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POLITICS NJ 11-3/4-09 - Christie elected Governor, defeats Corzine by 106,000 votes; GOP picks up one Assembly seat Republican Christopher J. Christie, who won acclaim as a corruption buster during his seven years as the United States Attorney, was elected Governor of New Jersey, defeating incumbent Jon S. Corzine by more than 105,000 votes...Republicans picked up one State Assembly seat, captured control of the Monmouth County Board of Freeholders, and won Freeholder seats in Bergen, Passaic, and Cumberland counties.
November 4, 2009 NY TIMES G.O.P. Wins Two Key Governors’ Races; Bloomberg Prevails in a Close Contest
GANNETT/Asbury Park Press, go to app.com : Why Christie won N.J.
NEW BRUNSWICK — The undecided voters finally decided. They decided that four more years of Democratic Gov. Jon S.Corzine
STAR LEDGER - go to nj.com: N.J.'s election of 'unapologetic conservative' marks personal rebuke of Corzine By Tom Moran
Christie wins N.J. gov race; Corzine vows to keep speaking up
News
Christie elected Governor, defeats Corzine by 106,000 votes; GOP picks up one Assembly seat
By Editor
Republican Christopher J. Christie, who won acclaim as a corruption buster during his seven years as the United States Attorney, was elected Governor of New Jersey, defeating incumbent Jon S. Corzine by more than 105,000 votes.
Republicans picked up one State Assembly seat, captured control of the Monmouth County Board of Freeholders, and won Freeholder seats in Bergen, Passaic, and Cumberland counties.
Christie, 47, is the first Republican to win statewide in twelve years. He won big margins in Republican counties like Monmouth and Ocean, and beat Corzine in two Democratic counties, Middlesex and Gloucester.
Corzine, a Wall Street millionaire who has spent more than $130 million of his own money during his three campaigns for public office, was defeated for re-election by a 49%-45% margin. Former state Environmental Protection Commissioner Christopher Daggett won just 5% in his independent bid for governor.
In District 4, Republican Domenick DeCicco won the seat of retiring Democratic Assemblywoman Sandra Love. Democratic Assemblyman Paul Moriarty won re-election. Democrats will control the Assembly 47-33.
Republicans won control of the Monmouth County Board of Freeholders with John Curley beating Sean Byrnes by a 58%-38% margin.
Republicans have held their majority on the Burlington County Board of Freeholders, winning two open GOP seats.
Republicans won two seats on the Bergen County Board of Freeholders. John Driscoll and Robert Hermanson ousted Democratic incumbents Julie O'Brien and Vernon Walton.
In a stunning upset, Republicans won three Freeholder seats in Passaic County, and a Republican was elected County Clerk. Democratic incumbent Tahesha Way lost her bid for re-election.
In Cumberland County, Republicans picked up one Freeholder seat. Democratic incumbents Louis Magazzu and Nelson Thompson were re-elected.
In District 1, Democratic Assemblymen Nelson Albano and Mathew Milam have a narrow lead.
In District 3, Democratic Assemblywoman Celeste Riley trails Republican Robert Villare. Democratic Assemblyman John Burzichelli appears to have won re-election.
In District 36, Democratic Assemblymen Gary Schaer and Frederick Scalera appear to have been re-elected.
In District 38, Democratic Assemblywomen Connie Wagner and Joan Voss have a narrow lead.
In District 23, GOP Assemblyman Michael Doherty won a special election for State Senate, winning 72% against Democrat Harvey Baron. Doherty defeated incumbent Marcia Karrow in the Republican primary.
In District 6, Democratic State Sen. James Beach won a special election. He defeated Republican Joseph Adolf, 58%-32%.
In Parsippany, Republican Councilman Jamie Barberio defeated Democratic Mayor Michael Luther by a 52%-48% margin.
In Edison, Councilwoman Toni Ricigliano was elected Mayor. She won a 58%-38% victory over Republican Dennis Pipala. Ricigliano defeated incumbent Jun Choi in the Democratic primary.
In Morristown, Democrat Timothy Dougherty defeated Republican James Gervasio with 65%. Dougherty ousted Mayor Donald Cresitello in the Democratic primary.
In Gloucester Township, Democrat David Mayer, a former Assemblyman, ousted GOP Mayor Cindy Rau-Hatton by a 54%-46% margin.
In the race for Washington Township Mayor, Republican Councilwoman Janet Sobkowicz easily defeated Democrat Charles Sarlo, the brother of State Sen. Paul Sarlo. There were two independents in the race.
Brick Mayor Stephen Acropolis was re-elected with 62% of the vote.
Atlantic City Mayor Lorenzo Langford was re-elected with 62% of the vote.
In Hoboken, Acting Mayor Dawn Zimmer won a special election. She defeated Beth Mason 43%-22%.
In Kearny, Democratic Mayor Alberto Santos defeated John Leadbeater 58%-42%.
In Camden, State Sen. Dana Redd won 84% in her bid to become Mayor.
Click here to view county-by-county results
Click here to read Patrick Murray's Exit Poll blog
Links to County Clerk sites with Election Results
Links to 2005 Election Results, town-by-town
Editor can be reached via email at editor@politicsnj.com.
November 4, 2009
G.O.P. Wins Two Key Governors’ Races; Bloomberg Prevails in a Close Contest
By DAVID M. HALBFINGER and IAN URBINA
Republicans swept contests for governor in New Jersey and Virginia on Tuesday as voters went to the polls filled with economic uncertainty, dealing President Obama a setback and building momentum for a Republican comeback attempt in next year’s midterm Congressional elections.
But in a closely watched Congressional race in upstate New York, a Democrat who received a late push from the White House triumphed over a conservative candidate who attracted national backers ranging from Rush Limbaugh to Sarah Palin, the former Alaska governor.
In New Jersey, a former federal prosecutor, Christopher J. Christie, became the first Republican to win statewide in 12 years by vowing to attack the state’s fiscal problems with the same aggressiveness he used to lock up corrupt politicians.
He overcame a huge Democratic voter advantage and a relentless barrage of negative commercials to defeat Jon S. Corzine, an unpopular incumbent who outspent him by more than two to one and drew heavily on political help from the White House, including three visits to the state from President Obama.
“We are in a crisis; the times are extraordinarily difficult, but I stand here tonight full of hope for the future,” said Mr. Christie, 47, who will become New Jersey’s 55th governor. “Tomorrow begins the task of fixing a broken state.”
Mr. Corzine, 62, who entered politics a decade ago after a career at Goldman Sachs, conceded at 10:55 p.m. “It has been quite a journey,” he said. “There’s a bright future ahead for New Jersey if we stay focused on people’s lives, and I’m telling you, I’m going to do that for the rest of my life.”
With 98 percent of precincts reporting, Mr. Christie had 49 percent of the vote, Mr. Corzine 44 percent.
In Virginia, where Mr. Obama was the first Democratic presidential nominee to carry the state since 1964, Robert F. McDonnell, a Republican and former state attorney general, rolled to victory over R. Creigh Deeds, a veteran state senator.
With 99 percent of precincts reporting, Mr. McDonnell had 59 percent and Mr. Deeds 41 percent. Mr. McDonnell’s victory, along with Republican victories in the races for attorney general and lieutenant governor, ended eight years of Democratic control in Richmond.
In New York’s 23rd Congressional District, Douglas L. Hoffman, a little known accountant running on the Conservative Party line, conceded after midnight to his Democratic rival, Bill Owens, after driving a moderate Republican from the race.
The three races marked the first major elections since the country plunged into the worst recession in decades, and basic economic issues — job losses, foreclosures, taxes — were front and center.
In Virginia, Mr. McDonnell, avoided divisive social issues, concentrating instead on his plans to create jobs, improve the economy and fix the state’s transportation problems.
In New Jersey, Mr. Christie held Mr. Corzine, a onetime Goldman Sachs chief executive, accountable for rising unemployment, persistent budget deficits, and his failure to gain control over skyrocketing property taxes, the nation’s highest. Voters embraced Mr. Christie even though he offered little detail about how he would fix the state’s chronic financial problems and instead appealed to voters hungry for change.
Voters in both states remained strongly supportive of President Obama, exit polls conducted by Edison Research showed, though they said that was not a factor in their decisions. But independent voters, who in New Jersey favored the president in 2008 and in Virginia split between Mr. Obama and John McCain, delivered strong margins for both Mr. Christie and Mr. McDonnell, the surveys showed.
In New Jersey, a sprawling corruption case begun by Mr. Christie, which culminated in July with the arrests of dozens of politicians and others, appeared to have taken its toll on the Democratic get-out-the-vote machinery. In Hudson County, a party bastion where a number of Democratic officials were charged, only 39 percent of registered voters cast their ballots, county officials said.
The races in New Jersey, Virginia and New York attracted intense interest because they provided the first test of President Obama’s ability to transfer the excitement he unleashed last year to other Democratic candidates.
The White House, to varying degrees, became involved in all three races, worried that defeats would undermine the public’s perceptions of the president’s political clout and his ability to pass major legislation.
With polls of the Virginia race showing Mr. Deeds falling further behind, the White House refrained from an all-out effort on his behalf, though Mr. Obama campaigned with Mr. Deeds twice.
In New York, however, the president’s aides played a pivotal role in helping Mr. Owens over the weekend, engineering a surprise endorsement from the moderate Republican who had abandoned the race under pressure from conservatives.
And in New Jersey, the White House took a firm hand in guiding Mr. Corzine’s re-election campaign, culminating in rallies featuring the president campaigning with the governor in Newark and Camden on Sunday.
The victor in Virginia, Mr. McDonnell, 55, is a social and fiscal conservative, but ran on a more moderate platform that appealed to voters in the suburbs in Fairfax County, where he was raised. By contrast, Mr. Deeds, 51, had a difficult time introducing himself to densely populated Northern Virginia.
Mr. Deeds sought to portray Mr. McDonnell as a radical conservative by publicizing his 20-year-old master’s thesis, which criticized working women and single mothers. But polls showed voters found Mr. Deeds’s commercials too negative.
The New York race emerged in the national spotlight after President Obama appointed the district’s long-serving congressman, John M. McHugh, a Republican, as secretary of the Army. Almost immediately after local Republican leaders chose Dede Scozzafava, a supporter of gay rights and abortion rights who embraced the federal stimulus package, she came under attack by conservatives as heretical.
Leading conservative voices lined up behind Mr. Hoffman, of Lake Placid, and opponents of same-sex marriage and abortion flooded the district with volunteers from across the country.
In the final days of the campaign, Ms. Scozzafava stunned her party by withdrawing from the race and then backing Mr. Owens. Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. traveled to Watertown on Monday to rally Democrats and disgruntled Republicans, but the event drew only about 200 people.
In New Jersey, Mr. Christie attacked Mr. Corzine’s economic leadership, saying he had driven jobs and residents from the state. The governor countered that Mr. Christie offered no viable plan for digging New Jersey out of its enormous financial hole.
Christopher J. Daggett, a former state and federal environmental official, made a splash with a plan to cut property taxes and a strong debate performance, but was hobbled by weak fund-raising. After reaching 20 percent in one public-opinion poll, he failed to break out of the double digits.
New Jersey was a deep-blue state, and Mr. Obama’s election boosted Democratic registration, giving the party a 700,000-vote advantage. Mr. Corzine assailed Mr. Christie, who was named United States attorney by President George W. Bush in 2001, as a philosophical clone of Mr. Bush.
The White House, viewing New Jersey as its best hope for victory, poured resources into the race. The president’s pollster overhauled the campaign’s message, White House aides reviewed Corzine commercials and attended strategy sessions, and cabinet officials lined up to appear at Mr. Corzine’s side.
But Mr. Corzine’s abiding unpopularity — his highest approval rating followed his 2007 car accident and was chalked up to pity — suggested that even “Obama surge” voters who voted for the first time last year could not tilt the outcome in the governor’s favor.
No issue loomed larger in New Jersey than the economy, which Mr. Corzine assured residents in January ranked as his No. 1, 2 and 3 priorities. But Mr. Christie never wavered from a simple strategy: making the vote a referendum on Mr. Corzine and highlighting how his supposed Wall Street financial skills had been a bust for the state.
David Kocieniewski and Nate Schweber contributed reporting.
GANNETT/Asbury Park Press, go to app.com :
Why Christie won N.J. NEW BRUNSWICK — The undecided voters finally decided. They decided that four more years of Democratic Gov. Jon S. [More...]
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· November 4, 2009
· Why Christie won N.J.
Desire for change motivated undecideds, even some Democrats
By JASON METHOD
STAFF WRITER
· The undecided voters finally decided.
· They decided that four more years of Democratic Gov. Jon S. Corzine was less palatable than four years with conservative corruption-fighter Republican Chris Christie.
· They also decided that this was not going to be the year for an independent candidate, even as many had flirted with the idea of voting for Chris Daggett.
· As many as one in five voters told pollsters in the final days they might change their mind. On election night, it became clear that the former U.S. attorney had won the final arguments as he promised to slash spending and open the way for business growth.
· Republicans came home and ultimately spurned Daggett's wooing, an exit poll of voters showed. While many observers had long thought Daggett to be a GOP spoiler, more of those who remained with him said they would otherwise have voted for Corzine.
· Democrats remained loyal to Corzine, but not to the same degree, and they failed to rally their core supporters despite three campaign swings by President Barack Obama and millions of dollars in spending by the super-wealthy Corzine.
· Nearly six in ten voters who called themselves independents sided with Christie, which was almost double the 33 percent who preferred Corzine, according to an exit poll conducted by the Monmouth University Polling Institute for NJN News and Gannett New Jersey.
· The top issues for independents were political corruption and taxes, issues that played into ex-prosecutor Christie's strong suit.
· "That fact that independent voters rated corruption as such an important issue in their vote today indicates that they are really upset with the current political system," said Patrick Murray, director of the polling institute.
· Democratic defections
· The exit poll showed that Corzine had held onto eight in 10 of the voters who said they supported him four years ago. However, 15 percent of prior Corzine voters went for Christie.
· There was no such drain among Republicans: 96 percent who supported GOP nominee Doug Forrester in the 2005 gubernatorial contest voted for Christie.
· "The Democrats need a candidate more popular than Jon Corzine," said Ben Dworkin, a political scientist from Rider University. "Jon Corzine never had a gift for retail politics and communication. He was never able to articulate what he accomplished in a way that resonated with New Jersey voters."
· Dworkin said the visits by Obama, and the huge get-out-the-vote effort by the state's unions were not enough because voters weren't buying the sales pitch.
· "You can knock on all the doors you want, but if people aren't excited about the candidate you're offering, it won't do any good," Dworkin said.
· The Democrats' vaunted get-out-the-vote effort had been on display in Trenton on Tuesday afternoon. Joseph Tulloch, a state worker and shop steward for Communication Workers of America Local 1031, was marching down a side street in his bright red windbreaker with "Political Action Team" printed on the back. He handed out cards encouraging residents to vote for Corzine. Still, he did not exude confidence.
· "Response has been OK; people are listening," said Tulloch, who said he has made the same Election Day trip for 23 years. "I would say it's another tight race."
· Variety of issues
· Lacey residents and Republican voters Kathleen and Donald Scales said they voted for Christie in large part because he was conservative on social issues.
· "I voted for the candidate who supports marriage being between a husband and a wife," Donald Scales said. The Monmouth University exit poll showed where Corzine failed to connect with voters who were tired of a bad economy and high taxes.
· Corzine's trouble could be seen in the county-by-county totals. He was barely winning vote-rich Bergen County late in the evening, despite picking a lieutenant governor running mate from that county. In Middlesex County — normally Democratic but a possible swing county — Christie won by nearly 7,000 votes.
· Among the personality traits voters were looking for: 38 percent wanted someone to bring about change, and two-thirds of those voted for Christie.
· Corzine received support from two-thirds of union voters, the lowest among the core Democratic groups, despite the endorsements of the state's AFL-CIO and teachers union, and staunch support from union leaders.
· "It was largely the Dems not getting out the vote," Seton Hall political scientist Joseph Marbach said. "There was a sense voters wanted some kind of change, and Christie was the candidate for that. The Christie campaign's ad about (Corzine's statement to) 'hold me accountable' resonated with voters. They held him accountable for the economy and taxes."
STAR LEDGER, go to nj.com:
Christie wins N.J. gov race; Corzine vows to keep speaking up
Corzine ousted on wave of frustration over taxes, economy
· Story | Post a comment
· Christie's acceptance speech
More election stories:
· Moran: Election of Christie a personal rebuke of Corzine
· Editorial: Now, the hard part
Results:
· Winners in key races in local contests
· Governor
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Newark Live, Politics, Statehouse »
Republican Chris Christie ousts Jon Corzine in N.J. governor's race
By Star-Ledger Staff
November 04, 2009, 12:14AM
Chris Christie pumps his fist with the state's first Lt. Governor, Kim Guadagno, together on stage as he celebrates his win over Jon Corzine to become the 55th Governor of New Jersey.Republican Chris Christie, a corporate lawyer turned crusading federal prosecutor, was elected New Jersey’s 55th governor last night, ousting Jon Corzine, an unpopular but well-funded incumbent, in a race viewed as an early referendum on President Obama.
It was the first time a Republican won a statewide election in New Jersey since Gov. Christie Whitman was re-elected by a narrow margin in 1997. Corzine became the first incumbent to lose an election since Jim Florio in 1993.
With 99 percent of the state’s voting precincts reporting, Christie took 49 percent compared with Corzine’s 44.5 percent, even though late public opinion polls showed the race too close to call. Independent Chris Daggett, who reached 20 percent from voters in one recent poll, came in with only 5.7 percent.
Vote totals show voter turnout was a record low for a New Jersey governor’s race. The race also marked the introduction of the post of lieutenant governor and Christie’s running mate, Monmouth County Sheriff Kim Guadagno, will become the first person to hold that title.
Politics, Real-Time News, Statehouse »
Moran: N.J.'s election of 'unapologetic conservative' marks personal rebuke of Corzine
By Tom Moran
November 04, 2009, 12:45AM
The era of Jon Corzine — as senator, governor and the state’s most unabashed liberal leader — ended tonight at the hands of a political neophyte who ran as an unapologetic conservative.
It was the first Democratic loss in a statewide race in more than a decade, one that gives Republicans the ability to raise money and rebuild, to reshape the Supreme Court, to finally exercise some real power after their long years in the wilderness.
But with the Legislature remaining firmly in Democratic hands, this was a pointed personal loss for Corzine. He has spent at least $125 million in the last decade on his own campaigns, breaking every record as he tried to win the hearts and minds of New Jersey voters.
And it never quite stuck. He was awkward in his public appearances, stumbling in his speech and distant from legislators in his own party.
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Chris Christie defeats Jon Corzine to become 55th governor of New Jersey |
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He scored some modest successes on education and health care. He won concessions from state workers. He signed a paid family leave bill and abolished the death penalty.
But he was never able to put together a good streak, to build a working coalition even within his own party that was equal to the gigantic challenges he faced.
He promised to ease the burden of property taxes and failed. He promised to use his Wall Street savvy to fix the state’s ever-broken finances, and he failed again.
He promised a clean and honorable government, then shoveled barrels of money to some of the shadiest characters in his party, many of whom are now in jail. A corruption sweep in July reminded voters of his dramatic failure on that front.
In the end, he was brought down by Republican Chris Christie, the aggressive former federal prosecutor who promised to cut taxes and shrink government, without saying how or when. That, too, was a rebuke of Corzine, who presided over a period of rising taxes and growing public payrolls at the local level, where the real money is spent.
Christie dodged every big question during the campaign. His central promise was to get rid of Corzine. He calculated, correctly as it turned out, that for voters that was enough.
So what’s next? Really, we have no idea. Christie is an absolute wild card.
He promises next year to repeal the surtax on families making more than $400,000, which tells us he is a fan of trickle-down economics. Good luck with that in the Democratic Legislature that put the surtax into effect.
"His biggest challenge will be to get over with a Legislature that has already demonstrated it has no interest in working with any governor," said Pete McDonough, a senior aide to former GOP Gov. Christie Whitman.
Christie’s promises were so vague that his platform really boiled down to one simple pitch: Trust me.
"He’s been elected with a mandate to not be Jon Corzine, but that’s not going to be good enough," said U.S. Rep. Rob Andrews, a Democrat who ran for governor himself in 1997. "He now has to figure out what he wants to do."
Corzine’s concessions speech was short, most of it an impersonal plea to keep up the work on progressive causes. On the stage and in the audience, there seemed to be no tears. And within five minutes, the ballroom at the East Brunswick Hilton was about empty. It was over.
"Christie is a good friend," said Essex County Executive Joe DiVincenzo. "I’ll be calling him tonight."
