NJ governor backs Dean

[Cascadian]

The number of Dean endorsements keep growing and growing!


http://www.nj.com/statehouse/ledger/index.ssf?/base/news-1/107155895812510.xml


John

[SahaleArm]

1. You mean New Joisey? n/t

[Cascadian]

12. IEAMERICA ANNOUNCED IT AS MISSOURI!!!!

THAT IS WHAT I GOT!!!


JOHN

[SahaleArm]

17. You only had to respond once :) n/t

[mandyky]

2. You mean NJ Gov. ?

I was about to say Gephardt must be having a fit with his home state Gov. endorsing Dean, but I think the MO Gov. might be a GOPer.

[mandyky]

8. Actually Gov. Holden, MO Gov.

is a Dem, maybe Dean can pick him up too :)

[Cascadian]

9. READ POST 6 !!!!!!!!

EOM


JOhn

[mandyky]

14. I saw it I was just correcting myself

I had to check if MO had a Dem or GOP gov.

[slinkerwink]

3. I hate to say this, but that's New Jersey

[Kool Kitty]

10. And what's the problem with

New Jersey?

[pruner]

4. Missouri's Governor is backing Gephardt

n/t

[Cascadian]

6. IE AMERICA NEWS SAID MISSOURI

DAMMIT! PROBLEM FIXED OKAY??????? CALL IEAMERICA AND TELL THEM ABOUT THEIR BLUNDER WHICH LED TO MY BLUNDER OKAY?????


:grr:

[NavajoRug]

5. Don't put too much stock in an endorsement from New Jersey

New Jersey has one of the latest primaries next year (June, I think), and this is simply their way of pretending that they have anything whatsoever to do with the nomination process.

I can't remember the last time the New Jersey primary had any impact on a candidate's chances to win a nomination.

[pruner]

7. it's significant because…

McGreevey will be the first Governor to endorse Dean.

[NavajoRug]

11. Big deal . . .

Like I said, this doesn't mean very much, since I don't think most voters in Iowa or New Hampshire are going to care very much about who the governor of New Jersey endorses.

It would have been more significant if McGreevey had endorsed someone who was running behind the pack. Right now, it just looks like he picked the most likely winner and then endorsed him because he wanted to be seen as the first guy on the bandwagon.

My understanding of McGreevey is that he and Dean have a lot of differences politically, so this can't be motivated by anything related to ideology.

[pruner]

13. …

But one McGreevey adviser who requested anonymity said, "The endorsement is not built around foreign affairs. It's built around who we think can lead the party to victory, quite frankly."

…

One Democrat close to the Dean campaign, who also requested anonymity, said, "McGreevey brings a lot to the table. It will help us raise money and give us more credibility because a lot of people will take the governor's lead. It sends the signal -- we're not just some crazy candidate -- this is another chief executive backing Dean."

…

"The fact that Dean is the only governor in the race was appealing. He has run a state and dealt with budgets and education and transportation issues," said one McGreevey adviser.

The adviser said, "Dean has excited a large segment of the Democratic base in New Jersey unlike anyone else," noting that Dean's support extends to organized labor, African-Americans, Hispanics and women.

[NavajoRug]

16. Like I said, big deal . . .

"The fact that Dean is the only governor in the race was appealing. He has run a state and dealt with budgets and education and transportation issues," said one McGreevey adviser.</i>

. . .

The fact that Dean is the only governor in the race isn't just appealing, it's the #1 reason why he is the front-runner.

Members of Congress (either house) generally make terrible candidates for President.

[Cha]

31. Just because you don't think ....

it's a "big deal"...doesn't mean that it isn't! We take every endorsement we have to heart and it is a VERY BIG DEAL!

Thank you Govenor McGreevey!
:kick:

[Kool Kitty]

18. pruner, being from New Jersey,

which I think is a perfectly respectable state, I think you should be honored to have our Governor endorse your candidate. And if you don't think that New Jersey is a respectable state, then I will probably have to kick your ass or something similarly NJ-ish. ;-)

[pruner]

32. I like New Jersey…

in fact, one of my favorite Chinese restaurants is in NJ (Englewood to be exact).

:)

[Nazgul35]

24. ummmm....

I seem to remember a horse race between a certain Governor from Arkansas and Mr. Tsongas back in 1991....

Go Jersey!!!!

Most people who make fun of the state havent ever spent any real time there....and I can find plenty of shitholes in every state in the union.....

try a ride through Florida panhandle sometime....stop for gas....talk to the locals....

I've often said that no one would live in florida if it had the weather of Michigan....

Trow in some palm trees and people get stupid from the heat...

[NavajoRug]

25. P.S. . . .

I've lived in New Jersey all my life!

:-)

[Nazgul35]

28. ohhh....the second part

was for what I was reading in other posts....

sorry....

you should get out more though....

:evilgrin:

[NavajoRug]

30. Ha-ha-ha

:-)

[mandyky]

15. Gov. Neopolitano of Az is also leaning towards endorsing Dean,

too - according to Inside Politics (CNN) earlier this afternoon.

[_Jumper_]

19. McGreevey is a DLC Democrat

Why would a "Republican-lite" governor endorse someone from the "democratic wing of the Democratic party"? Hmmm....

[NavajoRug]

20. He's not exactly a "Republican-Lite" governor . . .

In fact, he's really not much at all. He is about as aimless as any political figure I've ever seen -- he doesn't do a damned thing without first determining how popular or unpopular it will be.

I think it goes with the territory in New Jersey politics -- ever since the Florio situation back in 1989-91.

[_Jumper_]

21. He is a DLC'er...

...which those that are members of the "democratic wing of the Democratic Party" consider "Republican-lite."

You're right about McGreevey. His approval ratings are at Gray Davis levels so he likely endorsed the Democratic front-runner to shore up support.

[NavajoRug]

23. He's a DLC'er because he thinks that will get him places . . .

. . . on the national scene.

The reality is that he's really nothing more than a puppet of the big Wilentz family money (one of the biggest law firms in New Jersey) that pulls his strings.

[TreasonousBastard]

26. Yeah...

even discounting the problems he has no control over, he's pretty much useless. He's been having fun with payback for a couple of old grudges with the county machines, but little else. Seems he can't get out of the Middlesex mentality and is just juggling bosses.

Joisey politicians usually stay in the background in national primaries until they see a bandwagon they can jump on. Methinks this is for McGreevey's benefit, not Dean's. But, aren't all endorsements more for the benefit of the endorser?

I doubt he'll get re-elected unless something breaks, and I just worry about who the Republicans are going to put up against him. Joisey Repubs are getting hysterically right-wing lately, and people like Tom Keane, or even Whitman, are getting tougher to find. Rev. Sauries is one of their rising stars, and that would be very interesting, and perhaps very scary.

Another McGreevey-Schundler race is one of my personal nightmares.

[NavajoRug]

27. Good post . . .

Another McGreevey-Schundler race SHOULD be one of our nightmares, because Schundler appears to be laying the groundwork for a 2005 campaign exactly the way McGreevey prepared for his 2001 campaign. Basically, McGreevey never stopped campaigning after he lost in 1997 -- he just kept getting his name and face in the news at every opportunity just to remind people that HE was the OPPOSITION when it came to New Jersey politics.

It was an effective strategy, but in the end it showed how useless McGreevey really has been as governor. He hasn't done a damned thing, but he can campaign 24 hours a day when it comes to a ribbon-cutting ceremony, opening the PATH station at Ground Zero, making idiotic public announcements that nobody would ever find fault with ("Let's get everyone home safely during this blackout,"), etc.

[_Jumper_]

29. What about Tom Kean Jr.?

Is he a moderate like his father? Is he being groomed to eventually run for governor?

[TreasonousBastard]

33. Someone else has to...

take that one. I don't know enough about him.

If he's half of what his old man is, though, I'd probably vote for him over McG. Running the state is more important than cheap party loyalty.

I'd rather have the state run by moderate Republicans than Ray Lesniak and Sharpe James.

[Tom Rinaldo]

22. It helps Dean

Getting the backing of a governor always helps. It's a good catch for him.