Robert Menendez

Watch for New Jersey Democrats to consider legislation that will change the way the state fills vacancies in the United States Senate.  Now that Democrats have lost the governorship, some party leaders are concerned that Republican Gov.-elect Christopher Christie would appoint a U.S. Senator if Democrat Frank Lautenberg, who turns 86 in January, leaves office without finishing the final four years of his term.  Some Democratic leaders have already discussed a plan to take the appointment away from the governor and forcing a quick special election.  Jon Corzine could sign that bill before he leaves office in January.

Five years ago, when there was a good chance that Democrat John Kerry might get elected president, the Democratic-controlled Massachusetts Legislature changed the law so that Republican Gov. Mitt Romney could not appoint Kerry's successor.

A win by Jon Corzine will make Democrat Robert Menendez one of the safest incumbents in the United States Senate when he seeks re-election in 2012.  Republicans have not won a U.S. Senate seat in New Jersey since 1972 and have had no statewide victories since 1997, and if the GOP can't take out a governor with upside-down approval ratings, it's unlikely that they will be seriously competitive against Menendez in a presidential year.  Menendez, who has taken a personal interest in Corzine's Hudson County campaign, will appear with Jon Stewart on the Daily Show tonight to plug his new book. 

"Extraordinary Measures," a movie based on the life of New Jerseyan John Crowley, is set to open in theaters on January 22, 2010.  Crowley came close to entering the race for the Republican U.S. Senate nomination in 2008, and is considered a possible candidate against incumbent Robert Menendez in 2012.  The movie stars Brendan Fraser (as Crowley), Harrison Ford and Keri Russell.

Crowley, 41, was a Bristol-Myers Squibb executive twelve years ago when he found out his 15-month-old daughter and four-month-old son had a rare and fatal neuromuscular disease. He wound up leaving to head up a series of biotech firms and has raised a reported $200 million for research of genetic diseases.

A New York Times poll of New Jersey residents has President Barack Obama's approval rating at 62%-25%.  But nearly two-third of registered voters (65%) say that Obama’s endorsement of Gov. Jon Corzine will have no effect on their vote.  17% say it will make them more likely to support Corzine, and 16% say less likely.

U.S. Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-Cliffside Park) has a 38%-22% approval rating, and U.S. Sen. Robert Menendez (D-Hoboken) has an approval rating of 32%-22%.

Gov. Jon Corzine enters the final weeks of his re-election campaign with an upside-down 39%-56% job approval rating.  For comparison purposes, Gov. Christine Todd Whitman was at 53%-43% when she was narrowly re-elected twelve years ago.  New Jersey's last two Governors were popular on Election Day - Richard Codey had a job approval of 68%-16% in 2005, and Donald DiFrancesco was at 60%-14% in 2001 - but they were not candidates for re-election. (These are all Quinnipiac numbers)

One comparison for Corzine and Republican Christopher Christie could be the 2006 U.S. Senate race between Democrat Robert Menendez and Republican Thomas Kean, Jr., which was fought against the backdrop of ethics issues and a strong political environment.  In an October 12 Quinnipiac poll, Menendez led Kean 49%-45%.  Menendez, who had been appointed to the Senate ten months earlier, had split favorables: 32%-32%; Kean, the son of a popular former governor, was at 34%-18%.

SENS. LAUTENBERG, MENENDEZ, REP. SIRES, MAYOR SMITH ANNOUNCE $3.56 MILLION IN ECONOMIC RECOVERY FUNDING FOR CONSTRUCTION OF NEW BAYONNE FIREHOUSE

U.S. Senator Robert Menendez's new book, Growing American Roots : Why Our Nation Will Thrive as Our Largest Minority Flourishes, has been published by Penguin Group (USA).  Menendez did his first book signing on Sunday in his old home town of Union City, where he broke into politics as a young school board member, Mayor, Assemblyman and State Senator before winning a seat in Congress in 1992. He is now the lone Latino in the United States Senate.

Menendez's book is now at 145,057 on the Barnes & Noble sales rank.  As a matter of comparison, as of this morning: former Gov. James E. McGreevey's book is ranked 119,152, ex-U.S. Sen. Robert Torricelli's book on great political speeches is at 190,079, and former U.S. Sen. Bill Bradley's most recent book is at 101,309.  Menendez leads another Cuban American Senator, Mel Martinez (R-Fla.), whose book is at 404,504.  He is also in a tight contest with Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), whose boom is at 116,354.

Another tight race: sales of Menendez's book are trailing pre-sales of John Wefing's biography of another prominent New Jersey Democrat. The Life and Times of Richard J. Hughes : The Politics of Civility, a biography of the former two-term Governor and Chief Justice of the New Jersey Supreme Court.  The Hughes book is at 114,697 and is due to be released on November 15.

U.S. Sen. Robert Menendez (D-Hoboken) is bashing the owners of the Empire State Building for being lit red and yellow this week to honor the 60th anniversary of the People's Republic of China.  Menendez says China is a communist regime that has been associated with oppression and human rights suppression.

"I find it distasteful that one of the foremost symbols of our free nation would be draped in the colors of a government that has systematically restricted freedom for 60 years," said Menendez, a Senate Foreign Relations Committee member.  "Such a display does not deserve to share a skyline with the Statue of Liberty. It is an affront to those who have been killed, those who have been stifled and those who have been driven into exile over the past six decades. It is an affront to the ideals that our great nation was built upon."

Gov. Jon Corzine is airing a new TV ad airing on Spanish language TV stations featuring an endorsement from U.S. Senator Robert Menendez (D-Hoboken).  Menendez, the only Latino in the U.S. Senate, touts Corzine's investment in the construction of new schools and his leadership during an economic crisis.  

Assembly Minority Leader Alex DeCroce (R-Parsippany) says that federal prosecutors should probe whether four New Jersey legislators violated any laws when they pushed the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to approve a medical device marketed by campaign contributors.

A New York Times story this morning alleged that U.S. Senators Robert Menendez (D-Hoboken) and Frank Lautenberg (D-Cliffside Park), and U.S. Reps. Steven Rothman (D-Fair Lawn) and Frank Pallone (D-Long Branch), asked the FDA to reverse the recommendation of their scientists and approve a patch for injured knees that had been found to be unsafe.  The manufacturer, ReGen Biologics, Inc., made what the Times called "significant" contributions to their campaigns a few months before they intervened with the FDA.

DeCroce, citing OpenSecrets.org, a website that tracks campaign contributions, the four Democrats received a total of $26,00 from ReGen executives.  He wants the incoming U.S. Attorney, Paul Fishman, to make a probe of the congressional Democrats his first priority.

"This could be one of the worst cases of ‘pay-to-play' perpetrated by any public official in New Jersey," said DeCroce.