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I think I have figured out why Harry Reid is in such a hurry to get this bill out of the Senate before Christmas... In New Jersey, Senator Lautenberg is ready to retire. Everybody knows this. If he retires before January 19th, the outgoing Democrat Governor, John Corzine, will be able to name his successor. However, if he retires after January 19, 2009, his successor will be named by the new Republican Governor, Chris Christie. By clearing this legilation out before Christmas, Reid will not need that 60th vote between Christmas and January 19th, so Lautenberg is free to go....

NJ Democratic legislators are busying themselves this holiday season with a last minute attempt to tie the hands of incoming Republican governor Chris Christie. From the moment the votes were counted on Election Day, these folks have been foaming at the mouth about how “important” and “urgent” it was that this bill get passed before Jon “Speedy” Corzine leaves office. At issue is the way in which the NJ governor deals with a potential U.S. senate vacancy. Under the current system, the governor can appoint a replacement for the open seat or call a special election. Or both. The new...

SOURCES: N.J. Gay Marriage Vote Planned for Thursday Matt Rooney | December 2, 2009 According to Save Jersey sources, N.J. Senate Democrats plan to hold a gay marriage vote next Thursday. Expect a session vote on Monday. The rationale? Gay marriage faces a steep uphill climb in the legislature, but Democrat leaders may feel the need to appease powerful liberal constituencies within their own party. Ahead of next Thursday's vote, Republican support is solidifying against a gay marriage provision. From the New Jersey Family Policy Council: New Jersey Family Policy Council Founder & President, Len Deo issued the following statement...

Get ready for more appointment drama, because Democrats in New Jersey want to strip Gov.-elect Chris Christie (R) of the right to appoint a Republican to a Senate vacancy. The proposal is significant because 85-year-old Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-N.J.) has five years left in his term (not to mention the fact that he has already retired once). Those close to Lautenberg insist he's as driven and vibrant as ever, but Democrats are privately worried it could put them in a situation where Christie would fill a vacancy with a member of the GOP. State assembly Majority Whip John McKeon (D)...

New Jersey voters are split on whether to legalize gay marriage, but more people now oppose it than support it, a poll found on Wednesday. The Quinnipiac University survey found 49 percent of voters oppose a law allowing same-sex couples to marry, while 46 percent support such legislation, reversing an April poll that found 49 percent supported it and 43 percent opposed it. "When we asked about gay marriage in April, it won narrow approval. Now that it seems closer to a legislative vote, it loses narrowly with the public," said Maurice Carroll, director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute....

Supporters of a proposed New Jersey law that would allow men to “marry� men and women to “marry� women were gung-ho going into November’s election. Prospects looked good in the state legislature, and Gov. Jon Corzine had promised to sign the “marriage equality� bill whether he was reelected or not. Everyone expected to see the Garden State’s civil union law supplanted by a same-sex “marriage� bill by year’s end, and even after Corzine lost to Republican challenger Chris Christie Nov. 3, people still assumed the bill would get the signature of the lame-duck governor. But when legislators returned to Trenton...

STATEWIDE -- In what could become the highest profile game of political musical chairs in the state, Democratic sources claim they are considering replacing U.S. Sen. Frank Lautenberg with outgoing Gov. Jon Corzine. It would work like this: Corzine would resign prior to January, when Republican Christopher Christie takes over as governor. A Corzine resignation would allow state Sen. President Richard Codey to serve as acting governor. Then Lautenberg would retire from the U.S. Senate, leaving Codey to name Corzine to fill the seat until a special election. This is similar to a move made when Corzine resigned the senate...

Jon Corzine is definitely open to running Bank of America. There haven't been any formal talks between the outgoing New Jersey Governor and the board of Bank of America, according to news reports. Part of the reason for this might be that the chairman of the board, Walter Massey, is on vacation. The bank is expected to select someone before Thanksgiving

The battle over gay rights will move to New Jersey and the federal government, advocates said, after Tuesday's narrow rejection of same-sex marriage by Maine voters in a hard-fought contest. The Democrat-controlled legislature in New Jersey, which currently recognizes same-sex couples in civil unions, is under pressure to pass a bill authorizing gay marriage before Gov. Jon Corzine ends his term in mid-January.

Full County Results for New Jersey with results for most towns.

How’s that “hope and change” working out for you? I can’t speak for the Democrats, but Republicans - particularly New England ones - are loving it. After a year of defeat and dire predictions, Massachusetts conservatives have renewed hope for 2010. There’s definitely change on the way, and in a state whose legislators are about 90 percent Democrat, change can only be good for Republicans. And who can we thank for this new conservative spirit of hopeful-changeyness? The Republican Party’s new hero: Barack Obama. One year ago today, pundits were writing off the American right for the next election cycle,...

 If you are the Democrat party of New Jersey and it looks like you may lose the Governors office to a 500 pound fat guy (Jon Corzine's words, not mine), what do you do? After all, even the great One, Obama himself, could not seem to turn the tide that was ready to hit them from the Republican Party and it's candidate, Christie. Well, we have documented the story after story about intimidation tactics used by the left in this country, but what the Democrats did in this election has even left some liberals scratching their heads. Imagine you are...

Some of last nights results, pre-recorded from this AM. In our first hour we were joined by Marjorie Dannenfelser, President of the Susan B. Anthony List. Our second hour featured comedian Brian Regan. Closing out the hour Amy Bach the author of "Ordinary Injustice" to talk about her book. The third hour we had Phil Jackson, Los Angeles Lakers Coach to talk about all thing basketball. Then photographer, Ian Shive, who has an excellent coffee table book, "The National Parks: Our American Landscape", Dennis really gives this book a big thumbs up.

The news was official earlier than anyone expected: Chris Christie won the race for governor in New Jersey.On Election Day, we heard of eyewitness reports that convicted felons were going door-to-door in Morris Township in an effort to get out the vote for the Democrats. And we heard of automated phone calls for independent candidate Chris Daggett that were paid for by the Democrats. There was also a huge rise in absentee ballots, and allegations that ACORN workers had collected absentee ballots at East Orange General Hospital.One guy even showed up yesterday at his polling precinct to find that someone...

Voters in New Jersey proved last night that they are way smarter than voters in Pennsylvania, who blew a chance to rid themselves of the odious Jack Murtha last year. The Republicans ran an outstanding candidate, Lt. Col Bill Russell; but Pennsylvanians decided to stick with the traitorous gasbag instead of electing an American hero. New Jersey voters at last, banished Goldman Sachs alum, John Corzine, who ran on a platform of being Obama’s BFF. The Obama- blessed incumbent offered the traditional Democrat vision: higher taxes and corruption on a scale that makes Mayor Daley look downright saintly. Inexplicably, the...

Yes, socially conservative Republican candidates prevailed last night in the big races—the gubernatorial contests in Virginia and New Jersey—but it was the special election for New York's 23rd Congressional District that had become a national symbol for the battle between religious conservatives and the GOP establishment. In recent days, it was the race that the big Christian right groups like the Family Research Council and Susan B. Anthony List and the movement's favored politician, Sarah Palin, had become most outspoken about. But after forcing the socially liberal Republican out of the race, the right's candidate, Doug Hoffman of the Conservative...

How bad for Obama? Election: How bad for Obama? Major bad Minor bad Not bad at all Not sure ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Major bad 49% (319 votes) Minor bad 27% (176 votes) Not bad at all 21% (135 votes) Not sure 2% (15 votes) Total Votes: 645

Should we believe White House Spokesman Robert Gibbs when he claimed that President Barack Hussein Obama wouldn’t be watching last night’s election returns? Of course not. Why? Because unless Obama was intrigued by the Bowling Green at Buffalo nail biter, it was a slow TV night – except of course, for the election returns. OK thinks that like everything else about this administration, what we were told wasn’t what was going on behind the scenes. We think Obama & Co. anticipated last night’s results. In fact, we think several TVs were on inside the White House last night and that...

Mr. Natural sez...

NEWARK — In the final hours of this intensely fought campaign, supporters of Gov. Jon S. Corzine are knocking on doors here with a message for people who voted for Barack Obama: Your president needs you. In an effort they are calling “Yes We Can 2.0,” Corzine campaign officials are devoting millions of dollars and thousands of volunteers to try to bring back to the polls those 442,000 New Jersey residents who had never voted before Mr. Obama’s election last November. They are flooding them with phone calls, mail and text messages, hoping to contact each of them at least...

CHRIS Christie's gutsy win in New Jersey puts the arrogant big spender Jon Corzine in his place. But it is the election in Virginia that probably has more to say to marginal Democratic congressmen considering how to vote on health-care reform. Obviously, Christie's victory is a body blow to Obama after Corzine outspent the Republican by five-to-one and the president put on a serious push for the incumbent. Corzine's defeat sends a message that the nation is moving sharply against Obama. But Virginia results are the most important. More than 80 Democratic congressmen and 20 senators come from states that...

The Obama freight train that has been steamrolling American politics ever since his election one year ago ran squarely into a political brick wall Tuesday night, as Democrats suffered stunning setbacks in Virginia and New Jersey gubernatorial races. The big surprise: New Jersey, a blue state where Obama invested significant political capital by pulling out all the stops to try to put incumbent Democratic Gov. Jon Corzine over the top. The president personally campaigned for Corzine three times, taped "robocalls," and sent his vice-president to make two more appearances. Yet despite the president and vice president repeatedly putting their personal...

Britt Hume says that D'rats have lost their intensity and the "intensity" has moved over to the Tea-Party Movement. Karl Rove put the best perspective by saying how Corzine outspend his opponent by 3 to 1 and still LOST

EDISON, N.J. -- Republican Chris Christie, a former federal prosecutor, pulled out a win for the New Jersey governor's race against a deeply unpopular Democratic incumbent whom voters blamed for the state's high taxes and budget woes. The Associated Press called the race for Mr. Christie over incumbent Gov. Jon Corzine just after 10 p.m. With 71% of precincts reporting Tuesday night, Mr. Christie had 50% of the vote to Mr. Corzine's 44%. Mr. Corzine ran a campaign that emphasized his experience with reducing the state's debt, getting children insured, and getting school aid more evenly divided among the state's...

BREAKING

Newark projected numbers fewer than 2005 for Corzine By MAX PIZARRO, PolitickerNJ.com Reporter NEWARK - Corroborated sources from the city's five wards show the city underperforming compared to the 2005 governor's race. Four years ago, Jon Corzine received 39,600 votes in the state's biggest city. Right now, projections show the governor receiving 33,200 votes or 8,000 votes in the North Ward, 8,000 in the South Ward, 7,000 in the West Ward, 4,200 in the East Ward, and 6,000 in the Central Ward.

One lump or two for Mr. Corzine? Looks like Dede accidentally got some sour milk in her tea. Aha A HAHA HA

Chris Christie has on the New Jersey Governor’s election with a plurality THE POLITICIZER projects. Why we’re calling the race: Corzine is under performing in counties he won in 2005. Bergen County, where any Democrat needs to win by 4-5% to win the state, Corzine is tied with Christie (80% reporting) Corzine has lost Gloucester County, where he won in 2005 by 10% Corzine is under performing in heavily Democratic counties like Hudson, Essex and Camden. Chris Daggett is under performing in heavily Republican counties, allowing Christie a larger margin of victory in GOP counties than Corzine is getting in...

Ay 9:15 pm, Christie 72, Corzine 20.

At 9:15 PM EST CHRISTIE 389,955 51% CORZINE 319,655 42% IN: %32

Everybody and their brother thinks that New Jersey is going to go down to the wire. But one of my readers is plugged in to a New Jersey Democrat, and this guy's running of the numbers goes to Republican Chris Christie winning by one percentage point. Admission against interest, and all that. Take it for what it's worth. 11/03 08:18 PM

TONIGHT: RESULTS... REPUBLICAN TAKES VA: 656,124 McDonnell [R] 427,075 [D] NJ: 11,652 Christie [R] 7,930 Corzine [D] 1,894 Daggett [I] NY: 9 PM Hoffman [C] Owens [D] ABCNEWS: Vast Economic Discontent Spells Trouble for Dems in 2010...

NJ: 8,519 Christie [R] 4,019 Corzine [D] 1,125 Daggett [I]

Here is the link for today's election. Results should start coming in after 8:00 pm. http://elections.nj.com/dynamic/files/elections/2009/by_state/NJ_Page_1103.html?SITE=NJNEWELN&SECTION=POLITICS

On Mark Levin's show tonight, just after 6:30 PM Eastern, Rush Limbaugh talked about how close exit polling in New Jersey is today and urged listeners to get in line before 8 PM when the polls close. Here's a brief segment:

From one of my readers in Newark: "Figured I'd shoot you an update before the after-work rush. There has been a slight uptick in in turnout, but the biggest uptick is number of unions guys out there. The streets of Newark are crawling with people in SEIU purple shirts. They are near polling places, placing campaign lit on cars, and all the kind of stuff. Big labor is heavily invested in a Corzine win and Corzine is dependent upon them for his GOTV so it is not surprising to us that they are out there, just that it took them...

That's what Hannity is reporting at 5:20 EST. GET OUT AND VOTE New Jersey GOP & Independents!!!

New Jersey Democrats have admitted that a series of robocalls on behalf of third party candidate for governor Chris Daggett were paid for by the Democratic State Committee - final proof that Daggett has been a spoiler for Republican Chris Christie all along. Matt Friedman of Politiker New Jersey writes: A Democratic spokeswoman says the party's chairman, Joe Cryan, was not aware of the robocalls when he denied that the state committee had anything to do with them yesterday afternoon. Cryan, who told PolitickerNJ.com yesterday afternoon that the Democratic State Committee had "absolutely" nothing to do with the call, could...

WASHINGTON — In this supposedly quiet off-year election, three contests taking place Tuesday are filling the void. Voters in New Jersey and Virginia will elect governors, while voters in upstate New York are filling a vacant House seat in a race with national implications.

Well, the most important thing is that Americans once again get to comfortably exercise a right that people risk life and limb for in various hell-holes around the world. Unless you live in New Jersey, of course. Many Republicans are fantasizing about a big day today. Should Doug Hoffman prevail in NY-23 the bumbling GOP will still claim it as a victory (Hoffman will caucus with the Republicans) although it spent almost million bucks on a candidate who is no longer in the race. The party leadership will have had is short-sighted asses saved by a base it used to...

Follow those races here. Report turnout, exit polls etc. as they happen..

Fearing a potentially devastating Democratic loss, the highly controversial Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN) group and its affiliated organizations are gearing up to tip the scales and re-elect embattled incumbent in the hard-fought New Jersey gubernatorial race, sources tell Newsmax. "Acorn is heavily involved in Gov. Jon Corzine's get-out-the-vote operation, but is maintaining a low profile at the insistence of the Corzine campaign," Matthew Vadum, senior editor of the conservative Capitol Research Center think tank, tells Newsmax. "If Corzine manages to win reelection, he doesn't want the victory tainted by his close association with Acorn." Wall Street...

After Jon Corzine appeared to pull back into the race for his re-election to the governor’s chair in New Jersey, Barack Obama poured on the support to help push him over the top. According to the final PPP poll in New Jersey, it didn’t work. Corzine has fallen off the pace and now trails outside the margin of error in the Garden State, with Chris Christie pulling away in the final week: Chris Christie leads Jon Corzine 47-41 in PPP’s final poll of the New Jersey Governor’s race, with Chris Daggett at 11%. Corzine had pulled to within a point...

This news breaks too late to make much of a difference, but it simply confirms what many have long suspected: that the Democrats have so much of a vested interest in independent Christopher Daggett splitting the anti-incumbent vote that they are putting resources into promoting him. The Democratic State Committee now admits paying for a robocall to Somerset County voters that slams Republican Chris Christie and promotes independent gubernatorial candidate Christopher Daggett. A Democratic spokeswoman says the party’s chairman, Joe Cryan, was not aware of the robocalls when he denied that the state committee had anything to do with them...

Is There Late Movement to Republican Christie in NJ? Or is the World Series Affecting Who Pollsters Reach? On Election Eve in New Jersey, with a New York City team and a Philadelphia team in the World Series, Republican Chris Christie may have slight late momentum in his bid to unseat incumbent Democrat Jon Corzine, according to a SurveyUSA tracking poll conducted for WABC-TV. The candidates remain today within the theoretical margin of sampling error, as they have been in each of SurveyUSA's 5 tracking NJ polls. At the wire, Christie 45%, Corzine 42%. Interviews were conducted Friday 10/30/09 through...

The Rev. Reginald Jackson, who last week announced he was throwing his coveted support to incumbent Gov. Jon Corzine, received $87,000 in donations from the multimillionaire governor last year, Jackson confirmed yesterday. According to Corzine's 2008 tax returns, the governor made a $50,000 donation to Jackson's congregation, St. Matthew AME Church in Orange. Corzine gave another $37,000 to St. Matthew from his philanthropic foundation, Jackson said. He explained the smaller sum was contributed early in 2008 and the $50,000 was donated in July last year, shortly after the governor began raising money for his re-election campaign. The contributions were the...

In the see-saw New Jersey Governor's race, Republican challenger Christopher Christie has 42 percent to Democratic Gov. Jon Corzine's 40 points, with 12 percent for independent candidate Christopher Daggett, according to a Quinnipiac University poll released today. Six percent remain undecided. This compares to a 43 - 38 percent Gov. Corzine lead, with 13 percent for Daggett, in an October 28 survey by the independent Quinnipiac (KWIN-uh-pe-ack) University. Among Daggett supporters, 38 percent say they might change their mind: 39 percent say Corzine is their second choice, while 29 percent say Christie is number two. Only 10 percent of Christie...

With one day to go before the closely watched New Jersey governor’s race, Republican challenger Chris Christie has taken a slight lead over Gov. Jon Corzine in two new polls released this morning. Christie, a former US attorney, led Corzine by six points, 47 percent to the Democrat’s 41 percent, according to a Public Policy Polling survey of almost 1000 Garden State voters. Independent candidate Chris Dagger racks up 11 percent of the vote in the PPP survey. The Quinnipiac poll shows a much tighter race, with Christie leading by a mere two points, which is within the poll’s 2.5...

The race for governor in New Jersey is so close in final polls that it may well end up in a recount -- the 1981 election did and was decided by less than 1,800 votes. If there is a recount, you can bet disputes about absentee ballots will loom large. Moreover, if serious allegations of fraud emerge, you can also expect less-than-vigorous investigation by the Obama Justice Department -- which showed just how seriously it takes such allegations when it walked away from an open-and-shut voter intimidation case against the New Black Panther Party in Philadelphia earlier this year. Plenty...