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Newly elected chairman of the Republican National Committee Michael Steele said he is focused on three races in his effort to rebuild the GOP after it endured worrying losses in November's elections that gave Democrats control of Congress and the White House. Steele, Maryland's former lieutenant governor and the first black to head the RNC, said one of the most critical battles for the GOP is to capture New York's 20th congressional seat -- formerly held by U.S. Sen. Kristen Gillibrand, D-N.Y. "It is the first of a series of races that are coming up that are going to be...

New Jersey's pension fund has lost more than $23 billion this year, dropping to its lowest level since 2003 as a collapsing financial market battered its investments, a state report showed yesterday. The latest losses -- nearly $9 billion in October, and another $3 billion so far this month -- mean the fund is now worth $57.8 billion, or less than half the $118 billion in benefits it is due to pay out over time, state reports show. "I don't think any of us in the division have ever seen anything like it," said Bill Clark, director of the state's...

<p>A New Jersey pension fund run by one of Barack Obama’s earliest and biggest campaign fundraisers has lost $25 billion -- including $9 billion in October, a published report says.  The New Jersey Investment Council, chaired by hedge fund manager Orin Kramer, says that the value of the state pension fund has shrunk from $82 billion in July to $57 billion, Politicker NJ reports.  The report could not be confirmed.</p>

Pack away that "Drill, Baby, Drill" T-shirt with the old disco clothes. While President-elect Barack Obama said in his victory speech Tuesday that some of the changes he promised will take time, New Jersey Democrats expect a lot to happen quickly. Within days of inauguration, the new administration might reverse policies on offshore drilling, chemical plant security, stem-cell research and children’s health care — issues that have bedeviled New Jersey Democrats during the Bush years. Even before the inauguration, change appears to be happening. WHAT NJ WANTSWish list for our sharePresident Bush indicated Wednesday he is open to discussing another...

Being behind bars didn’t bar some Passaic County Jail inmates from voting this week. In what some officials are saying is a first for the county, 22 men and women in the jail’s cell blocks used absentee ballots to vote. "We’ve been encouraging any inmates who are eligible under the law to vote," said Bill Maer, spokesman for the Passaic County Sheriff’s Department, which runs the jail. "This is one of the first times we had a concentrated program to encourage inmates to participate in the election." Nearly all of the eligible inmates who cast a ballot registered to vote...

A family of Barack Obama supporters awakened this morning to find a burned 6-foot cross on the front lawn of their home in northern Warren County, police said. The charred cross was partly wrapped with a homemade congratulatory banner that declared "President Obama Victory '08" and had been stolen from the lawn the night before, police said.

IL, ME, MA, CT, NJ, MD called for Obama by FoxNews.com

Sen. Menendez was just on Fox on Cavuto's show. Cavuto took Menendez to the woodshed regarding Obama's insane plan to raise taxes by over a trillion dollars to pay for the already announced Reid-Pelosi-Obama butchering of the US economy once they're in power. Cavuto noted that Reid-Pelosi have already announced the insane multi-trillion dollar tax increase to pay for their litany of insane leftist programs, including bankrupting politically incorrect businesses, hugely increasing foreign aid to socialist hell holes, destroying the coal and nuclear power industries, and raising taxes on "the rich" (anyone making more than $42K/year). Cavuto then went through...

12:35 PM EST. OPI OPINION RESEARCH JUST CALLED MY UNLISTED PHONE AND ASKED FOR ME BY NAME. WENT THROUGH ALL THE CANDIDATES FOR PRESIDENT AND MY LOCAL CONGRESS RACE...PLUS ASKED MY OPINION OF CORZINE.....ASKED HOW LIKELY I WAS TO VOTE, EDUCATION LEVEL, INCOME LEVEL, AND RACE.

GALLOWAY TWP.--The clock is ticking away until one of the most historical presidential elections of our time. And in anticipation of Tuesday's Election Day, the Hughes Center at Stockton and the Press of Atlantic City released their latest South Jersey poll. Likely voters in the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd Congressional Districts of the state were surveyed from October 27th through the 29th. The latest results show, Barack Obama with 51.5% in his favor, over John McCain who is trailing at 38.6%. Compared to a similar poll taken in September, Obama has gained 3.4 percentage points, signaling undecided voters are swayed...

Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- A leading African-American pastor says he can't support Barack Obama because the presidential candidate is out of the mainstream when it comes to abortion. Pastor Clenard Childress, says Obama is favors unlimited abortions and wants to overturn state laws to reduce abortions.Childress, the senior pastor of New Calvary Baptist Deliverance Church in Montclair, New Jersey, says he no longer buys the "lip service" he gets from Democratic presidential candidates."The Democrat Party has for years given lip service to the African-American community. They have talked about prominence without fulfilling the promise," he says. "They patronize without...

In his weekly column last week, Bishop Arthur Serratelli urged Catholics against voting for Sen. Barack Obama, the Democratic presidential nominee, based on his pro-abortion stance. "Every vote counts. Today, either we choose to respect and protect life, especially the life of the child in the womb of the mother or we sanction the loss of our most basic freedoms," wrote Serratelli in his column that appeared on the Roman Catholic Diocese of Paterson Web site. Stopping short of mentioning the Illinois senator by name, Serratelli, nevertheless, criticized his legislative voting record on abortion issues. "In 2002, as an Illinois...

With two polls released this morning showing Sen. Barack Obama leading Sen. John McCain in the Garden State by between 17 and 23 points, former Gov. Tom Kean acknowledged that winning this state is a long-shot, and that Vice-Presidential Sarah Palin hasn't helped. "I think one of the problems is there hasn't been much of a campaign in New Jersey, if any. That's always a problem. It's uphill for any Republican to win in New Jersey, and the ones who have won are those who have spent a great deal of time here," he told PolitickerNJ.com from California in a...

Today I am releasing an in-depth study of the Sequoia AVC Advantage direct-recording electronic (DRE) voting machine, available at citp.princeton.edu/voting/advantage. I led a team of six computer scientists in a monthlong examination of the source code and hardware of these voting computers, which are used in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and other states.

Even New Jerseyans can't stand living in New Jersey, according to a new poll that said nearly half of adults residing in the Garden State want to pull up stakes. The Monmouth University/Gannett New Jersey Poll, released Wednesday, found 49 percent of those polled would rather live somewhere else. (snip) Poll participants cited high property taxes (28 percent), the cost of living (19 percent), state taxes (5 percent) and housing costs (6 percent) as the main reasons they want out. The poll also found that 51 percent of those who expressed a desire to leave planned to do so, with...

Barack Obama is now ahead in every state won by John Kerry four years ago, and New Jersey is no exception. The latest Rasmussen Reports telephone survey in New Jersey finds Obama attracting 50% of the vote while McCain earns just 42%.

15. If the election for United States Senate were held today, for whom would you vote, Frank Lautenberg, the Democrat or Dick Zimmer, the Republican? Frank Lautenberg 48% Dick Zimmer 41% Undecided 11%

I am writing on behalf of a group of McCain/Palin volunteers who met yesterday in Ramsey, NJ, in order to try to get out out the vote and garner support for the 2008 Campaign. . . the most important Presidential Campaign in recent memory. We were wondering if any thought has been given to holding a rally at Liberty State Park, in Jersey City, NJ sometime in October? In light of the enormous crowds Sarah Palin has been generating (most recently yesterday in Florida), we thought a perfect venue for a rally would be right on the Hudson at Liberty,...

New Jersey partisans are battling over the impact of Republican presidential candidate John McCain naming a woman as his running mate. The arguments break down along the lines of issues versus the individual. Republicans tout Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin as a historic, uniquely qualified candidate, while Democrats focus on what a McCain-Palin victory might mean to issues affecting women's rights. Women vote in larger percentages than men. How women react to the first woman on a Republican ticket could affect the election's outcome significantly. And it could upend expectations in Democrat-leaning New Jersey, where the presidential race has tightened since...

15. If the election for United States Senate were held today, for whom would you vote, Frank Lautenberg, the Democrat or Dick Zimmer, the Republican? Frank Lautenberg 47% Dick Zimmer 40% Undecided 13%

Democratic Senator Frank Lautenberg leads Republican challenger Dick Zimmer by seven percentage points in New Jersey’s U.S. Senate race. The latest Rasmussen Reports telephone survey in the Garden State finds Lautenberg on top 49% to 42%. That’s closer than the race was last month, but Lauternberg continues to hover right around the 50% level of support. Incumbents who poll below 50% are generally considered potentially vulnerable, and the New Jersey senator is the only Democrat in that category at the moment.

AVON, N.J. (AP) — With oil and gas drilling heating up as an issue in the presidential race, environmentalists and the governor reiterated their opposition to tapping reserves off the state's coast, saying it would endanger the environment and the tourism industry on which New Jersey is so dependent.

TRENTON, N.J. - Two presidential race polls out Tuesday indicate Republican John McCain has cut into Barack Obama's lead in New Jersey. According to a Quinnipiac University poll, McCain has narrowed his 10-point gap of a month ago to just 3 percentage points among likely voters, with 48 percent saying they favor Obama to 45 percent supporting McCain. A Monmouth University/Gannett New Jersey poll has Obama's lead at 8 percentage points among likely voters, down from 14 points in July. In the most recent poll, Obama leads McCain 49 percent to 41 percent, with McCain having picked up 5 percent...

A new poll shows that U.S. Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D., N.J.) enjoys a comfortable lead over Republican challenger Dick Zimmer heading into the fall election season. The Fairleigh Dickinson-PublicMind poll has Lautenberg leading, 46 percent to 35 percent, with Zimmer struggling to get his name known to the electorate. About 41 percent of respondents say they haven't heard of the former New Jersey congressman. Poll director Peter Woolley says Zimmer's name recognition may be suffering because of the attention given to the presidential election drama. Lautenberg is known to nine out of 10 New Jersey voters polled. The telephone poll...

With 15 electoral votes up for grabs in New Jersey, 47 percent of registered voters in the state said they support Sen. Barack Obama for president while 40 percent said they back Sen. John McCain in the presidential race, according to a new Marist College Institute for Public Opinion poll. (Snip) However, Obama’s lead shrinks when looking at likely voters, including those who are leaning toward a specific candidate.

Presidential Race in New Jersey • Democratic Presidential Candidate Barack Obama Leads Republican Opponent John McCain by 7 Percentage Points in New Jersey: With 15 electoral votes up for grabs in New Jersey, 47% of registered voters in the state say they support Senator Barack Obama for president while 40% say they back Senator John McCain. That’s the same margin in New Jersey with which former Democratic Presidential candidate John Kerry beat President George W. Bush in the 2004 presidential election. However, Obama’s lead shrinks when looking at likely voters, including those who are leaning toward a specific candidate. 48%...

This Marist Poll reports: Presidential Race in New Jersey · Democratic Presidential Candidate Barack Obama Leads Republican Opponent John McCain by 7 Percentage Points in New Jersey: With 15 electoral votes up for grabs in New Jersey, 47% of registered voters in the state say they support Senator Barack Obama for president while 40% say they back Senator John McCain. That’s the same margin in New Jersey with which former Democratic Presidential candidate John Kerry beat President George W. Bush in the 2004 presidential election. However, Obama’s lead shrinks when looking at likely voters, including those who are leaning toward...

Former congressman Dick Zimmer, the Republican nominee for New Jersey’s U.S. Senate seat, continues to have difficulty gaining electoral traction. According to the latest poll from Fairleigh Dickinson University’s PublicMind, 41% of voters say they haven’t heard of Zimmer and another third (33%) say they have no opinion of him. Frank Lautenberg, the Democratic incumbent, leads Zimmer among likely voters by 46% to 35%.

Republican Sen. John McCain and Gov. Sarah Palin got a Jersey bounce following the widely viewed Republican nominating convention but continue to trail Democratic Sen. Barack Obama in the Garden State. The latest results from Fairleigh Dickinson University’s PublicMind poll show Obama leading among likely voters by 47% to 41%....For the first time since April 2005 a majority of voters (52%) say the U.S. military effort in Iraq is going “fairly well” or “very well.” Nearly one-third of Democrats agree, as well as a majority of independents, and four of five Republicans.

Presidential Nominee Vows To Fight Back Against Character Attacks Better Than John Kerry Did In '04 MIDDLETOWN, N.J. (AP) ― Unlike his Republican opponent, Democrat Barack Obama is still raising money for his presidential campaign, and he turned Friday to rock legend Jon Bon Jovi for help. Bon Jovi and his wife, Dorothea, hosted more than 100 people for dinner on their mansion lawn by the Navesink River in Middletown, N.J. The price was $30,800 a person, to be divided between the Obama campaign and the Democratic National Committee. snip "We're not going to be bullied, we're not going to...

Obama: ‘I Don’t Believe in Coming in Second’ By Jeff Zeleny MIDDLETOWN, N.J. – For Senator Barack Obama, the television image of his day on Friday took place on the floor of a glass manufacturing plant in the small Pennsylvania town of Duryea. But by nightfall, he was a world away from that scene, as he arrived here for a pair of high-dollar fund-raisers. The singer Jon Bon Jovi and a nearby neighbor hosted back-to-back events for Mr. Obama. While his message was largely the same – criticizing Republicans for their convention message – he steeled his supporters for a...

Barack Obama is ahead of John McCain 48% to 40% in New Jersey, up slightly from last month but identical to his lead in June, according to the latest Rasmussen Reports telephone survey of voters in the state. When “leaners” are included, Obama’s lead expands to 10 percentage points, 52% to 42%.

Democrat Frank Lautenberg, seeking a fifth term in the U.S. Senate, can breathe a little easier this month. The incumbent leads Republican challenger Dick Zimmer 49% to 36% in the latest Rasmussen reports telephone survey in New Jersey. When “leaners” are included, Lautenberg leads the Republican 50% to 37%. Last month, the two candidates were virtual tied, with Lautenberg on top by just a single percentage point. That poll was taken just days after Lautenberg survived a primary challenge that raised questions about whether he was too old to serve. Still, while the new poll provides better news for the...

The gap between the two major presidential contenders has narrowed to 5% in New Jersey, as some of Barack Obama’s support appears to have slipped off into the undecided column over the past month. The latest Rasmussen Reports telephone survey of New Jersey voters, taken Monday night, shows Obama ahead of Republican candidate John McCain 44% to 39%.

Why blame John McCain for basing his regional headquarters in Woodbridge, N.J., instead of the news capital of the nation, New York City? Some consider this pass a snub. I think it's the smart thing to do. Why waste time in this liberal-dominated town where voters support Democrats who do nothing but raise taxes to fund worthless programs? When did we become so gullible? I'm using the editorial "we" out of politeness, but I'm a native New Yorker who never voted for President Carter, Governor Spitzer, or any of the Democrats gumming up the New York State Assembly. I'm not...

NEW YORK (AP) -- John McCain rolled into New Jersey for a town hall-style meeting Friday, declaring the Garden State "winnable" in November and criticizing a U.S. Supreme Court ruling allowing Guantanamo prisoners to challenge their detentions in federal court. McCain, a former Vietnam POW, called Thursday's Supreme Court ruling "one of the worst I've seen," saying the decision compromises the military's ability to defend the country by giving constitutional rights to non-U.S. citizens. "These are enemy combatants, they're not citizens, and they've now been granted rights which I don't think was ever contemplated by any of us following the...

New Jersey U.S. Sen. Frank Lautenberg leads former U.S. Rep. Dick Zimmer, his Republican challenger, 47 - 38 percent in his reelection bid, according to a Quinnipiac University poll released today, but most voters say Sen. Lautenberg is too old to begin another six-year term. Democrats back Lautenberg 80 - 11 percent, while Republicans back Zimmer 79 - 13 percent and independent voters back the Republican 43 - 35 percent, the independent Quinnipiac (KWIN-uh-pe-ack) University poll finds. New Jersey voters approve 46 - 35 percent of the job Lautenberg is doing, his highest disapproval in 12 years of surveys. Democrats...

Senator McCain says New Jersey is a "winnable" state in his quest for the presidency. The Republican presidential candidate says he'll spend time and money campaigning in New Jersey. He says he expects to be competitive here against rival Senator Obama. Mr. McCain talked about the high price of gasoline, doubling federal tax credits for families and bringing American troops home with honor during a town hall meeting at Burlington County College in Pemberton on today. This is Mr. McCain's third public visit to the state this year, a sign that the Arizona senator thinks he can win in Democratic-leaning...

CNN's Lou Dobbs isn't talking about rumours that he's thinking about running for governor of New Jersey. Dobbs lives on a 300-acre farm in Sussex County. Dobbs told The Star-Ledger of Newark he's "not going to comment.'' State Republican chairman Tom Wilson tells the newspaper the Dobbs' buzz is circulating among GOP officials and fundraisers in New York City and Washington. Wilson says the first thing Dobbs should do is register as a Republican. The CNN host switched from the GOP to an independent in 2006. Dobbs gained fame hosting "Moneyline.'' Gov. Jon S. Corzine became a multimillionaire on Wall...

emocrat Frank Lautenberg, seeking a fifth term in the U.S. Senate, is in a virtual tie with Republican challenger Dick Zimmer in New Jersey, according to the latest Rasmussen Reports telephone survey. Forty-five percent (45%) of likely voters in the predominantly Democratic state favor Lautenberg, while 44% are backing Zimmer, a former U.S. congressman who is running as a fiscal conservative. The survey was taken 24 hours after Lautenberg, capturing over 60% of the vote, easily defeated another congressman, Robert Andrews, in the state's Democratic primary. Andrews, 50, who was endorsed by most of the state's newspapers, had aggressively attacked...

(The Politico) Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-N.J) easily fended off a primary challenge from Democratic congressman Robert Andrews, and will be heading into the general election with a decisive victory behind him. With 91 percent of precincts reporting, Lautenberg leads Andrews 60 to 34 percent – and the AP has called the race for Lautenberg. The campaign was highly contentious. Andrews criticized the 84-year-old Lautenberg, arguing he was too old to be effective in the Senate for another term. Lautenberg responded by accusing Andrews of initially supporting the Iraq war and voting for parts of former House Speaker Newt Gingrich’s Contract...

PEMBERTON, N.J. - The presidential campaign is coming back to New Jersey. Republican John McCain has told supporters he will host a town hall meeting at Burlington County College on June 13. McCain supporters want the state, which has voted reliably Democratic in recent elections, to be in play in November. A poll in late April showed McCain trailing Democratic front-runner Barack Obama. McCain won New Jersey's GOP presidential primary in February.

It was a moment worthy of fanfare: the opening of a new district office of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives in New Jersey last month. Federal prosecutors, law enforcement officials and members of Congress, including Senator Frank R. Lautenberg, assembled at the federal building in downtown Newark, a city plagued by gun violence. But soon after Representative Robert E. Andrews arrived, an organizer took him aside, at the urging of Mr. Lautenberg’s assistants, and asked him to leave. He retreated, as his colleagues headed to the microphones. This is what life has been like for Mr. Andrews...

Extreme lefty Senator Lautenberg changes his commercial. The original attacks "big Oil" for wanting to drill off New Jerseys Coast. I guess now with $4 gas, he realizes that the public may like that idea. Api remains a pig!!!! the original: http://www.lautenbergfornj.com/multimedia/video?id=0005

Former Sen. Robert G. Torricelli, a top fundraiser for Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, is sending hundreds of thousands of dollars in donations from his 2002 Senate campaign to a private foundation registered in his name and based out of his New Jersey lobbying office — an arrangement that troubles campaign-finance and tax experts. Federal election rules allow former elected officials to use surplus campaign money on charitable causes, though Mr. Torricelli's Rosemont Foundation, which received $1.5 million in campaign cash last year, has not yet been granted tax-exempt status. Angelo Genova, an attorney for Mr. Torricelli, said the foundation's application...

As former Congressman Dick Zimmer formally entered the Republican U.S. Senate race today, he essentially becomes the third candidate to fill a single candidacy. First there was Anne Estabrook. Andy Unanue took her place after she suffered a minor stroke. Zimmer jumped in to the race after Unanue’s campaign disintegrated in less than three weeks. Just as Unanue inherited most of the Estabrook campaign infrastructure – who had been paid a severance that lasted until the June primary while they waited for a candidate to take her place– Zimmer is poised to take over much of Unanue’s staff, including Campaign...

Biotech exec puts ailing children before U.S. Senate run by Robert Schwaneberg/ The Star-Ledger Sunday April 06, 2008, 1:05 PM Despite the encouragement of thousands of New Jerseyans and Republican presidential candidate John McCain, a Princeton father who founded his own biotech company to save two of his children from a rare disease will not run for U.S. Senate. John Crowley, a Navy reservist and president of Amicus Therapeutics of Cranbury, decided this morning not to seek the GOP nomination for U.S. Senate, his friend, adviser and fellow Republican Bill Spadea said. "Given his tremendous level of responsibility, first to...

GOP lands top-tier recruit against Lautenberg Biotech executive John Crowley is expected to enter the New Jersey Senate race against Democratic Sen. Frank Lautenberg, according to a source familiar with his thinking. It would give Republicans a candidate with a compelling personal narrative who also has deep pockets to self-finance a campaign. His pending announcement, which could come as soon as this weekend, will set up a high-profile election year in the Garden State, where Lautenberg is already facing a primary challenge from Democratic Rep. Robert Andrews. But Crowley has the potential to capture as much of the media spotlight...

Ignoring calls by party leaders to stay out of the race, U.S. Rep. Rob Andrews, D-1st, said he would take on U.S. Sen. Frank Lautenberg, D-N.J., in the June Democratic primary, according to an e-mailed statement from Andrews spokesman Bill Caruso. Andrews said people across the state wanted "real choices based on a positive, substantive campaign" and that state voters deserve a choice. "Today's newspapers carry stories of 'threats of retribution' against citizens who wish to engage in such a campaign," Andrews said in the release. "It is time that someone stood up to this kind of politics and stood...

Per NBC’s Tom Winter, Gov. Jon Corzine, a Clinton superdelegate, just said on CNBC's Squawk Box that he reserves the right to change his vote from Hillary Clinton if she doesn't have the popular vote. -snip- Sen. Maria Cantwell, another Clinton super, has said similar things regarding the popular vote.