“The passage of the Jessica Lunsford Act will send a clear message that the citizens of New Jersey are serious about protecting our children and keeping child predators off the streets,” said District 2 Freeholder Candidate Frank Formica. “Atlantic County Freeholders have a solemn responsibility in ensuring the safety of our communities for our neighbors, family and friends.”

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(OCEAN CITY, September 4) – First Legislative District GOP Assembly nominees Mike Donohue and John McCann – responding to the announcement earlier today by GOP Assemblymen Vince Polistina and John Amodeo of a 10-point program to revitalize the Atlantic City region – pledged their support for efforts to spur job growth efforts not just in the Atlantic City area, but throughout all of South Jersey.

WHELAN BLASTS POLISTINA FOR HARMING MARKETING OF ATLANTIC CITY

NORTHFIELD – Senator Jim Whelan, responding to a Republican press conference held yesterday, blasted Assemblyman Vince Polistina for statements that harm efforts to market Atlantic City. Whelan stated:

“I understand that this is the political season and there will be some grandstanding. What I object to is that when we should be fighting for all the business we can get, Assemblyman Polistina is making false insinuations that could have a chilling effect on businesses deciding to bring their trade shows and conventions to Atlantic City.

Gov. Jon Corzine and Assemblywoman Linda Greenstein (D-Plainsboro)

Amid fullblown intrigue elsewhere, Nutley businessman Carmen Pio Costa and Carlstadt School Board member Don Diorio will formally announce their Republican candidacies in Rutherford Thursday evening, and few doubt the battleground, gauntlet-down implications of their challenge to Assemblyman Gary Schaer (D-Passaic) and Assemblyman Fred Scalera (D-Nutley).

But if the 36th Legislative District remains a decided field of contention this cycle (as is the 1st District in New Jersey’s deep south), two other districts – the 2nd and the 14th – early identified by operatives in both parties as potential battlegrounds in their own right,  at least for the moment do not appear to be marquee headline races.

Certainly that opens up the possibility for North Country Democrats and Republicans to expend more resources in the 36th, where Democrats enjoy a 2-1 edge but where the Dems must run with an unpopular leading man in Gov. Jon Corzine. 

Yet it could also open up other regions, other terrain, formerly classified as green zones. Arguably chief among these, particularly given its bordering proximity to the 14th, is the 12th District, where Assemblyman Declan O’Scanlon (R-Little Silver) and Assemblywoman Caroline Casagrande (R-Colts Neck) seek reelection, and last night double-teamed at a town hall meeting in Manalapan.

State Democratic Party Chair Joe Cryan, left, mingles with Northfield Councilman Jimmy Martinez and the Rev. Reginald Floyd, right.

EGG HARBOR CITY – When the better-known names faded, Atlantic County Democrats turned to two relative newcomers – Northfield Councilman Jimmy Martinez and Northfield attorney and Minister Reginald Floyd - who accepted their party’s nomination tonight at the Vienna Inn on the White Horse Pike.

By all accounts good guys in their party’s eyes, the pair nonetheless emanated “B” team presence after freeholders Alisa Cooper and Charlie Garrett and former Atlantic County Prosecutor Jeff Blitz made the rumor rounds as early favorites these last few weeks to face incumbent GOP Assemblyman John Amodeo and Assemblyman Vince Polistina in a South Jersey war - only to decide against running 

Republicans promptly pounced on the news coming out of Egg Harbor City tonight.

Atlantic County Freeholder Alisa Cooper told the Press of Atlantic City this morning that she will not run for assembly in the 2nd Legislative District.

Cooper, a Democrat, won reelection to the freeholder board last year and has been weighing an assembly bid for several months.

Cooper’s mother, Dolores G. Cooper, a Republican, served five terms in the assembly, from 1982 to 1992.  

Atlantic County Democrats had also hoped to run Jeff Blitz, a former county prosecutor, but he turned down the offer.  The party has yet to reveal a slate to run against incumbents John Amodeo (R-Margate) and Vince Polistina (R-Egg Harbor Township).   

Former Atlantic County Prosecutor Jeffrey Blitz, a Republican who Democrats recruited to run for assembly in the 2nd Legislative District, has turned down the offer.

“I made it known early on after I gave it some thought that I didn’t want to be a candidate,” said Blitz, 67, who served for 22 years as county prosecutor.  

Democrats were hoping to launch a major offensive against incumbents Vince Polistina (R-Egg Harbor Township) and John Amodeo (R-Margate), but top state party insiders felt that Blitz was the only potential candidate who could be competitive in the current political climate.  

Last month, the Press of Atlantic City reported that Blitz’s name surfaced in a Democratic poll, although by that time, Blitz said, he had already taken his name out of the running.

Senate Minority Leader Tom Kean, Jr., (R-Union), left; and state Sen. Kevin O'Toole, GOP chairman of Essex County and chair of the GOP chairs.

PRINCETON – It didn’t look like a scene of devastation – or of a coming battle.

In the swank lobby of the Hyatt Regency, water tumbled over rocks and splashed into a pool, where Koi fish gaped up at a swiftly striding figure heading toward a crew of young, BlackBerry-thumbing operatives at the far end of a long, carpeted corridor.

On his way to the Republican Party chairmen’s dinner, Chris Christie took several questions before an aide steered him toward his destination: a room in which 15 of the party’s 21 chair people and party leaders waited to assess the merits of the former U.S. Attorney and three other Republican candidates for governor a month in front of the first county convention in Union.

Like a lot of his colleagues, Ocean County Republican Chairman George Gilmore personally thinks Christie gives his party the best shot at rebirth.

“I will be endorsing Chris Christie,” he said, against the nagging back story of former Bogota Mayor Steve Lonegan, who for months has aggressively organized a grassroots effort in the likely event he’s unable to scale the walls of the establishment at a majority of the party’s nominating conventions.

Assemblyman Vince Polistina (R-Egg Harbor Township)

Assemblyman Vince Polistina (R-Egg Harbor Township) anticipates that he and his District 2 running mate, Assemblyman John Amodeo (R-Margate), will be targets in the coming legislative elections.

But he dismisses any hopes the Democrats had of prying the GOP apart by using the old Democratic Party/Fran Bodine tactic: subbing a Republican in under the guise of the opposition party banner. 

“I don’t think (former Republican legislators) Paul D’Amato and Frank Blee are going to run,” Polistina said. 

Since the 2007 Atlantic County GOP split between former Sen. Bill Gormley (R-Atlantic) and his successor, Egg Harbor Township Mayor Sonny McCullough, “the party has healed very nicely,” said Polistina.

Atlantic County Freeholder Alisa Cooper

Atlantic County Freeholder Alisa Cooper sees a run for higher office in her future, but she’s not sure what exactly it will be.

“Certainly down the line. In the future.  I’m not saying definitely 2009, but most definitely I would like to run for higher office. Whether it’s going to be 2009 or 2010 I’m not sure at this point,” said Cooper. 

Cooper just won reelection to the Atlantic County freeholder board, and said she’s still catching her breath from that hard fought campaign.  But she said that she wouldn’t mind following the legacy of her mother, who went from being a freeholder to an Assemblywoman, serving from the 1980s to the early 1990s.