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BLOOMINGTON, Minn. -- Mark Meyerowitz had a brief glimmer of hope last year.

He was the only Republican legislative candidate in District 27, running for Assembly against a ticket headed up by Senate President Dick Codey – the most popular elected official in the state. But then Codey’s running mate, Mims Hackett, was arrested on corruption charges. And for the brief period that Hackett remained on the ticket, it looked possible that Meyerowitz could actually win.

That didn’t last, of course. Hackett resigned, and the party settled on Mila Jasey to replace him. She beat Meyerowitz by more than a 2-1 margin.

BLOOMINGTON, Minn. -- Hunterdon County Republican Chairman Henry Kuhl said this morning that the sheer amount of votes his county will deliver for Republican congressional candidate Leonard Lance will easily trump Democrat Linda Stender’s huge fundraising advantage.

“I don’t know the actual number of votes, but we’ll deliver about 70% of the number of votes for Leonard,” said Kuhl, who expects Hunterdon to vote about 65% for both Senate candidate Dick Zimmer and presidential candidate John McCain.

The 7th district is comprised of Hunterdon, Union, Somerset and Middlesex Counties – the last of which makes up just a small portion of the district.

“Fundraising is very difficult whatever you are: a candidate, county organization or municipal organization. Everybody has fundraising problems,” said Kuhl.

MINNEAPOLIS - Republicans' build-up of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin in the hours before her Republican National Convention speech tonight, prompted State Democratic Chairman Joseph Cryan out of his foxhole in New Jersey.  

"Sarah Palin's is a Bush conservative disciple, pro-gun and pro-life, whose position on issues is the opposite of mainstream New Jersey," Cryan said in a release. "The picture of her with the AK-47 says it all, and her selection will help Barack Obama win New Jersey this November."

MINNEAPOLIS - It was all about Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin at the GOP breakfast meeting this morning.

She’s speaking tonight at the Republican National Convention, and State Party chairman Tom Wilson has brought in Republican strategist and New Jersey native Kelly Anne Conway to pump up the troops.

Owner of The Polling Company, KellyAnne Conway, Conway objected to the press coverage of the Palin story, and press coverage of politics in general.

"They’ve asked ridiculous questions like who you would rather have a beer with," she complained. "We have had a campaign focused in large part on like-ability rather than leadership."

BLOOMINGTON, Minn. – Former Gov. Christie Whitman said that it’s a sad state of affairs that she was the last New Jersey Republican elected statewide.

“This is kind of sad. I’m the last Republican to carry New Jersey. That’s not where we want to be as a state, and we have an opportunity to change that,” she said at the state’s delegation breakfast this morning.

Whitman is far from the most popular Republican in New Jersey, but she received a standing ovation after her remarks, in which she said that she’d never experienced so much enthusiasm at a Republican convention and that John McCain could potentially lead Republicans back to statewide control.

U.S. Rep. Mike Ferguson: Politicker file photo 

MINNEAPOLIS - In a charge-the-barricade speech at his last convention as congressman, U.S. Rep. Mike Ferguson’s (R-New Providence) worked hard at the podium to draw a contrast between Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) And Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, who’s scheduled to address the Republican National Convention tonight.

"Some of those glory days are ahead of us as long as we stand for what we believe in," said Ferguson, who promised to work behind the scenes in the coming months. "I’m looking forward to being part of those efforts in the future."

He savaged the media’s depiction - vociferously reinforced by Democrats, he said - of Palin.

BLOOMINGTON, Minn. -- Former Gov. Christie Whitman, who left office during her second term after she was appointed to head the Environmental Protection Agency, said this morning that she thinks John McCain is right on the offshore drilling question.

Whitman said that offshore drilling is worth looking into, as long as it’s up to the states themselves. 

“(McCain) did put a provision in his bill to allow states to have the final word, and that to me is the important thing,” said Whitman as she was leaving the New Jersey delegation’s breakfast.  “We’re the only industrialized nation in the world that is not using all of its resources.  We can not keep saying we care about the price of oil, we’re worried about our energy, where it’s going to come from, and we want to continue to grow.  But we can’t drill, we don’t want to have any coal, we can’t have nuclear, we really don’t like wind power off the coast of Nantucket.  We can’t keep saying no to everything.”

MINNEAPOLIS - George Bush’s face filling a screen at the Xcel Energy Center last night didn’t prompt a chorus of boos because most Republicans still like the president, said State Republican Chairman Tom Wilson.

"He’s liked by a lot of people - remember, the people in that room are mostly hardcore party activists," the state chairman said, "and last night he did what he had to do."

"I know his poll numbers are upside down but I think history will judge him well," said Ocean County Republican Chairman George Gilmore. "No terrorist attack in seven years. We’re doing better in Iraq."

State Assembly Minority Leader Alex DeCroce (D-Parsippany-Troy Hills) agreed.

MINNEAPOLIS - The Republican Party can survive the appearance tonight by President George W. Bush broadcast via satellite from the White House, assured former Gov. Christie Todd Whitman.

With the help of the family dog.

On her way to do a CNN interview on the suite level of the convention center shortly before the president made his pitch on behalf of presumptive GOP presidential nominee Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), Whitman said, "Sure," the party can bounce back from Bush.

Strategic Vision places the president’s job approval rating at 15 percent in New Jersey, but Whitman, Bush’s former head of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), said Bush's dog, Barney, is from New Jersey, joking that people will find a connection there.

BLOOMINGTON, Minn. -- U.S. Rep. Chris Smith said he votes differently than the Bush Administration’s policies and his own party more than any other New Jersey Republican.

But Smith takes a measured tone when reflecting on what the legacy of the Bush era will look like.

“I think there’s a tremendous amount of anger directed at him.  He gets blamed for all kinds of things,” said Smith.