Peter Wooley

Frank Lautenberg is positioned to become the first five-term U.S. Senator in New Jersey history

Democrat Frank Lautenberg has a 52%-32% lead in his bid for a fifth term in the U.S. Senate, and 72% of voters haven't heard of his Republican opponent, former U.S. Rep. Dick Zimmer, according to a poll released this morning by Fairleigh Dickinson University.

“Senator Lautenberg has not had to run hard this year,” said Peter Woolley, a political scientist and director of the poll. “He’s caught in the updraft of enthusiasm for the Democratic presidential candidate and frustration with the Bush administration.”

Gov. Jon Corzine, struggling to win the approval of N.J. voters, announced his economic stimulus plan today
Political pundits tend to agree that the surge in Democrats on the voter rolls will help New Jersey Democrats this election cycle, from those running for federal office down to freeholder.

But as Gov. Corzine pitches his economic proposals for dealing with the financial crisis today -- which many see as the second early salvo of his reelection campaign – the pundits are less clear on whether the state’s bolstered Democratic majority will provide a big boost to him next year.

Right now, the new registration numbers look good for Democrats.  Statewide, as of the latest report from the Division of Elections dated October 13th there just under 600,000 more Democrats than there were in November, 2007.  Republicans had a much more modest gain, with 176,000 new party members.

Many of those new registrants are merely voters who leaned Democratic anyway but never bothered to vote in a primary before this year.  The number of unaffiliated voters, for instance, dropped by 322,000.

But there have also been 449,000 new registrants since November, and all indications are that the newly enfranchised are trending blue.

The revelation that U.S. Attorney Christopher Christie is investigating former CWA Local 1034 President Carla Katz, reported by the Star-Ledger yesterday, has unavoidable political ramifications.

Christie is, in effect, investigating the ex-girlfriend of the man he will likely face off against if he chooses to challenge Gov. Jon Corzine next year.

You won't hear them go on the record about it, but the idea has some Democratic insiders grumbling.

"It sure as hell doesn't look right, I can say much," said one prominent Democratic official.

A new Quinnipiac poll shows Gov. Jon Corzine with upside-down approval numbers: Getty Images Photo
Democratic State Chairman Joseph Cryan said that the Governor’s 38% approval rating in the Quinnipiac poll released today was “not unexpected.”

Corzine is undertaking some tough but necessary reforms in the state budget, Cryan said.

“The Governor has been dealing with the economic problems in the state. He’s not doling money out. We think that people ultimately are going to respect what we’re doing and it will put us in a positive position next year,” he said.

Nor was Cryan surprised by that the email controversy between Gov. Corzine and union leader Carla Katz, an ex-girlfriend, hasn’t stoked the public fury – despite GOP Chairman Tom Wilson’s push to make the emails public.

Voters have no idea who the Republican U.S. Senate candidates are, according to a Fairleigh Dickinson University poll released this morning. 84% of voters have never heard of State Senator Joseph Pennacchio, 87% don’t recognize Anne Evans Estabrook, and 89% have no idea who Murray Sabrin is. Among Republicans, the number is similarly dismal: 82% haven’t heard of Pennacchio, 83% don’t know who Sabrin is, and 87% are unfamiliar with Estabrook.

“No brand name has entered the race for the Republicans,” said Peter Woolley, a political scientist and director of the poll. “In part, that is a reflection of poor prospects for the Republican Party nationally which is bogged down with an unpopular President, an unpopular war, and a softening economy.”

The four-term incumbent, Democrat Frank Lautenberg, is known by 85% of New Jersey voters; he has a 42%-23% favorability rating.

“He’s a brand name and they like him.” Woolley said.

New Jerseyan Joe Colletti, the field director for Tom Kean, Jr. Senate race, is now working for John McCain in NewHampshire
Hillsborough Co., NH - Joe Colletti first shook the hand of Arizona Sen. John McCain in the Short Hills Hilton back in 2006, not knowing then that he would soon work for the old war hero nursing longtime presidential aspirations with a last chance at the prize.

Colletti was toiling for state Sen. Tom Kean, Jr., at the time and McCain had landed in Jersey to support Kean's challenge of Sen. Robert Menendez.

"Youth," McCain said when asked why he thought Kean would be a good addition to the U.S. Senate, and a little later, on his way into the banquet hall where he would mount a stage in front of a mostly Somerset and Morris County crowd, he met the then 24-year old Colletti.

One of the first of a core of Kean staffers Colletti had joined the campaign early - 15 months before Election Day. As the contest intensified, the U.S. Senate candidate dispatched Colletti to serve as field director for the campaign's central Jersey headquarters. That meant Colletti, who grew up in Linden and Warren, would be in charge of building political operations in Middlesex, Mercer, and Monmouth counties.