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Christie names Red Tape Commission
Gov. Chris Christie has released the names of the new members of the Red Tape Commission formed earlier this year by an executive order. (Isherwood, PolitickerNJ)
http://www.politickernj.com/42172/christie-names-red-tape-commission
Holt up five points over Sipprelle
U.S. Rep. Rush Holt, (D-12) is up 5 points over Republican challenger Scott Sipprelle in the latest Monmouth University poll. (Isherwood, PolitickerNJ)
http://www.politickernj.com/42166/holt-5-points-over-sipprelle-latest-poll
House is new front for GOP groups
A network of Republican-allied outside groups that has already reshaped the midterm campaign with a flood of hard-hitting ads targeting Democrats announced a new front on Wednesday: the House. (Vogel, Politico)
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1010/43560.html#ixzz12KF5VZhw
N.J. voters who backed President Obama less likely to vote in mid-term elections, poll shows
New Jersey voters who support President Obama are less likely to vote in the mid-term elections next month, revealing an enthusiasm gap that could spell trouble for Democrats, according to a Fairleigh Dickinson University PublicMind poll released this morning. (Friedman, The Star-Ledger)
http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2010/10/nj_voters_who_backed_president.html
N.J. mayors push for caps on salary increases for public employees
TRENTON — A battle is brewing at the New Jersey Statehouse over whether to cap salary increases for public employees who can’t strike. (Associated Press)
http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2010/10/nj_mayors_push_for_caps_on_sal.html
Pallone touts health reform, GOP foe vows to repeal
TIGHT RACE: New poll finds Rep. Rush Holt locked in close contest in 12th District. STORY, PAGE A2.
Health care dominated an hourlong discussion between three candidates for Congress from the 6th District and the Asbury Park Press’ editorial board Wednesday. (Penton, Asbury Park Press)
Election campaigns are big business for Fort Washington Firm
Jeff Dittus and Rich Masterson are happy about the Republicans’ surge in the polls for this November’s elections to Congress.
Not just because it’s their party. (DiStefano, The Philadelphia Inquirer)
Atlantic City finances under state control
TRENTON — Billed as a makeover of Atlantic City’s municipal finances rather than a takeover of the resort city’s government, New Jersey officials on Wednesday established the powers the state has in a new oversight agreement. (Jordan, Daily Record)
N.J. charter schools get access to low-interest bonds
New Jersey will offer charter schools access to $30 million in low-interest federally subsidized bonds to build classrooms and complete other construction projects, Christie administration officials announced Wednesday. (Giordano, The Philadelphia Inquirer)
Republicans likely to take House: Reuters/Ipsos poll
(Reuters) – American voters unhappy at high unemployment are set to oust President Barack Obama’s Democrats from control of the U.S. House of Representatives in November 2 elections, a Reuters-Ipsos poll projected on Wednesday. (Holland, Reuters)
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE69451X20101014
Rage against Nancy Pelosi a drag on Dems
In the home stretch of the 2010 campaign, Speaker Nancy Pelosi, more than even President Barack Obama, is emerging as the heaviest drag on Democratic hopes of holding on to the House. (Allen, Politico)
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1010/43509.html#ixzz12KNMy268
$198 million spent on ads in 5 weeks
Candidates, political parties and special interest groups have spent nearly $200 million in advertising on House and Senate races during the past five weeks, a 75 percent increase from the same period in 2008, according to a study by the Wesleyan Media Project released Wednesday. (Wang, Politico)
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1010/43574.html
Q&A with North Jersey Congressional candidates: Social Security, Medicare, and the federal deficit
This is the latest in a weekly series in which the major-party candidates in three North Jersey districts discuss issues that Congress has faced and will face. Excerpts of their responses are below. (Jackson, The Record)
From the Back Room
Kennedy due in Passaic for Berdnik
Retiring U.S. Rep. Patrick Kennedy (D-R.I.) will anchor a living room fundraiser for Passaic County Sheriff’s candidate Richard Berdnik in the home of the Lucianin family in Passaic on Friday evening. (Editor, PolitickerNJ)
http://www.politickernj.com/back_room/kennedy-due-passaic-berdnik
Pallone and Lance go up on cable TV
The campaign of U.S. Rep. Frank Pallone (D-Long Branch) today went up on cable television for the first time this season. (Editor, PolitickerNJ)
http://www.politickernj.com/back_room/pallone-and-lance-go-cable-tv
Opinion
Forgetting to vote is always a problem
If you’re running for political office, it helps if you have been an active voter in the past. Every year, it seems, there’s a candidate who has had a less than stellar voting history. Now, that really doesn’t mean anything all that tangible, but it does open oneself to attacks from the other side. (Snowflack, Daily Record)
Third Congressional District race offers crash course in Politics 101
Put young minds together in a late-night dorm room, and they might come up with something like Facebook.
Throw in some ideological fervor, and you could get fresh indignation, say, about a campus library at Rutgers University-Camden named years ago for renowned Stalinist, artist, and activist Paul Robeson. (Riorden, The Philadelphia Inquirer)
Note to Democrats: Push blue-collar issues
If Democrats wake up Nov. 3 to learn they have lost both the Senate and the House — something I still believe may not happen — many political observers are likely to question campaign strategy decisions made by the Obama White House and the Democratic National Committee in the campaign’s final weeks. (Frost, Politico)
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1010/43551.html#ixzz12KFeDee0
The program is the problem
Many times this space called for getting rid of Highway Safety Director Pam Fischer’s position. It didn’t have so much to do with her as the idiotic programs she promoted in the name of safety that were little more than funneling money to local police department so they can pay cops overtime to dress up like nannies at crosswalks or tie up traffic to see if we have our seat belts fastened. (Ingle, Asbury Park Press)
http://blogs.app.com/politicspatrol/2010/10/14/12463/
New Jersey cannot afford to cancel rail tunnel project
A little more than 24 hours after canceling New Jersey’s commitment to help pay for a second rail tunnel connecting New York and New Jersey, Gov. Chris Christie met with U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood and agreed to rethink his decision. (Naomi M. Bressler, guest columnist for The Times of Trenton)
http://www.nj.com/opinion/times/oped/index.ssf?/base/news-1/1287035157129860.xml&coll=5
