Free Republic

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.

Governor-elect Chris Christie made a surpise appearance at the New Jersey Family Policy annual dinner. Gov Christie thanked the audience for all of the work done on behalf of New Jersey families. Christie told the New Jersey Family Policy group about his own family and his kids and spoke about their shared values. Governor-elect Chris Christie said he prepared his family for the possibility of a loss that was not to be. He huddled with his family on election night before going on stage to accept the election results. His family all shared their love and celebration. Governor-elect Christie graciously...

The plan to attack the Fort Dix Army Base in New Jersey this year, they wanted to "kill as many soldiers as possible!" Five Muslim immigrants accused of scheming to massacre U.S. soldiers at Fort Dix were convicted of conspiracy Monday in a case that tested the FBI's post-Sept. 11 strategy of infiltrating and breaking up terrorist plots in their earliest stages. The men could get life in prison when they are sentenced in April. The five, who lived in and around Philadelphia for years, were found guilty of conspiring to kill U.S. military personnel. But they were acquitted of...

Neither Barack Obama nor Nancy Pelosi can be as clueless as they want us to think they are. The White House said the president was so uninterested in the results on election night that he watched a documentary on the '08 presidential campaign, no doubt eager to see who won. Mzz Pelosi, as oblivious of the scoreboard as a ditzy cheerleader unaware of which team has the ball, insists her side won the night. Mr. Obama continues to campaign for the job the rest of us thought we gave him a year ago. The day after the Republicans sent wake-up...

Any judgment of Barack Obama’s presidency based on a handful of off-year races is overstating the case. Trying to decipher the real meaning is something like reading tea leaves, and just as reliable. Still, they are clues and warnings, at least, for the national parties. My reading of the leaves: independents flexed their muscle and gave Obama a warning, passing health care reform is going to be a little harder but still in the cards, and New York voters deepened the Republican identity crisis. You could say this was in a part the opening blow of Obama vs. Sarah Palin...

OK, here's what should be the nail in the coffin for conservative claims that ACORN is poised to steal the New Jersey governor's race through rampant voter fraud. Brian Kettenring, an ACORN spokesman, tells TPMmuckraker that the much-maligned group has conducted absolutely no political or voter registration activity in the state during the 2009 cycle. And Kettenring added that ACORN had done very little such work during the 2008 cycle. In a column published yesterday in the Wall Street Journal, John Fund sounded the alarm about the threat from ACORN -- but a close look reveals that even here he...

The decisions of the final holdouts on the House health bill are beginning to come in. Rep. John Adler, a New Jersey Democrat, said today he’s voting no. He criticized the bill’s $1 trillion-plus price tag over 10 years, and said it doesn’t do enough to control health costs. Adler’s state, of course, was the scene of a big Republican win this week when Chris Christie defeated incumbent Democrat Jon Corzine in the New Jersey gubernatorial race. Seeking his first term in Congress last year, Adler squeaked to victory with 52% of the vote, and he’s one of the many...

PATERSON — Supporters of a Muslim cleric whose deportation case is to return to Immigration Court after an immigration appeals panel remanded it, plan today to publicly denounce the panel’s decision and vow to fight for the imam. Aref Assaf, spokesman for imam Mohammad Qatanani of the Islamic Center of Passaic County, said that at today’s press conference he and others will ask for “continued financial and emotional support” for the imam as he prepares to fight again against efforts by the Department of Homeland Security to deport him. “We will express our disappointment in the Board of Immigration Appeals’...

Democrats have some thinking to do after Tuesday's elections, but Republicans don't have time to think. They're too busy trying to survive the party's internal purge and avoid being shipped off to political Siberia. Will loyal members inform on others for harboring suspiciously moderate views? Will anyone judged guilty have to wear a sign saying "Republican In Name Only" as penance? Will there be re-education camps? Will deviationists face the Enhanced Interrogation Technique of being forced to listen to the wit and wisdom of Glenn Beck, at ear-splitting volume, for days on end? Or worse: When Sarah Palin's memoir, "Going...

HACKENSACK, N.J. – A jury convicted a Florida man Friday of murdering his former son-in-law, rejecting the man's defense that he was too fat to have run up and down a flight of stairs to commit the crime and make a quick getaway. Edward Ates looked down and shook his head in court as he was found guilty of murder and weapons counts for killing Paul Duncsak, who was shot six times at his home in Ramsey, about 25 miles northwest of New York. Ates' "too fat to kill" defense provided an angle to the trial that attracted attention from...

NEWARK—A Clark man was sentenced today to 76 months in federal prison for his scheme to defraud customers of two banks where he had been employed of more than $2.5 million, U.S. Attorney Paul J. Fishman announced. After imposing the sentence, U.S. District Judge Peter G. Sheridan revoked bail for Carlos Pinho and ordered him detained immediately to begin serving the sentence. A hearing to determine the amount of restitution Pinho will have to pay to his victims was scheduled for Dec. 15. Judge Sheridan also ordered Pinho to serve four years of supervised release upon completion of his custodial...

NOVEMBER 7, 2009 Gay-Marriage Fight Heads to New Jersey By KEITH J. WINSTEIN 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. Mr. Corzine, a Democrat unseated in Tuesday's election, said he would sign such a bill. His successor, Republican Chris Christie, opposes same-sex marriages. "New...

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

Dear xxxx, The results of Tuesday's elections in Maine, New Jersey, New York, Virginia and Washington were a mixed bag but there are some clear lessons we can learn. Voters rejected right-wing radicalism. Democrats who fail to stand up for Democratic and progressive principles fail in elections. The Right's lies still work. Despite the stinging loss for marriage equality in Maine, evidence elsewhere shows voters moving towards support of equality for all Americans. The Far Right strengthened its grip on the Republican Party. We have a lot of work to do to educate people, expose right-wing lies and counter the...

A New Grassroots Political Organization Makes Its Mark by Deal W. Hudson    11/06/09 The election results of November 2 were not merely the spontaneous reaction of Republicans to the bad economy and liberal excesses of the Obama administration. The four pro-life, conservative GOP candidates in Virginia and New Jersey were elected in a groundswell of religious and social conservatives, many of them independent voters who had voted for Obama only a year ago. A new grassroots organization played a major role in getting these voters to the polls -- the Faith & Freedom Coalition was founded by Ralph...

Oh, how the mighty have fallen. Despite the best efforts of the White House and much of the media to portray this week’s elections as a meaningless barometer of the public’s mood toward the Obama administration, the results were clear. The voters were communicating buyers’ remorse. One year after reaching its zenith, the Democratic Party is now grappling with what could be the beginning of the end of the Obama era. In Virginia, former Attorney General Bob McDonnell, a solid pro-family, pro-life conservative, won a landslide victory, as did down-ticket conservative candidates. Repeated Obama visits to his own backyard did...

As Santayana said, "Those who do not study history are doomed to repeat it." Congressional Democrats take note! Are the elections of 2009 precursors of the same kind of massive partisan upheaval in Congress that we experienced in 1994? The historical data says yes, they are. In Virginia, the outcomes in 1993 and 2009 were almost identical. In 1993, after the Democratic incumbent, Doug Wilder, could not seek re-election, the governor's race pitted Republican George Allen against Democrat Mary Sue Terry. Allen won handily, 58 to 41 — virtually the same margin by which McDonnell defeated Deeds this week. And...

In Ohio, citizens marched to the polls on Tuesday and voted to allow gambling casinos in the state. This was obviously a message to President Obama that independent voters are not happy with the way the health care bill is going. Really, I don’t see how else you can interpret it. Ohioans were looking forward to the lower insurance costs that would come with a robust public option, and if the president can’t deliver, they’re planning to pay their future medical bills with their winnings at the roulette wheel. Also, people here in Cincinnati rejected a proposal that would have...

My Wednesday Examiner column, written as the 2009 election returns were coming in, stands up pretty well. But let me add some observations written as the course of the elections became clearer. First, in the governor elections in Virginia and New Jersey, the Democratic candidate ran far behind Barack Obama’s percentages in 2008 and the Republican candidates ran ahead of George W. Bush’s percentages in 2004. The numbers are pretty daunting. In Virginia Creigh Deeds won 41% of the votes, way behind Barack Obama’s 53% in 2008. And in New Jersey Democratic incumbent Jon Corzine won 45% of the votes,...

ELECTION 2009: CHANGE I CAN BELIEVE IN! -- MSNBC, Aug. 31, 2009, Keith Olbermann on Robert F. McDonnell, Republican candidate for governor of Virginia: "In [McDonnell's master's thesis], he described women having jobs as detrimental to the family, called legalized use of contraception illogical, pushed to make divorce more difficult, and insisted government should favor married couples over, quote, 'cohabitators, homosexuals or fornicators.' Wow. When did he write this? 1875? No, 1989. Wow, 1989. "Goodbye, Mr. McDonnell." -- MSNBC, Sept. 22, 2009, Rachel Maddow also on McDonnell: "And here's where the conservative movement and the Republican establishment smash into each...

Unsurprisingly, Michael Barone has an interesting and incisive roundup of numbers from last night that go deeper than the top-line results. Some nuggets: * Bergen County, New Jersey, a 56%-42% Corzine constituency in 2005, came within a point or two of voting for Christie. * Westchester County, New York, voted 58%-42% for a Republican county executive after voting almost exactly the opposite way, in a race involving the same two candidates, four years before. * The Virginia Board of Elections has results by CD showing that three Dems who captured seats in 2008 by very narrow margins (the 2nd, 5th,...

Most House Democrats tried to put a good face on Tuesday's election results, saying they picked up two more votes for a sweeping health care bill that could be on the floor as early as Friday. But it can't make it any easier for House Speaker Nancy Pelosi as she works to corral the last holdouts she needs to pass legislation overhauling the nation’s health care system. Of course, the speaker, who told POLITICO recently she's "not big on showing weakness," brushed aside questions about how the Democratic gubernatorial losses in Virginia and New Jersey would impact her final tally...

Today, national Democrats are trying their best to dismiss missing limbs as flesh wounds. It is their job. But they are in deep trouble if they believe their own spin. Compared to 12 months ago, 24 percent more Virginians voted Republican at the top of the ticket. Independents broke decisively against Democrats in Virginia and New Jersey. If this is not a backlash against Democrats, then who, exactly, was being lashed? These losses, for the most part, don’t seem to be a personal repudiation of the president. But they highlight a political fact -- the political fact of the last...

 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...

Pro-Life Advocates Win Big on Election Night With Virginia, New Jersey Victories by Steven ErteltLifeNews.com Editor November 3, 2009 Email RSSPrint Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- The 2009 off-year elections yielded big victories for the pro-life movement with significant wins in both Virginia and New Jersey. The Virginia election saw pro-life advocates carry each of the three major offices and New jersey will have a pro-life governor for the first time in recent memory.In Virginia, pro-life former Attorney general Bob McDonnell defeated pro-abortion candidate Creigh Deeds by a landslide 59-41 percent margin.Poll consistently showed McDonnell leading Deeds even though Deeds...

The Democrats did not lose a 2-1 squeaker last night. They lost two huge races, saw an overall evaporation of 25 basis points of support -- and lost by nearly 500,000 cumulative votes in the three high-profile elections. Or put another way, Republicans won two races decided by millions of voters -- and Democrats won a small race dominated by party operatives. In addition, the GOP made some historic gains in Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Washington state special elections to boot. In the context of Bob McDonnell's huge win in Virginia and Chris Christie's surprisingly comfortable win in New Jersey, of...

Even a five-point shift would mean big Democratic losses in 2010. Tuesday's elections should put a scare into red state Democrats—and a few blue state ones, too. Barack Obama was said to have redrawn the electoral map by winning Virginia last year with 53% of the vote. On Tuesday, Republican Bob McDonnell flipped the state back to the GOP, winning his election for governor with 59% of the vote. Mr. Obama carried New Jersey easily last year with 57% of the vote. This year, despite being outspent 3-to-1, Republican Chris Christie ousted Democratic Gov. Jon Corzine there by 49% to...

Former Gov. Mitt Romney (R-Mass.) on Wednesday promoted a round of Republican victories in last night's elections in a letter to supporters. The 2012 presidential hopeful plugged the triumphs of Republican gubernatorial candidates Bob McDonnell (Va.) and Chris Christie (N.J.), emphasizing that his political action committee's endorsement and campaign work for the two candidates. "It's exhilarating to wake up to headlines of conservative victories in the battleground elections in Virginia and New Jersey," Romney wrote. "The American people have sent a very strong message to the liberals in Washington, DC that big government is not the answer, and that conservatism...

Pro-Life Advocates Excited by Defeat of Abortion Backers in Virginia, New Jersey Washington, DC -- Tuesday night provided a shot in the arm for the pro-life movement following the disheartening loss last year that resulted in the election of pro-abortion President Barack Obama. With victories in New Jersey and Virginia, pro-life candidates dispatched their pro-abortion opponents. http://www.LifeNews.com/state4542.html

WASHINGTON – An ebullient Republican Party Chairman Michael Steele asserted Wednesday that GOP victories in governors' races in New Jersey and Virginia demonstrate "a transcendent party" on the move again. The White House said the elections were not a repudiation of President Barack Obama. "We're not crowing, we're just smiling," Steele said in a nationally broadcast interview. "I think it's a bellwether for the party ... You look at where we were nine months ago." Steele said he believes Chris Christie's victory in New Jersey and Robert McDonnell's win in Virginia show that the GOP has "really found its voice...

By electing governors of Virginia and New Jersey, Republicans have demonstrated that two trends suggested in recent opinion polls are for real. The first is that Republicans have pulled off a remarkable comeback after disastrous election defeats in 2006 and 2008. The second is that they now have a realistic shot at capturing the House and gaining Senate seats in the 2010 midterm election. The stunning success in Virginia and New Jersey was strikingly similar to Republican victories for governor in those states in 1993. Indeed, the margins of victory -- an 18-point landslide in Virginia, a narrow win in...

There is bad news in Tuesday's voting for President Obama and his dwindling number of followers. Ten months ago, Obamamania got him the support of 53% of American voters. Obama promised that his successes would only add to that majority. However, he didn’t count on Obamaphobia setting in, a nationwide phenomenon that has reduced his support to around 40%. In Virginia’s gubernatorial race, Republican Bob McDonnell won in a landslide over his Democratic opponent, Creigh Deeds. Obama campaigned hard for Deeds. Deeds had the benefit of the entire Virginia Obama organization. Deeds had Virginia governor and Democratic National Committee (DNC)...

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...

RICHMOND, Va. — Eager to drain the 2009 elections of drama and import, White House press secretary Robert Gibbs claimed Tuesday night that President Barack Obama was “not watching returns.” You can be sure that he is studying them closely now: The off-year elections were in two big races an unmistakable rebuke of Democrats, reshuffling Obama’s political circumstances in ways likely to have severe near-term consequences for his policy agenda and larger governing strategy. Independents took flight from Democrats. They suffered humiliating gubernatorial losses in traditionally Democratic New Jersey, where Obama lent his prestige in a pair of 11th-hour campaign...

Major Republican victories in two states last night left the fate of President Obama's signature health reforms in doubt and Democrats licking their wounds a year before the 2010 mid-term elections. The defeat of Democratic incumbent Jon Corzine by an estimated five points in the New Jersey governor's race was a serious blow for Mr Obama, who had campaigned intensively for Mr Corzine and urged crowds across the state to turn out for him as they did in the historic White House race a year ago. In Virginia, Republicans won a clean sweep in contests for Governor, Attorney General and...

Off-year elections can be notoriously unreliable as predictors of the future, but as a window on how the political landscape may have changed in the year since President Obama won the White House, Tuesday's Republican victories in Virginia and New Jersey delivered clear warnings for the Democrats. Neither gubernatorial election amounted to a referendum on the president, but the changing shape of the electorates in both states and the shifts among key constituencies revealed cracks in the Obama 2008 coalition and demonstrated that, at this point, Republicans have the more energized constituency heading into next year's midterm elections. The most...

WASHINGTON – Independents who swept Barack Obama to a historic 2008 victory broke big for Republicans on Tuesday as the GOP wrested political control from Democrats in Virginia and New Jersey, a troubling sign for the president and his party heading into an important midterm election year. Conservative Republican Bob McDonnell's victory in the Virginia governor's race over Democrat R. Creigh Deeds and moderate Republican Chris Christie's ouster of unpopular New Jersey Gov. Jon Corzine was a double-barreled triumph for a party looking to rebuild after being booted from power in national elections in 2006 and 2008...

Awesome night!The left will try their best to minimize the damage done but the bluedog Democrats are now on notice….pass fiscally irresponsible bills like ObamaCare and your toast. As for NY-23, a few good articles…first from Roger Simon: Now I realize that the surprise loser there, Doug Hoffman, ran as a Conservative, not a Republican. But I submit in this case that was a distinction without a significant difference because virtually all the Republican establishment had lined up behind Hoffman by the day of the election.So why – in what was clearly a Republican year – did Hoffman lose? Well,...

The independent voters who powered President Obama and Democrats to victory in 2008 fled to Republicans in Tuesday's elections, helping the GOP romp to a ticketwide sweep in Virginia and a stunning victory over an incumbent Democratic governor in New Jersey. But the night wasn't a total loss for Democrats, as their candidate won a special election to fill an open congressional seat in upstate New York after a bitter civil war left Republicans divided between their party's nominee and a Conservative Party candidate. The seat had been in Republican hands for more than a century.

Michelle Obama stated last year that for the first time, she was proud to be an American while her husband led the Democratic primary for the Presidency. In her honor, let me state that for the first time in my life, I am proud to say I am from New Jersey. I am proud to say that Govenor-Elect Chris Christie has an opportunity to clean up the turmoil that in New Jersey politics. I am proud that Govenor-Elect Christie can put the brakes on runaway spending on unions and liberal special interests. Finally, I am proud that Govenor-Elect Christie has...

Corzine concedes to Christie on FOX

Though a majority of late-deciding New Jersey voters leaned toward incumbent Gov. Jon Corzine, it wasn't enough to save the Democrat from anger in a state battered by high taxes and scarred by government corruption. Tuesday: Chris Christie stands with wife Mary Pat Christie and children Bridgett and Patrick ahead of their voting in Mendham, N.J. (AP Photo) Exit polls showed independent voters that gave President Obama a huge advantage in the state last year strongly favored Republican Chris Christie on Tuesday. Though a majority of late-deciding New Jersey voters leaned toward incumbent Gov. Jon Corzine, it wasn't enough to...

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...

All politics is local, they say, and Tuesday’s off-off-year elections certainly had their local angles. Jon Corzine has been a terrible governor even by the undemanding standards of terribly governed New Jersey. Creigh Deeds, though he looked good to Democratic Party recruiters not long ago, turned out to be an undistinguished campaigner, more driven by the concerns of Washington Post editorialists than of Virginia voters. And NY-23 Republican nomineee Dede Scozzafava was a bizarre choice, bizarre enough to inspire a seemingly quixotic third-party run by Doug Hoffman. But these local angles weren’t enough to keep the Obama administration out of...

Republicans win Virginia, New Jersey governorshipsReuters | 11/04/2009 12:11 PM WASHINGTON – Republicans rolled to victory in governor's races in Virginia and New Jersey on Tuesday in a sharp blow to Democrats that showed the limits of U.S. President Barack Obama's influence. After suffering a one-two punch in those two states, Democrats were trying to salvage a victory over a conservative candidate in a congressional district in upstate New York. The election outcome in Virginia and New Jersey could offer clues on the mood of America a year after Obama was elected president and a year before 2010 congressional elections...

Thank you, Lord! We are finally bringing our country back from the brink of socialism.

BREAKING

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...

Election '09 Tests Obama's Clout In NJ, Virginia Dems face possibility of big electoral setbacks a year after presidential win WASHINGTON - President Barack Obama's political clout was on the line Tuesday as Virginia and New Jersey chose governors in contests that could serve as warning signs for Democrats about the public's mood heading into an important midterm election year. Elsewhere, Maine voters weighed in on same-sex marriage in a closely watched initiative, and New York and California picked congressmen for two vacant seats. A slew of cities selected mayors, and Ohio voted on allowing casinos. One year after Obama...