SUMMIT - In a placid living room setting here, surrounded by self-described "breast cancer warriors," Gov. Jon Corzine bludgeoned Republican opponent Chris Christie on the issue of mandated mammogram coverage.
 
"This is a straight-forward issue, and my opponent is just wrong," Corzine told Fox News reporter Carl Cameron after convening the coffee klatch. "Many states don't require mammograms and it's a decision that favors profitability for the insurance industry over the health and welfare of women."
 
This shag carpet setting at the home of Jill LaDare on National Mammography Day provided a focal point for women allies to vent - and arm - the governor hours before the candidates' debate tonight at William Paterson University.

Gov. Jon Corzine continues to advocate his support of expanded access to health care while criticizing GOP rival Christopher Christie for a plan that could allow insurance companies to drop coverage for mammograms.

"While I have worked to expand healthcare to cover more kids and passed the paid family leave law to ensure workers can care for sick relatives or newborns, Chris Christie would side with the big insurance companies by giving them free-rein to drop coverage for critical procedures like mammograms," Corzine said during a roundtable discussion today with breast cancer survivors to mark National Mammography Day. "The insurance companies don't need a governor, New Jersey families do."

The Corzine campaign says that Christie has "repeatedly stated his support for healthcare plans that would allow insurance companies to bypass state mandates for procedures including mammograms" and repeated their claim that "big health insurance companies helped raise more than $100,000 for Christie's campaign."

RED BANK - Monmouth County Democrats, eager to hold the 3-2 Freeholder majority they won last year after being out of power for two decades, seldom use the words "Gov. Jon Corzine" in their campaign literature.

Democrats know it's going to be tough to win this year as Republican gubernatorial candidate Chris Christie tries to flex base Republican voters and suburban independents in his challenge of Corzine, whose focus is mostly elsewhere in Democratic strongholds like Essex, Hudson, Bergen, Union and Middlesex.
 
So Democrats here keep their focus on the Freeholder Board and build around their candidate, Middletown Committeeman Sean Byrnes.

"We had 23 years of Republican rule - we can't go backwards. They're doing everything they can to pull the plug on us," longtime Monmouth County Democratic Chairman Vic Scudiery told a crowd of party members at a fundraiser here at the Downtown Wednesday night for Byrnes, the man Democrats see as their most important player on the field in Monmouth County this season.

It's Byrnes' face, not Corzine's that fronts the party's website in Monmouth.

RED BANK - Retiring Freeholder Director Barbara McMorrow received a standing ovation here at the local union hall and gifts from Monmouth County Democratic Chairman Victor Scudiery.

She's not running for reelection this year, as she must contend with a serious illness. Hoping to succeed her, Middletown Committeeman Sean Byrnes and fomer Pallone State Director Mike Beson of Ocean (a former Neptune Mayor) will wage a contest for the county committee's backing today to run against Republican John Curley of Middletown.

For the moment, it was all McMorrow.

"As they say in Spamelot, I'm not dead yet," she told the packed hall. "I know in time, I'll be feeling well. The best medicine is being with all of you, because we're family."

"I am closing the door right now," she added. "I'm not locking it and throwing away the key. I intend to continue to serve on the Board of Chosen Freeholders through the year."

Former Red Bank Councilman John Curley intends to screen before the County Republican Committee on March 28th in an effort to secure his party’s backing to again run for freeholder, this time against incumbent Freeholder Director Barbara McMorrow.

Curley, who now lives in Middletown, won the machine count in his race with Amy Mallet last year, and then lost the election after a tally of absentee ballots.

Now he’s back, excoriating the Democratically-controlled freeholder board for hiring Mallet’s running mate, Glenn Mason, to serve as the county’s emergency management coordinator at $75,000 per-year.

Monmouth County Democrats believed they had won control of the Board of Freeholders last November after a recount gave Democrat Amy Mallet a 346 vote victory over Republican John Curley, but a rivalry between the other two Democratic Freeholders appears to have returned control of county government to the Republicans.  Freeholder Director Barbara McMorrow does not get along with Freeholder John D'Amico; as a result, McMorrow has formed an alliance with Republicans Robert Clifton and Lillian Burry that has allowed the GOP to keep many of their people in place, even though they are in the minority.  This has frustrated some state party leaders, including Democratic State Chairman Joseph Cryan.

Democratic sources say that McMorrow, who was the first Democrat to win a Monmouth Freeholder race in twenty years, has not yet decided if she will seek re-election to a second term this year.  There was some speculation that she might switch to the GOP, but some of her allies say that won't happen.  Republican sources acknowledge that she has been asked. Democrats suggest that despite frustrations with her bi-partisanship, she remains their strongest candidate.

In addition to McMorrow, Clifton's seat is up this year.  D'Amico is up in 2010, and Burry and Mallet in 2011.

East Windsor Mayor Janice Mironov's decision not to run for State Assembly in District 12 was applauded by some Monmouth County Democrats, who said they would not have supported giving her the organization line even if she did want to run.  A Democratic source in Monmouth alleges that Mironov was a "major impediment" to twelfth district campaigns in recent years, saying that she was downright "hostile" to State Sen. Ellen Karcher, Assemblymen Michael Panter and Dr. Robert Morgan, and Assembly candidate (now Freeholder) Amy Mallet. 

At one East Windsor event Mironov ran in 2007, the source said the Mayor refused to allow Mallet to speak - a move that apparently stunned U.S. Sen. Frank Lautenberg and Senate President Richard Codey, who were in attendance.  The Monmouth Democratic source says Mironov sought to "disrupt the efforts of 12th District legislators in a persistent, passive-aggressive way.  She doesn't play well with others, and would go into four letter tirades if she found out a Democratic legislator even had a meeting in East Windsor or Hightstown without seeking her prior consent.  So there is not much love for Janice in the Monmouth party which is 80% of the district by population."

Monmouth County Democrats won control of the Board of Freeholders one seat at a time, with Barbara McMorrow winning in 2006, John D’Amico in 2007, and Amy Mallet in 2008.  That means Republicans can win back control next year if they can beat McMorrow.

GOP sources in Monmouth County are complaining about party campaign tactics in the Monmouth County Freeholder race in which Democrat Amy Mallet of Fair Haven narrowly defeated Republican John Curley of Middletown.

One source cited two fundamental problems with the Republican campaign of Freeholder Director Lillian Burry (who won) and her unsuccessful running mate, Curley – neither of which involved the candidates.

Critics believe Curley should have won and could have with a more focused Republican strategy, and highlight real blunders they say undermined his chances.

First, fearful of upping her name ID, Republicans intentionally resisted attacking Mallet, the beneficiary with her running mate of $2 million in face time over the course of last year’s District 12 Assembly race.

Monmouth County Republican Freeholder candidate John Curley just called Amy Mallet to congratulate her on her victory, he told PolitickerNJ.com.

“Having won the votes cast in the voting machines, I have fallen short in provisional and absentee ballots,” said Curley, a former Red Bank councilman who now lives in Middletown.

He also congratulate failed Democratic candidate Glenn Mason and his own running mate, Freeholder Director Lillian Burry, who won re-election on Nov. 4th, praising her as an “honest, capable and hard-working friend.”

“I was honored to carry the banner for the Republican Party, and I thank everybody for their commitment and energy on my behalf - you have buoyed my belief in a great place we call home,”  said the candidate.