Kean Backs Bell; Christie to Iowa

By Matt Rooney | The Save Jersey Blog

Tom KeanAverage Americans are shutting down for the long-holiday weekend but the political class is just warming up, Save Jerseyans. Officious  statements, soaring speeches, patriotic parades and memorial services are a part of the job description on the 4th of July. This is also a midterm year, in case you’ve forgotten, and we actually saw an endorsement come across the wires on a hazy, humid Independence Day Eve, a time when most campaigns are trying to bury news.

“I voted for Jeff in the Republican primary and have known and respected him for more than three decades, including his remarkable Senate race in 1978 and when he helped me develop my economic program in the 1981 campaign for Governor,” Governor Tom Kean, Sr. recalled in a Thursday afternoon statement released by Jeff Bell’s U.S. Senate campaign, recalling Bell’s legendary grassroots victory over liberal Republican Senator Clifford P. Case.

Bell, who is speaking to the Independence Hall Tea Party on July 4th, is undoubtedly an underdog in the race against Cory Booker (D-Twitter) yet two major public polls have shown Booker in a weaker-than-expected position.

The former Governor also lauded his party’s nominee’s campaign focus on the “Gold Standard” but admitted that it’s hard to know whether the somewhat pedantic albeit important issue of monetary policy can gain traction in a general election campaign.

“Given the cone of silence in Washington concerning Fed policy, Jeff returned to New Jersey to advocate an end to zero interest rates and restoration of the dollar’s link to gold for the first time in 43 years. This is an important debate and I look forward to hearing Jeff & Senator Booker discuss the issue,” Kean continued. “I have no way of knowing how this needed debate will go. What I am certain of is that if elected, Jeff Bell will be a breath of fresh air in the Senate and a big plus for the people of New Jersey.”

2016 is simmering this weekend, too; The Des Moines Record reported on Thursday that former Kean protege Governor Chris Christie (ever heard of him?) is headed to Iowa later in July for three separate events. The Guv’s polling position is weaker in Iowa than the GOP presidential primary generally, hence, his renewed focus on courting social conservatives who dominate that state’s straw poll and caucus.

 

Matt Rooney
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MATT ROONEY is SaveJersey.com's founder and editor-in-chief, a practicing New Jersey attorney, and the host of 'The Matt Rooney Show' on 1210 WPHT every Sunday evening from 7-10PM EST.