Rick Merkt

Assemblyman Rick Merkt, right, finished third at the Mercer County GOP convention, beating Franklin Mayor Brian Levine 14-2.

There was almost an upset in Mercer County last night, with Assemblyman Rick Merkt (R-Mendham) coming within two votes of taking second place away from former Bogota Mayor Steve Lonegan.  In the race for second, Lonegan beat Merkt by a 16-14 vote.  This was Merkt’s best showing in the contest for the Republican nomination for Governor, and he easily outdistanced Franklin Mayor Brian Levine, who won just two votes.  A fifth candidate, South Brunswick inventor David Brown, received no votes.

HAMILTON -- Former U.S. Attorney Chris Christie rolled up another county line in his quest for the Republican gubernatorial nomination tonight, winning the Mercer County Republican Convention.

Christie got 99 votes to rival Steve Lonegan’s 16, Assemblyman Rick Merkt’s 14 and Franklin Township Mayor Brian Levine’s two.  Candidate David Brown did not receive any votes.

Christie, Merkt, Levine and Brown all showed up and gave six minute stump speeches.  Lonegan had a fundraising engagement, but was represented by campaign staffer Hank Butehorn.

Although prominent members of the Republican Party will likely try to score political points over the upcoming reappointment of State Supreme Court Justice Barry Albin this year, Assemblyman and gubernatorial candidate Rick Merkt (R-Mendham) would rather focus on the appointments he would actually have control over if he becomes governor.

"I would fire them all," said Merkt

Governor Jon Corzine will still be in office in September, when Albin, after serving seven years, will need to be reconfirmed to become tenured until mandatory retirement at age 70.  But Justices John Wallace, Roberto Rivera-Soto and Helen Hoens will all come up for reappointment during either Corzine's second term or the first term of his Republican opponent.   

Rivera-Soto is the most controversial of the three, having been censured for allegedly invoking his position to get an adversary of his son's in trouble, and having just recently accused of violating a court order relating to the Jayson Williams case.

Merkt said that he would not reappoint Rivera-Soto, a Republican, but not because of any controversy.

Former U.S. Attorney Christopher Christie easily won the endorsement of the Bergen County Republican organization tonight, defeating former Bogota Mayor Steve Lonegan by a 78%-22% margin at the party's nominating convention.  Christie won 615-172, with Assemblyman Rick Merkt (R-Mendham) receiving 4 votes.

With new polls released by Quinnipiac University and Rasmussen Reports, Fairleigh Dickinson University decided to re-release their March 4 poll on the New Jersey gubernatorial primaries this morning.  The data in their previous poll appears to be the same as the one released today. 

Former Bogota Mayor Steven Lonegan has gained in his bid to win the Republican nomination for Governor.  In a Quinnipiac University matchup of Republican primary contenders, former U.S. Attorney Christopher Christie leads Lonegan by 21 points, 40%-19%.  For Lonegan, those numbers are an improvement: Christie led 44%-17% in a February 4 Quinnipiac poll.

While Christie has a nine-point lead over the Democratic Governor, Jon Corzine, Lonegan’s numbers are not too shabby for a Republican in March with 29% statewide name ID.  Lonegan trails Corzine by just four points, 41%-37%.

As the press releases containing official responses to Gov. Jon Corzine's last budget address before his reelection rolled in this afternoon, two themes stuck out along starkly partisan lines.

Assembly Democrats repeatedly called it a "prudent," "tough" and generally fiscally responsible way to "position" the state for an eventual national economic recovery, which they've long contended is responsible for the state's fiscal straits.

Assembly Republicans disparaged the Governor's talk of drastic measures as the culmination of three years of not doing enough to curtail state government expenses, compounded by the fiscal practices of seven years of Democratic domination in Trenton and his own broken campaign promises.

In the race for the GOP gubernatorial nomination, Christopher Christie won the backing of the Middlesex County Republican Screening Committee tonight, defeating Steve Lonegan 57-9.  Rick Merkt received two votes, and Brian Levine won one vote.

Former Bogota Mayor Steve Lonegan trails Gov. Jon Corzine by 4 percentage points, a statistical dead heat, in a Fairleigh Dickinson University poll. The poll has a margin of error of +/- 4%.

While the story of the day is that Republican front runner Christopher Christie leads Democratic Governor Jon Corzine by nine percentage points, it ought not to go unnoticed that another Republican contender is in a statistic dead heat with the incumbent.  In a new Fairleigh Dickinson University poll, Corzine leads former Bogota Mayor Steven Lonegan by just four points, 36%-32%.  A January FDU poll had Corzine leading Christie by seven points, and Lonegan by eighteen points.

Gov. Jon Corzine continues to struggle for the approval of New Jersey voters. He is upside-down, with 40% approval and 46% disapproval.

Former U.S. Attorney Christopher Christie leads Gov. Jon Corzine by nine percentage points, 41%-32%, in a Fairleigh Dickinson University Public Mind poll released this morning.

In a matchup among Republican primary voters, Christie leads former Bogota Mayor Steven Lonegan 43%-15%.  Two other candidates, Franklin Mayor Brian Levine and Assemblyman Rick Merkt (R-Mendham) barely register, at 2% and 1%, respectively.

Corzine’s approval rating is upside-down at 40%-46%.  And the governor has a taken major hit in popularity with public employee households, with only 31% of their members approving of his job performance, while 56% disapprove. 

“When budgets are cut, public employees laid off, and taxes are in danger of being raised, lots of people think twice about their support for the incumbent,” said pollster Peter Woolley.Christie’s name recognition, which the same poll measured at 44% in January, is now 57%.  Lonegan’s statewide name ID is at 33%.

Corzine does come out on top in head-to-head match ups with the other Republican gubernatorial candidates, but not by huge margins, leading Lonegan by four points, 36% to 32%.  He leads Merkt 38% to 28% and Levine 38% to 27%.