Linda Stender

The Home News Tribune has urged the ouster of the most incumbent legislators this year: six.  The HNT called for the defeat of Linda Greenstein (D-Plainsboro), Wayne DeAngelo (D-Hamilton), Joseph Egan (D-New Brunswick), Upendra Chivukula (D-Franklin), Patrick Diegnan (D-South Plainfield), and John Wisniewski (D-Sayreville).  Only Peter Barnes (D-Edison) survived the wrath of the editorial board.  But the HNT also endorsed three incumbent Democrats for re-election to the Middlesex County Board of Freeholders. 

The Courier-News wants five incumbents, all Democrats, to be defeated: Linda Stender (D-Fanwood), Gerald Green (D-Plainfield), Egan, Chivukula, and Diegnan.  They endorsed three GOP incumbents, Peter Biondi (R-Hillsborough), Denise Coyle (R-Bernards), and John DiMaio (R-Hackettstown) and Barnes.

The Courier-Post wants four Democratic legislators gone: five-term Assemblymen Herbert Conaway (D-Delanco) and Jack Connors (D-Pennsauken); and two special election winners -- State Sen. James Beach (D-Voorhees), who went to the Senate after John Adler became a Congressman; and Assemblywoman Celeste Riley (D-Bridgeton), who won a special election convention earlier this year after Douglas Fisher resigned to become state Secretary of Agriculture.   The Gloucester County Times also advocated the defeat of Riley, and the Burlington County Times said Coway should go.

The Record endorsed Republican challengers running against Frederick Scalera (D-Nutley), Joan Voss (D-Fort Lee), and Connie Wagner (D-Paramus); they endorsed ten incumbents for re-election - seven Democrats and three Republicans.  The Record also called for the ouster of Democratic Freeholders in Bergen and Passaic counties.

The Press of Atlantic City endorsed a Republican challenger against freshman Assemblyman Matthew Milam (D-Vineland).  The newspaper backed five incumbents - one Democrat and four Republicans.

The Courier News has endorsed Republicans Bo Vastine and Marty Marks over incumbent Democrats Assemblywoman Linda Stender (D-Fanwood) and Assemblyman Jerry Green (R-Plainfield) in the 22nd Legislative District race.

"Marks in particular offers a valuable perspective on how the state's policy mistakes translate into additional problems on the local level," the editorial noted of the former Scotch Plains mayor. "His service in the Scotch Plains government includes years of frustration over the effects of Civil Service regulations, arbitration rules and union excesses on local budgets. He would bring to Trenton the proper sense of urgency in correcting systemic flaws that drive up the costs of government in the state."

The Courier News is recommending the election of two Republicans seeking to unseat incumbents Linda Stender and Gerald Green in the 22nd district Assembly race.  The endorsement went to former Scotch Plains Mayor Martin Marks and first-time candidate Bo Vastine.

The Press of Atlantic City and the Asbury Park Press have endorsed Republicans Brian Rumpf and DiAnne Gove for State Assembly in District 9.  Rumpf is seeking his third term and Gove won a special election following the arrest and resignation of Daniel Van Pelt and his waiting to be sworn in. 

The Asbury Park Press is backing the re-election of freshman GOP incumbents Mary Pat Angelini and David Rible for State Assembly.

Union County's four Democratic Assembly members formally backed Sheila Oliver (D-East Orange) for speaker today, including Democratic State Chairman Joseph Cryan (D-Union), who was in the running for the top spot.    

The move solidifies the a North-South Jersey deal connected to the senate leadership contest, where Senate Majority Leader Stephen Sweeney (D-West Deptford) yesterday announced that he had the votes to topple Senate President Dick Codey (D-Roseland).

Cryan is said to be the leading contender for Majority Leader.

In addition to Cryan, who is also the state Democratic chairman, Assemblywomen Annette Quijano (D-Elizabeth), Linda Stender (D-Fanwood) and Assembly Speaker Pro Tempore Gerald Green (D-Plainfield) said, through a statement released by Union County Democratic Chair Charlotte DeFilippo, that they would back Oliver.

GREEN AND STENDER: IS THERE A TAX YOU DON'T LIKE?

Former Scotch Plains Mayor Martin Marks campaigns today in North Plainfield.

NORTH PLAINFIELD - Marty Marks, former mayor of Scotch Plains and an Assembly candidate in the 22nd Legislative District, has seen polling in Union County that puts that much more spring in the stride of he and his running mate, businessman Bo Vastine, candidates who raised more than $25,000 at a well-attended fundraiser Sept. 12th at Marks' home.

The Republican running mates are challenging longtime incumbent Assemblyman Jerry Green (D-Plainfield) and Green's running mate, former two-time Congressional candidate Assemblywoman Linda Stender (D-Fanwood), in a 2-1 Democratic district where Green and Stender will have more money to fight their challengers and who in normal circumstances should be fine - but where an intensely contested gubernatorial race at the top-of-the-ticket heartens the GOP opposition.

"We're satisfied that statewide issues are penetrating in our district," said Marks, going door-to-door on a Monday afternoon, whose fundraising guests included U.S. Rep. Leonard Lance (R-Clinton), state Senate Minority Leader Thomas Kean, Jr. (R-Westfield), Assembly Minority Leader Alex DeCroce (R-Parsippany), Assembly Minority Whip Jon Bramnick (R-Westfield) and Assemblywoman Nancy Munoz (R-Summit).

Marks and Vastine Call on Jerry Green and Linda Stender to Answer for NJ's Highest Unemployment Rate Since They Were Elected to the Assembly

The race for Governor is a toss-up and Democrats are favored to retain control of the State Assembly, according to a new PolitickerNJ.com Battleground 2009 analysis of state and county campaigns.  This breakdown will include key municipal races in future weeks.

Gov. Jon Corzine, right, with Somerset County Democratic Party Chair Peg Schaffer and Assemblyman Upendra Chivukula (D-Franklin Township), left.

SOMERVILLE - When President Barack Obama choppered into Holmdel and stood at a podium with Gov. Jon Corzine as flashbulbs popped, the event went down as a high profile rescue effort by the president of a governor for whom much of the Democratic Party was hitting the panic button.

Today, in a seeming effort to shake off the candidate in distress designation and himself come to the oratorical aid of a president whose own favorables have dipped since his appearance at the PNC Arts Center earlier this summer, Corzine sounded a note of defiant allegiance to Obama.

"Our president is under attack," Corzine told a crowd of 75-100 rain-spattered troops at the opening of the Somerset County Democratic Party headquarters on Division Street. "We need to send him a signal that we're with him. We're not going backwards, we're going forward."

While the governor is running nine points behind GOP gubernatorial candidate Chris Christie, according to the latest Quinnipiac University poll, the Christie campaign had a week and a half of negative headlines, which may have tightened the race.

"Everything is moving in the right direction," Corzine roared. "Let's keep it going. Things are moving in the right direction, right?"

Assembly Minority Leader Alex DeCroce (R-Parsippany), buoyed by polling that shows Republican Christopher Christie leading Gov. Jon Corzine in some key Democratic legislative districts, held a conference call with Assembly GOP leaders yesterday to review potential pickup opportunities in the fall Assembly elections.  Republicans need to win nine more seats to wrestle control of the lower house from Democrats, who have seen their numbers grow since they took the majority eight years ago.

DeCroce now has a poll showing Christie ahead of Corzine in the Democratic 22nd district by two points, 40%-38%.  The poll shows Assemblywoman Linda Stender (D-Fanwood) running first among the four legislative candidates, but also has Republican challenger Martin Marks, the former Scotch Plains mayor, narrowly leading nine-term Assemblyman Jerry Green (D-Plainfield).