Robert Menendez

U.S. Sen. Robert Menendez (D-Hoboken), right, endorses Passaic Mayor Alex Blanco

PASSAIC – The city stood at City Hall, or so it seemed, as a large crowd gathered to give its blessing to Mayor Alex Blanco, who tonight announced his intentions to run for mayor again, with the backing of U.S. Sen. Robert Menendez (D-Hoboken), State Democratic Party Chairman Joe Cryan and Passaic County Democratic Chairman John Currie all present to augment the voices of the people.

Trumpeted as a long time coming crumbling of wink and nod politics in Passaic, the mayor’s “Honesty in Action” campaign kick-off flew in the face of a ragtag assortment of Vincent Capuana allies, who heckled the speakers from their campaign HQ on the other side of Passaic Avenue, but were mostly drowned out by the merengue-salsa-soul rhythm spectacle of Blanco and his base.  

“Let no one, not even an opponent we defeated in November, stop our forward progress,” cried Blanco. “When people ask you, ‘Why are you so confident you can make change?’ You tell them, ‘The doctor is in!’”

Running on the heels of a mayor indicted - and later jailed - on corruption charges by then-U.S. Attorney Chris Christie, podiatrist Blanco defeated city super/School Board President Capuana last year, 3,859 to 3,656, after he secured the powerful 3rd Ward backing of Assemblyman/Council President Gary Schaer (D-Passaic).

U.S. Senator Robert Menendez will attend a rally in Passaic tonight to endorse Mayor Alex Blanco for re-election.  Blanco won a special election last year to replace Gary Schaer, who became Acting Mayor after Sammy Rivera’s criminal conviction. 

The massive number of new appointments being processed by the White House has the vetting process a little backed up.  That has caused a delay in President Barack Obama's formal nomination of Paul Fishman as New Jersey's new U.S. Attorney.  Because he has won endorsements from U.S. Senators Frank Lautenberg and Robert Menendez, Fishman has the job.  But Obama won't nominate him until the vetting is done, and he must still compete with other nominees waiting to be confirmed on a busy Senate calendar.  In the meantime, Ralph Marra, Jr. will continue to serve as Acting U.S. Attorney.

Also delayed is the appointment of a new U.S. Marshal to replace Republican James Plousis.  Lautenberg and Menendez have not yet made a recommendation to the White House, and that is where the process begins.  The candidates in that race are the same: Samuel Plumeri, the Director of the Port Authority Police and a former Mercer County Sheriff, and Gov. Jon Corzine's choice; Bergen County Sheriff Leo McGuire, who has the backing of U.S. Rep. Steven Rothman (D-Fair Lawn); and Bergen County Freeholder Director Tomas Padilla, who is also a Hackensack policeman.

One minor error on Assemblywoman Nilsa Cruz-Perez's press release announcing her retirement from the State Assembly: she was not the first Hispanic to serve in the State Assembly.  That was Jorge Rod, a Republican from Ocean who was elected in 1981.  The second was Jose Arango, a Republican from Hudson County who was elected in 1985. The first Hispanic Democrat to serve in the Assembly was Robert Menendez, who won in 1987. Jose Sosa was elected in 1991, and Rudy Garcia was elected in 1993.   Cruz-Perez was the first woman when she was elected in 1995.

Republican gubernatorial candidate Christopher Christie might have a sizeable lead over Gov. Jon Corzine in three recent independent polls (and Steve Lonegan leads Corzine in one of them) but that doesn't mean the Washington insider community believes he will win.  Pundits outside of New Jersey are accustomed to be teased about New Jersey, where early polling is often more favorable toward Republicans than Election Day.  On October 27, 2004, there was a poll showing George W. Bush and John Kerry in a dead heat in New Jersey, and there was one on September 28, 2005 showing Douglas Forrester within four points of Corzine. And on September 20, 2006, Thomas Kean, Jr. led Robert Menendez 48%-45%.

"Considering that Corzine hasn't even started his re-election campaign and will spend millions of dollars of his own money when he finally does, and that Republicans haven't won statewide in New Jersey in a dozen years, Republicans may want to keep that champagne on ice before they start putting this contest into the win column," Nathan Gonzales, political editor of the nonpartisan Rothenberg Political Report, told CNN yesterday.

New Jersey might be the bluest state in the nation.  The last time a Republican statewide candidate won New Jersey was in 1997.  Since then, 49 other states have elected a Republican to a statewide office. But also consider this: the last time New Jersey re-elected a Democratic governor was in 32 years ago.  Since 1977, 45 other states have re-elected a Democratic Governor.  Only New Jersey, South Dakota and Texas have not re-elected a Democratic governor since Brendan Byrne won his second term. (South Dakota has not elected a Democratic governor since 1974 -- the longest continuous streak in the nation.)

Both of New Jersey's Democratic United States Senators remain popular, according to today's Quinnipiac University poll.  Frank Lautenberg has a 47%-37% approval rating, while Robert Menendez is at 41%-33%.

Richard McGrath, one of New Jersey's premier spinmeisters, will be moving to Washington this month to become the Communications Director for U.S. Rep. Frank Pallone (D-Long Branch).  

Since 2002, McGrath has been the Communications Director of the New Jersey Democratic State Committee, where he has played a full-time role in Barack Obama's 2008 presidential campaign, Bob Menendez's 2006 U.S. Senate campaign, and Jon Corzine's 2005 gubernatorial campaign.  He was Communications Director for James E. McGreevey's 1997 and 2001 campaigns for Governor, served as Communications Director for two U.S. Senators, Frank Lautenberg and Robert Torricelli.  McGrath has also worked for the New Jersey Senate Democratic office, the state Treasury Department, and the Democratic Governors Association.

McGrath will replace Andrew Souvall, who has worked for Pallone since 2000.  Souvall has accepted a private sector position in California.

U.S. Sen. Robert Menendez

The Washington Post reported today that U.S. Sen. Robert Menendez has placed a hold - the federal version of senatorial courtesy - on two of President Obama's science advisors: John Holdren, a physicist at Harvard University who has been nominated to head the White House Office of Science and Technology, and Jane Lubechno, a marine biologist at Oregon State University who has been named Administrator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.  "According to sources who asked not to be identified because they were not authorized to discuss the matter, Menendez is using the holds as leverage to get Senate leaders' attention for a matter related to Cuba rather than questioning the nominees' credentials," the newspaper reported.

U.S. Sen. Frank Lautenberg

National Journal magazine has rated Frank Lautenberg as the 4th most liberal member of the United States Senate, while Robert Menendez ranks 15th.  Lautenberg gets a liberal score of 88.3%, while Menendez is at 82.2%.  For comparison purposes, Joe Lieberman is at 59.3%.

Cash on hand for candidates for the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives from New Jersey.