Win, lose or draw this November, Save Jerseyans, three HUGELY important counties for next year’s gubernatorial contest are primed to experience large-scale Republican leadership transitions in June.
How each intra-party contest shakes out will affect taxpayers in all twenty-one counties.
In two of those counties (Passaic and Bergen), the Governor’s campaign needs to hold his as-of-yet unnamed Democrat challenger to a single-digit margin of victory. Both northern giants were among the eight counties which Christie failed to carry in 2009. Specifically, Jon Corzine took Passaic by about 8,500 votes, a margin which translated to a 51.46% to 43.78% countywide victory. Vote rich Bergen was much closer. Corzine triumphed there by approximately 2.3%, a margin of almost 6,000 votes.
And then there’s the third county a little further south, Monmouth by the sea, a key part of the deep red “Christie Gold Coast;” there, our future Governor won by 31-points and ran up a massive 65,000 vote cushion! Monmouth’s performance was particularly significant considering Christie ultimately won that election by less than 90,000 votes statewide.
But don’t allow yourself to be lulled into complacency, folks. John McCain carried Monmouth by just 3.7% in 2008. Obama generated blow-outs in Bergen and Passaic. Governor Christie can’t win reelection with those numbers. New Jersey is moving in the right direction; we’re not “saved” quite yet! Otherwise I could stop blogging here and start expounding on fine dining or bird watching.
The challenges that lie ahead collectively constitute the reason why we’ve spent a lot of time here at Save Jersey covering the Yudin-Rottino-McCann battle royale in Bergen County. In the coming days, we’ll expend more digital ink discussing the potential contentious race to replace Monmouth’s Joe Oxley (nominated yesterday for the bench) between former Senator John Bennett and state Committeewoman Christine Hanlon. No less important is the fate of Passaic’s GOP where Assemblyman Scott Rumana is stepping aside and Scott Heck looks likely to succeed him… for now. But com’on, it’s Passaic County. Nothing’s over until it’s over!
YES, the times certainly are indeed a-changin’ for the Bergen, Passaic and Monmouth Republican establishments and YES, if it didn’t sink in the first time I said it, please don’t lose sight of the fact that EACH LEADERSHIP TRANSITION MATTERS TO YOU and your family! Engage the process and stay well-informed by reading Save Jersey. We’ll get you through just fine. Have I ever misled you?
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AH8hPRCr72w
