) says he would support offshore drilling only if it's part of a larger and broader approach to developing alternative energy sources, and eschews a drilling-first approach favored by his opponent, Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.).