Rick Shaftan

Two polls show John McCain leading Rudy Giuliani in New Jersey’s February 5 presidential primary: a Neighborhood Research poll has McCain leading 31%-26%, with 18% for Mitt Romney, 9% for Mike Huckabee, and 4% for Ron Paul; and a Fairleigh Dickinson University poll has McCain ahead of Giuliani by a 23%-29% margin, with 10% for Romney and 7% for Huckabee.

On the Democratic side, Hillary Clinton leads Barack Obama, 41%-27%, with 8% for John Edwards in the FDU poll.

Quinnipiac University will release their poll this morning.

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Peter Kane, the NJ for Huckabee leader, presides over the group's second meet-up WednesdaySeated at two tables pushed together in a diner in Scotch Plains, the core of presidential candidate Mike Huckabee's New Jersey supporters plan their next move.

"We've got to be relentlessly positive," says Huckabee for President 2008 lead organizer Peter Kane of Summit. It's a message to which the group immediately responds because most of them say they like Huckabee because he hasn't gone negative in Iowa, and because he just generally projects likeability.

Some of these people gathered signatures for Huckabee, helping to submit 2,300 here in New Jersey or 1,300 more than what the state requires, and now they're ready for the next challenges: busing up to New Hampshire to volunteer for the campaign, writing letters to the editor, or convincing friends and relatives to back their man.

"Very few of New Jersey's Republican Congressional delegation have declared their support for a presidential candidate, and we're reaching out to them," says Kane, a senior vice president at CitiGroup who worked for the Dole campaign in Iowa in the 1996 election, and spent three days with Huckabee in the summer before committing to the former governor of Arkansas.

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After facing criticism for not being aggressive enough against Democrats, Republicans have coalesced around a new cause.

Although Republicans offered no comment on Sunday or Monday after The Star Ledger broke the story about Gov. Corzine’s $15,000 gift to ex-girlfriend Carla Katz’s brother-in-law Rocco Riccio, the GOP has now seized on this latest scandal to erupt over Gov. Corzine’s relationship with Katz in what appears to be a coordinated effort to turn it into a campaign issue.

In the latest twist involving Corzine’s monetary relationship with Katz, the governor gave Riccio $15,000 after he was forced to resign from a job at the Turnpike Authority, following rumors that he had looked into the tax record of Corzine’s political enemies. Corzine also promised to help find Riccio work in the private sector.

 

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The majority of New Jersey voters say that they would not be upset if the state legalized gay marriage, according to a Zogby Poll commissioned by Garden State Equality, a gay advocacy group.

63% of those polled said that they would have no problem if “public officials in New Jersey come to the conclusion that civil unions for gay couples have not worked to provide equality under the law” and granted gay couples the right to marry.

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District 36 may not be such a long shot for Republicans, according to one GOP campaign consultant.

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The PoliticsNJ.com Power List of the 100 Most Powerful People in New Jersey Politics will be released on Thursday.  This year, our readers get to pick the person who gets the final slot -- #100 --  from our last ten candidates.  Vote Tuesday and Wednesday to decide who gets on the Power List -- and who doesn't!

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It’s not all gloom and doom for Bergen County Republicans. Out of the election day carnage came what could be prove to be a bright spot for GOP morale.

His name is Mike Guarino, a former Bergen County health commissioner and constant thorn in the side of local politicians.

While there’s no question his candidacy is a long shot -- a Hail Mary even -- he will at least provide some kind of challenge to Democratic State Senator Paul Sarlo.

“I’m 78 years old and running for office,” said Guarino. “I must need to have my head examined.”

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