Rudy Giuliani

Rob Ortiz was widely viewed as a rising star in New Jersey politics in June 2007 when the political newcomer won 57% of the vote in his bid for Bergen County GOP Chairman after Guy Talarico stepped down one year early.  The 35-year-old lawyer was a fundraiser for Rudy Giuliani – at the time the front runner for the Republican presidential nomination – and Bergen Republicans, down on Talarico and anxious to restore their former days of glory, saw Ortiz as a bright light for their future.  But one year later, Ortiz is the underdog as he fights to win his first full two-year term as BCRO Chairman.

Amanda Gasperino, a New Jersey political operative who has worked for Bret Schundler and Rudy Giuliani, will manage Scott Garrett's campaign for re-election to a fourth term in the 5th district.

Republican presidential candidate John McCain will file a slate of delegate candidates today that represents huge representation from supporters of his vanquished rivals – there are more Rudy Giuliani supporters on the ticket than early McCain backers, and the list includes some Mitt Romney backers.  None of Mike Huckabee’s state campaign leaders are running as McCain delegates, and retiring Rep. Jim Saxton, who backed Duncan Hunter, was not offered a delegate slot.

There was a fairly fierce internal battle over delegates in District 12, where State Senator Jennifer Beck and former Senate President John Bennett -- both originally Giuliani supporters – were both in competition for one Monmouth County slot.  Adam Puharic, the Monmouth GOP Chairman, picked Bennett, designating Beck for an alternate slot.

The McCain delegates:

Ken Kurson, the co-author with Rudy Giuliani of Leadership, which spent 25 weeks on the New York Times bestseller list, has joined Jamestown Associates, a New Jersey-based political consulting firm that works for GOP candidates nationally.  Kurson served as Deputy Director of Communications for Giuliani partners, and most recently served as COO of Giuliani’s presidential campaign.

"I am thrilled about Ken Kurson joining the firm. He is brilliant writer, a smart strategist and is  passionate about winning. He is a perfect fit for Jamestown Associates,” said Jamestown Associates CEO Larry Weitzner.  “Over the month that we've been discussing Ken's arrival, Tom Blakely and I were very excited to bring Ken aboard and the three of us had a lot of fun anticipating the great things we'd accomplish together."

David Paterson has been Governor of New York since Monday and voters already like him: he has a 46%-3% approval rating, and 65% of voters already know who he is, according to a new Quinnipiac University poll released early this morning. Three-fourths of New York voters (75%) say he will govern effectively and 67% expect that he’ll restore trust in state government. The pollster said that revelations of his extramarital affairs caused voter attitudes about Paterson to shift slightly during the last night of the survey.

“Gov. David Paterson begins with good wishes. By big margins, New Yorkers think he’ll restore public trust – boy, can Albany use that – and be able to govern effectively,” said Maurice Carroll, director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute.

Eliot Spitzer is just the latest in a long list of political sex scandals that goes back to the Continental Congress. Politicker.com has a list of America’s Top 53 Political Sex Scandals that includes prostitutes, sex with minors, strippers, extramarital affairs, massages, nude swim parties, and even a murder. New Jersey gets three slots on the list.CLICK HERE TO VIEW THE LIST

Monmouth County GOP Chairman Adam Puharic wants Rudy Giuliani to run against Frank Lautenberg
In the aftermath of news that Anne Evans Estabrook would not run for the U.S. Senate, Monmouth county GOP Chairman Adam Puharic today said he was calling for an emergency meeting of Republican county chairmen to discuss the party’s options in nominating a candidate.

As for his own personal choice for a GOP senate candidate now that Estabrooks is out, Puharic said he would be happy joining a coalition of New Jersey Republicans calling on former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani to enter the race, or "other talented Republicans."

But in the meantime, "Everybody needs to freeze until we have a chance to talk," said Puharic. "If a majority of the county chairs believe we should rally around state Sen. Joe Pennacchio, fine, but if a majority are not happy with the choices they have now, I beseech everyone not to rush to judgement."

Today is Tuesday, February 26, 2008 – the original early date of the New Jersey Presidential primary after the Legislature moved it up from June and before they moved it to the first Monday in February, Super Tuesday.  At the time it seemed like the right call – the only opponents to the date change were a scattering of John McCain supporters who didn’t want to see Rudy Giuliani score an early victory.  But imagine what today might have been like had the eyes of America been on New Jersey on a day when no other states have primaries scheduled.

Perhaps it wasn’t the best strategic campaign stop for John McCain, but he came to Hamilton today anyway accompanied by an entourage of nationally prominent Republicans and even one former Democratic vice presidential candidate.

Joining McCain today at the Colonial Volunteer Firehouse were Rudy Giuliani, Sen. Joe Lieberman [I/D-CT], Sen. Phil Graham [R-TX], Sen. Lindsey Graham [R-SC], Florida Gov. Charlie Crist and Rep. Vito Fossella [R-NY].

It was also a time to shine for McCain’s tried and true New Jersey supporters – especially those who backed the candidate even when his campaign was hobbled by low cash and low poll numbers: State Senators Bill Baroni, Kevin O’Toole and Sean Kean; GOP State Chairman Tom Wilson; Morris County Freeholder John Murphy; former 9th district congressional candidate Vincent Micco and Bergen County Clerk Kathe Donovan. 

In our year-end review of New Jersey politics, PolitickerNJ.com gave our worst prediction of the year award to Assembly Speaker Joseph Roberts for touting the relevance of New Jersey’s February 5 presidential primary. At the time, Hillary Clinton and Rudy Giuliani held massive leads in this state.