Norris Clark

BLOOMINGTON, Minn. -- Last year, with the popular state Senate candidate Jeff Van Drew heading up the ticket, Democrats swept the election in the 1st Legislative District. 

But after a narrow defeat last year, Republican Michael Donohue said today that he’s seriously mulling another bid for the Assembly seat, and that 2009 will likely be more advantageous for Republicans than 2007.

“I think it’s going to be very competitive, and I’m thinking about it,” said Donohue as he sat for breakfast with the Republican delegation this morning.

Republicans think their best chance to pick up Democratic Assembly seats next year is in the first district, where incumbents Nelson Albano and Matthew Milam are expected to seek re-election. Democrats swept the district in 2007 when Jefferson Van Drew ousted Republican incumbent Nicholas Asselta in a hotly contested State Senate race. Milam won by 2,020 votes - one of the closest races in the state; Albano was re-elected to a second term by 5,319 votes. Without Van Drew on the ticket, the GOP is optimistic.

The new class of legislators isn’t even seated yet, but that won’t stop us from speculating about the Assembly election in 2009.

Granted, two years is a political eternity, and which party will hold an advantage in that time depends most heavily on who’s at the top of the ticket. But when the new Assemblymen and women take their places in Trenton early next year, there will be 25 freshmen – several from competitive districts. Those represent the best opportunity for each party to knock off some incumbents.

Right now, however, from this great distance, it doesn’t appear as though any new districts will come into the fold, or that control of either legislative body is likely to shift. Indeed, it’s more likely that 2009 will see a smaller number of districts in play.

A Zogby poll conducted for the Press of Atlantic City and Richard Stockton State College shows Democrat James Whelan leading GOP State Sen. Sonny McCullough by a 50%-37% margin, and the race between Republican State Sen. Nicholas Asselta and Democrat Jeff Van Drew to be a statistical dead heat.

Van Drew, a three-term Assemblyman, leads Asselta by a 45%-42% margin. The poll has a margin of error of +/- 5%.

(ALONG THE GARDEN STATE PARKWAY, November 2) – First District Senator Nick Asselta and his Assembly running mates Norris Clark and Mike Donohue today joined Senate Republican Leader Leonard Lance and Assembly Republican Leader Alex DeCroce, and Second District Senator Sonny McCullough and his Assembly running mates John Amodeo and Vince Polistina at a press conference off the Garden State Parkway to declare their opposition to any consideration of the Democrats’ plan to sell New Jersey’s toll roads during a lame duck session of the legislature.

The Press of Atlantic City has endorsed Republicans Norris Clark and Michael Donohue for State Assembly in the first district, passing over incumbent Nelson Albano. READ

(VINELAND, October 25) – First District Senator Nick Asselta and his Assembly running mates Norris Clark and Mike Donohue today called on New Jersey Attorney General Anne Milgram immediately to investigate a series of suspect campaign finance transactions funneling hundreds of thousands of dollars from the Camden County Democratic Committee through the Cape May County Democratic Committee to the election fund of Democrats Jeff Van Drew and Nelson Albano in clear violation of several New Jersey campaign finance laws.

Anne Milgram is going to be busy in the first district.

Just before state Senator Nicholas Asselta and his Assembly running mates were scheduled to hold a press conference asking the Attorney General to investigate Democratic wheeling of campaign funds in the first district in 2005, Assembly Speaker Pro-Tempore Wilfredo Caraballo called on Milgram to investigate whether first district Republicans transferred money between their own campaign accounts to circumvent contribution limits.

The Republicans seized on a Tuesday investigative report from the Press of Atlantic City that showed the Camden County Democratic Committee circumventing campaign contribution caps two years ago by donating $400,000 to the Cape May Democratic Organization, which then went directly to an ad blitz in the Philadelphia television market on behalf of the Assembly campaigns of Jeff Van Drew and Nelson Albano.

(OCEAN CITY, October 23) – First District Republican Assembly candidates Norris Clark and Mike Donohue today slammed their Democratic opponent, Nelson Albano, for statements Albano made at last night’s League of Women Voters debate, in which Albano declared his support for amnesty for illegal immigrants.

(VINELAND, October 12) – First District Senator Nick Asselta and his Assembly running mates Norris Clark and Michael Donohue today echoed Assembly Republican Leader Alex DeCroce’s request for a full investigation by the New Jersey Attorney General into potential violations of New Jersey law and the privacy rights of First District constituents who responded to a campaign mail piece sent out by the Democratic State Committee on behalf of Assemblymen Jeff Van Drew and Nelson Albano.