Sarah Palin

Former Vice President Al Gore will be in New Jersey today, lending a hand to Gov. Jon Corzine's re-election by addressing an annual meeting of Democrats in Atlantic City.  Gore becomes the second of the eight living Democratic nominees for President to stump for Corzine; Barack Obama was in the state last July.  Democrats expect two others to be in New Jersey over the next few weeks: former President Bill Clinton, and U.S. Sen. John Kerry.  There are no plans for any of the other four onetime Democratic standard bearers to campaign for Corzine: George McGovern, Jimmy Carter, Walter Mondale and Michael Dukakis.

There are four living Republican presidential candidates.  It's almost certain that former Presidents George H.W. Bush and George W. Bush will not campaigning for GOP gubernatorial candidate Christopher Christie.  There is no word if Bob Dole or John McCain will be visiting New Jersey before November.

Gore also puts in checkmark under the living former Vice Presidents column. It seems certain that Christie won't ask Dick Cheney to come to New Jersey this fall - the heavy traffic on Route 1 notwithstanding. There are no apparent invitations for Mondale or Dan Quayle to stump for Corzine or Christie, respectively.

Vice President Joseph Biden appeared at a Corzine rally on the night of the Democratic primary.

Of the other five living former VP candidates, three almost certainly will not be invited: Sarah Palin, John Edwards, and Joseph Lieberman.  Sargent Shriver has health issues and is no longer making public appearances. That leaves Geraldine Ferraro, and there is a decent chance the Corzine campaign won't want her.

Sad news last week - it's official that Sarah Palin resigned as Governor of Alaska, presumably to attempt to burnish her leadership credentials at the national level.  This means we will have to suffer her pretensions to the national Republican leadership, and be constantly reminded of the bone-headed move by the McCain campaign to select her as Vice-Presidential candidate in 2008.

Some are comparing Palin's exit from the Alaska stage to Richard Nixon's self-described "final" press conference after losing the California Governorship in 1962, telling assembled media they would not have Nixon to "kick around anymore."  He was elected President of the United States 6 years later.

Her media-bashing is the only thing she has in common with Nixon.  By 1962, Nixon was a former Congressman, US Senator, 2-term Vice-President of the United States, candidate for President, and candidate for Governor.

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From left: Republican State Chairman Jay Webber, GOP gubernatorial nominee Chris Chris Christie and Republican National Chairman Michael Steele

PITMAN - Republican National Chairman Michael Steele came to South Jersey today to campaign with GOP gubernatorial nominee Christopher Christie, calling him a politician who "plays across the state unlike any other Republican in the last 10 or 12 years."

"I am honored to be here today to represent Republicans around the country who knows just how important this race is - not just to New Jersey, but to the nation, because it is a bellwether in so many ways for the future of our party and the future of our nation," he said.

Gloucester Republicans estimated that 175 people showed up to see Christie, the former U.S. Attorney and Steele, a former Maryland lieutenant governor and U.S. Senate candidate, in front of the office of the Main Street Financial Group in this small Gloucester County town.  Afterwards, Christie, Steele and GOP State Chairman Jay Webber were off the Vineland for a meet and greet at a diner with the 1st Legislative District's Republican Assembly candidates.

The Pitman event had two distinct strains of campaign rhetoric.  Christie held to his argument that the gubernatorial race hinges only on New Jersey issues, resisting pitting himself against a Democratic president whose in-state approvals remain high. National Republicans like Steele, however, see the race as - in Steele's own words - a "bellwether."  There are only two gubernatorial races this year, and Republicans are hoping that victories here and in Virginia will cast them as a party on the mend.

Christie gave an abridged version of his usual stump speech, listing rankings that showed New Jersey with an unfriendly business climate and lamenting the loss of residents to neighboring states with lower tax rates.  Steele, however, noted that President Obama was coming on Thursday to campaign for Corzine.

CHRISTIE DISSES PALIN, STUMPS WITH OTHER TOP REPUBLICANS

TRENTON- Democratic State Chairman Joseph Cryan today blasted Right Wing Conservative gubernatorial candidate Chris Christie for his hypocrisy in refusing the assistance of former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin, while continuing to accept the support of numerous high-profile, out-of-state right wing Republicans.

Don’t expect to see Sarah Palin promoting Chris Christie in New Jersey any time soon.

CNN asked the Christie camp if they’re planning to have the soon-to-be-former Alaska Governor campaign for Christie here in New Jersey.

The response from Campaign Manager Bill Stepien: "There are no plans for Governor Palin to visit New Jersey at this time.”

The question arose after Palin’s resignation announcement last week, when Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele said that, removed from her gubernatorial duties, Palin "will be very helpful to the Party this year as we wage critical campaigns in Virginia and New Jersey." Democrats immediately seized on that statement, relishing the idea of equating Christie with a polarizing figure like Palin.  

Republican State Chairman Jay Webber

While Democrats quietly hailed Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin's Friday announcement that she wouldn't finish her term in office as the latest in a series of Republican crackups nationwide, GOP State Chairman Jay Webber released a statement today refocusing on the statewide contest here and amplifying the sale of his gubernatorial candidate as the emblem of a new beginning.

"Governor Palin’s reasons for her resignation are her own, but her decision is not relevant to the most important issue in New Jersey this year: the failed tenure of Jon Corzine," Webber said. "Behind emerging, strong, and principled leaders like Chris Christie, we expect a rebirth for our party in New Jersey in 2009."

Palin's bow-out soliloquoy last week followed South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford's and Nevada Sen. John Ensigns back-to-back admissions of marital infidelity, which came on the heels of Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal's oratorical belly flop response to President Barack Obama's State of the Union, and Pennsylvania Sen. Arlen Specter's party flip after decades as a Republican. 

David Letterman has apologized for his "sexually perverted" comments about one of New York Yankees, [Third baseman Alex Rodriguez], amid calls from conservative groups for his resignation and boycotts of his show by viewers and advertisers.

Sarah Palin, Bobby Jindal, Mark Sanford, Rick Perry... Chris Christie?

That’s the association that U.S. Sen. Bob Menendez (D-Hoboken) and U.S. Rep. Bill Pascrell (D-Paterson) tried to make today on a conference call with the press, during which they panned Christie, the GOP’s gubernatorial nominee, for saying he would not accept some money from the federal stimulus package during the primary campaign.  

“It is beyond my comprehension that Chris Christie… has aligned himself with these folks,” said Menendez.  

Now that the primary is over, Democrats are jumping on the conservative principles Christie espoused while fighting Republican rival Steve Lonegan in the primary.  Today, the focus was on comments he made during media appearances in March. 

Governors Palin, Jindal, Sanford and Perry – leading lights of the conservative movement -- have all famously attempted to reject some of the stimulus funds that were offered to their states.

On WNYC's "The Brian Lehrer" show, he  said he would “be reluctant to accept” portions of stimulus funds that had “strings attached from Washington, DC.”  In later appearances and campaign events, according to a Democratic State Committee press release sent out after the call, he said that he would reject portions of the money and that the conservative governors' positions "make sense." 

Assemblyman John Wisniewski (D-Sayreville), left, and Assembly Minority Leader Alex DeCroce (R-Parisipanny-Troy Hills), come into each other's wheel house on the chamber train.

NEW BRUNSWICK - Intent on reviving the Reagan legacy during last year’s presidential election, Republicans established their campaign base camp in the Woodbridge area and jumped on the telephones in search of suburban white voters who might identify with the patriotic and moderate elements of U.S. Sen. John McCain’s (R-Ariz.) candidacy.

If President Barack Obama stumbled in his bid, the GOP wanted to be in a position to rev up the diner and bowling pin and VFW Hall crowds, but it never happened.

With Obama in cruise control and the game changed when McCain moved rightward with his selection of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin as his running mate, Middlesex County finally went heavily for the Illinois senator: 60 to 38.5% - a margin not as wide as Essex (76 to 23%); or Hudson (73 to 26%), and right around the percentages registered by neighboring Union County (64 to 35%).

U.S. Rep. Rob Andrews spent $952.04 of campaign funds on clothing.

Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW), a watchdog group that promotes ethics and accountability, has filed a complaint with the Federal Election Commission alleging that several candidates, including U.S. Rep. Rob Andrews, used $952.04 of campaign funds to buy clothing. The group filed a similar complaint against GOP vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin in September.

“Sarah Palin wasn’t the only candidate to violate the law by using campaign money for clothing, several others did as well. Campaign finance laws are not optional, but if candidates can’t abide by these laws how can we trust them to be lawmakers?,” said CREW Executive Director Melanie Sloan. “There is no excuse for this conduct; the FEC should investigate these members and candidates immediately.”