Posted on 05/30/2007 4:46:56 PM PDT by Extremely Extreme Extremist
EDISON, N.J. (AP) -- He may not be popular among New Jerseyans, but Garden State Republicans bet Wednesday that President Bush still has enough sway over the party faithful to raise much-needed cash for this year's legislative races.
Bush was in Edison Wednesday evening for a fundraiser, where he was expected to bring in $675,000 from 700 guests, state Republican Party spokesman Todd Riffle said. The president's visit to the New Jersey Convention and Exposition Center was his first trip to New Jersey since he stumped for then-GOP Senate candidate Tom Kean Jr. last September.
``It's important that a Republican succeed me as president of the United States,'' Bush told the partisan crowd.
The president's 27-minute speech touched on the Iraq war, national security, taxes and politics, but was short on New Jersey-specific themes. However, Bush did offer encouragement to the Republicans to take back the Legislature from the Democrats.
The state GOP that has fared poorly in recent years. Democrats presently control New Jersey's governor's office, both of its U.S. Senate seats, the majority of its U.S. House seats and both houses of the state Legislature.
The president landed in Newark aboard Air Force One shortly before 5 p.m. and took the stage here an hour later.
He drew the most enthusiastic applause when he talked about U.S. troops stationed in Iraq, reminding the crowd that the outcome of the war impacts security at home in a post-9/11 world.
Speaking of the enemy, Bush said it is not possible to reason with them: ``You can't compromise with them. You can't hope for the best with them. You must treat them as they are cold-blooded killers and bring them to justice.''
About 200 vocal opponents to Bush's foreign and domestic policies turned out to protest, confined to a patch of gravel about two miles from where suited Republicans gathered to see Bush.
One woman lugged a 60-foot banner containing the names and photos of the 57 New Jerseyans who have died in Iraq. Another turned heads by standing curbside on a milk crate dressed as a victim of prison abuse at Abu Ghraib.
``We're here with a message, and our message is: Bring the troops home now,'' said Phyllis Salowe-Kaye, executive director of the watchdog group Citizen Action.
Protesters included labor groups and peace activists. Assemblyman Joe Cryan, the Democratic Party chairman, fired up the crowd by declaring, ``We're here to tell the president, `Your money's no good here.'''
Earlier Wednesday, Democratic Gov. Jon S. Corzine noted fondly how Bush called and wished him well after Corzine was seriously injured in an April 12 car crash. But Corzine didn't reciprocate the well wishes beyond that.
``I hope he has a fine stay in the state,'' Corzine said. ``I don't wish him well in his fundraising effort.''
Bush's approval rating remained a bleak 35 percent nationally in May, where it has hovered since last fall, according to AP-Ipsos polls. A March Quinnipiac University poll measured an even lower approval rating for Bush in Independent-leaning New Jersey: 70 percent disapproved of how Bush was handling his job, and only one-fourth approved.
But David Rebovich, director of the Rider Institute for New Jersey Politics in Lawrence, said the president was invited to New Jersey because of his unparalleled ability in the party to raise money not to court votes.
For Republicans, the visit was a chance to try and dig the state party out of a financial hole.
New Jersey Democrats have raised $17 million for this year's legislative elections to Republicans' $7.5 million, according to reports filed with the state's Election Law Enforcement Commission. Of those amounts, Democrats have $8.1 million left, while Republicans have $3.4 million.
Leni
Tengo no mas dinero porque mi tax rate. Lo siento!
That article threw me for a minute there....I thought the Democrats are doing well in New Jersey.
Any idea how much he pulled in?
Independent leaning? It's certainly not difficult to figure out that this is the work of See BS.
New Jersey is America’s future if Bush has his way.
“independent Leaning” are these people kidding me! Wow that is a good one.
Let him go down to the day labor sites to collect his money.
Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." -Manuel II Paleologus
Strange as it may seem, that comment is actually pretty accurate. On a per-capita basis, I believe New Jersey has more registered voters with no designated party affiliation than any other state in the U.S.
A huge percentage of voters in my state,the Gay State, are "unenrolled" as well...meaning they take no Party label.
And yet,Kerry,Gore,Clinton,Kennedy,Frank,etc consistently take 65%-70%-80% of the vote in Presidential/Congressional elections and our *entire* congressional delegation (all 12 of them),our Governor and about 90% of the members of our state legislature are slimey leftist RATS.
I guess that by See BS's standards that would make Massachusetts an "independent leaning" state as well.
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