Joseph Kyrillos

In politics, timing is everything, and few politicians had the timing and perennially tough campaigns of Democrat William Halstead Sutphin. Republicans had been trying to unseat Sutphin for twelve years -- often coming close but never able to win. Sutphin had been elected Mayor of Matawan in 1914 at age 27 and quit after less than two years to serve in the military during World War I. He returned to politics in 1926 as a candidate for Mayor and in 1930 ran for the open House seat vacated when two-term Republican Harold Hoffman (who was elected Governor in 1934) gave up his seat to become state Motor Vehicles Commissioner. Back then, the old third congressional district included all of Monmouth and Ocean counties and part of Middlesex County. This was the mid-term election of Republican President Herbert Hoover and in the midst of the Great Depression, the 43-year-old Sutphin defeated Republican Thomas Gopsill, a 35-year-old four-term Assemblyman and Red Bank Commissioner (and the grandson of former Jersey City Mayor James Gopsill) by a 51%-49% margin. Read More >

GOP presidential candidates Rudy Giuliani and Mitt Romney have both won races where Democrats dominate: Getty Images Photo
There may have been a time when Mitt Romney would have appealed to New Jersey voters, even potentially carrying the state against a Democrat in the presidential election.

Not any more, says a group of academics who monitor New Jersey campaigns.

While the pundits say Rudy Giuliani has a good chance to carry New Jersey – two independent polls have him leading all of the Democratic contenders -- they say that Romney can't win a state that has gone Democratic in the last four presidential elections.

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Mitt Romney's presidential campaign is expected to release a list of the New Jersey endorsements today. Supporters are likely to include State Senator Joseph Kyrillos, Republican National Chairman David Norcross, Senate Minority Leader Leonard Lance, Morris County Assembly candidate Jay Webber, former Paterson Mayor Lawrence "Pat" Kramer. and former Republican State Committee Executive Director Brian Nelson.

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State Sen. Gerald Cardinale’s move to hold up the nomination of Matthew Boxer as New Jersey’s State Comptroller might be considered a good political move by Republicans interesting in keeping Gov. Jon Corzine’s ties to his former girlfriend in the news, but his colleagues in the Senate minority aren’t rushing to help him out.

Cardinale’s idea is to tie up the nomination of Boxer for the newly created office until Corzine appoints an independent prosecutor to look into the matter of Rocco Riccio, a brother-in-law of Corzine’s ex-girlfriend/paramour/companion Carla Katz, who he gave $15,000 after pressuring him out of his accounting job at the Turnpike Authority. Boxer was reportedly present at a meeting in which Riccio was asked to leave his job.

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Is there any tangible value to early endorsements in a presidential campaign? Mitt Romney is at 9% in New Jersey, despite the backing of State Senator (and former GOP State Chairman) Joseph Kyrillos, and John McCain, with the support of GOP State Chairman Tom Wilson, fundraiser Lewis Eisenberg, and Assemblyman Bill Baroni, has just 7% of the state Republican primary vote. And Duncan Hunter, who has the support of Congressman Jim Saxton, is at 1% -- placing ninth out of the nine GOP possible GOP presidential contenders. Fred Thompson, who has no announced endorsements in New Jersey, is second in New Jersey with 12%.

On the Democratic side, Barack Obama, with the backing of Newark Mayor Cory Booker, Jersey City Mayor (and Hudson County Democratic Chairman) Jerramiah Healy, and a respectable group of legislators and Democratic leaders, is at just 22%. And John Edwards, who has the support of New Jersey's most popular Democrat, Senate President Richard Codey, is at 8%.

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Paul (Daniels) Danielczyk lost to five-term Rep. Bernard Dwyer by just 5,598 votes, 51%-46%.Few pundits give Republican Paul (Daniels) Danielczyk much of a chance in his campaign for a State Assembly seat in the heavily Democratic 19th district against incumbents John Wisniewski and Joseph Vas. That must be frustrating for Danielczyk, who would have been a Congressman if his own party had given him even a tiny bit of support.

Back in 1990, newly-elected Governor Jim Florio raised taxes by $2.8 billion, and neither party anticipated that voters would take out their frustration with Florio on Democratic candidates for Congress. Bill Bradley, the popular two-term Democratic U.S. Senator, almost lost his seat to former Public Utilities Commission President Christine Todd Whitman -- the 50%-47% margin was almost entirely a backlash against Florio.

That year, the 37-year-old Danielczyk nearly upset five-term Democratic Congressman Bernard Dwyer. He lost by only 5,598 votes (51%-46%), and spent just $8,887 on his campaign

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The old rivalries endure in neighborhoods broken in half by an atmosphere of drugs and dread.

In Newark, the Bloods hold turf in the south ward and the Crips control much of the west. The Latin Kings take up the slack in parts of the north. In the smaller towns around Newark the gangs split their fiefdoms along municipal boundaries. The Crips are dominant in Linden, while the Bloods hold sway in Roselle.

With the arrest last week of Jose Carranza of Peru and two Latino minors, held in the execution-style killing of three Newark college students, MS-13, the gang with roots in El Salvador and ties on the West Coast, again came to the fore - at least on the street - as a prime organizational suspect.

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State Sen. Joseph Kyrillos, chairman of Mitt Romney’s presidential campaign in New Jersey, said the former Massachusetts governor’s first place finish in an Iowa straw poll this weekend indicates that breadbasket voters are starting to get to know Romney.

"I think he’s attractive to GOP primary voters, but he doesn’t have a lot of name recognition," said Kyrillos, reiterating his longstanding belief that Romney will surge in places where voters see him up close. "It will take a number of months, but I do think he is doing very well in Iowa and New Hampshire because he’s spending time and resources there."

According to the Associated Press, Romney scored 4,516 votes, or 31.5 percent, to beat former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee who had 2,587 votes, or 18.1 percent, and Kansas Sen. Sam Brownback, third with 2,192 votes or 15.3 percent.

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Brookdale Community College has canceled State Sen. Joseph M. Kyrillos’ cable television show, saying the college does not want to be at the flashpoint of a political campaign.

Kyrillos had hoped to show himself in conversation with U.S. Attorney Christopher J. Christie, an unabashed critic of state officials and arguably the GOP's favorite leading man. But the interview Kyrillos did with the feisty Christie may air after the Nov. 6th election on a pubic access channel, and not before, said Cheryl Cummings, executive director of the Brookdale Network, which produced the program.

"The program is not running," Cummings told PoliticsNJ.com. "It’s been produced, but it’s not running." She called a plug on Kyrillos’ website alerting viewers to the pre-election times and dates of his show "inaccurate information."

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