New Jersey: On To November

Well, the suspense is long since over.  Rebecca Michelle "Mikie" Sherrill won the New Jersey Democratic gubernatorial nomination after breaking through among Democratic voters in the final days of the primary campaign.  And, as expected, Giachino "Jack" Ciattarelli won the Republican gubernatorial election going away.

One thing is for certain: New Jersey's 57th governor will be known primarily by a nickname.

But who will it be?  Many people assume that Sherrill should have an easy time in the general election campaign because of Trump and Ciattarelli's association with him.  But Jack's got a shot.  As I noted before, he's a lifelong New Jersey resident and an Italian-American, while Sherrill is neither.  Also, many people are tired of Democratic machine politics and the high cost of living, which would give any Republican gubernatorial candidate an advantage.  Sherrill can present herself as a Trenton outsider who can bring some fresh thinking to state government, which was the angle of the campaign of former Democratic gubernatorial candidate Josh Gottheimer - like Sherrill, a U.S. House member - but the irony is that she's a Virginia native who has likely never eaten a calzone in her life, which means she's enough of a cultural outsider to turn off many a New Jersey voter.

Trump, of course, remains an albatross around Ciattarelli's neck, and Sherrill, one of those middle-aged Democratic women in the U.S. House known as the Bad-Asses, has the chops to make sure it stays there.  But first she has to make sure her Democratic base is united.  Newark Mayor Ras Baraka and Jersey City Mayor Steven Fulop came in second and third, respectively, and they as progressives got more votes combined than Sherrill did as a moderate.  However, if Gottheimer and former state senator Steve Sweeney, both moderates, hadn't been in the primary campaign, Sherrill would likely have won those votes and outpolled both progressives.

To be fair, being a Jersey boy in the truest sense of the term might not be enough for Ciattarelli to pull out a win.  Part of the reason he's the Republican nominee for governor of New Jersey yet again is because of how close he came to defeating Governor Phil Murphy.  Mikie Sherrill is a politician of a less genial and more vicious nature than Murphy is.  She knows how Ciattarelli is weak on many issues by having stands on them that are unpopular with New Jersey voters.  All of this means one thing - this election can go either way.

Election Endorsements 2017

Election Day is less than a week away, and I am glad to see it come . . . and go. The gubernatorial race in my home state of New Jersey is heating up, and I can't bear the heat - all of those insults between Phil Murphy and Kim Guadagno are annoying me.  Many voters are hoping that New Jersey will be a more decent place after Chris Christie leaves office in January, and in fact it will already be a more decent place this time next week, because the election campaign will be over. 

So there are four major elections this year - the aforementioned New Jersey gubernatorial election, the Virginia  gubernatorial election, the New York City mayoral election, and the special U.S. Senate election in Alabama on December 12.  I will not be making an endorsement in the New York City mayoral election; I don't really know enough about the issues in the city to weigh in on it, especially given the October-surprise corruption charges against Mayor Bill de Blasio, and besides, how many sophisticated, serious, worldly New Yorkers are going to take seriously the unformed opinions of a suburban Essex County bridge-and-tunnel rube like me? So here are my endorsements for the other races:

For governor of New Jersey:  This blog enthusiastically endorses Democrat Phil Murphy.  A lot of folks are annoyed at the idea of a rich man swooping into the Democratic Party and cornering the nomination, but I suspect that these same people would have rejected Franklin Roosevelt for President in 1932 because he was an aristocrat.  Murphy grew up poor and had to put his way through college, so he knows what it's like to struggle. So, unfortunately, do a lot of New Jerseyans, thanks to Chris Christie and his lieutenant governor, Republican gubernatorial nominee Kim Guadagno.  Murphy, like Trump is a rich guy who says that insider politicians can't fix the messes they've created.  But unlike Trump, who once said, "I alone can fix this," Murphy says that while insider politicians can't fix things, "together, we can."  "Together." "We."  That's all you need to know about how Murphy would be different from Trump or Christie.

For governor of Virginia:  This blog endorses Democrat Ralph Northam.  He has made it clear that he will be a fair governor who will work for everyone, while Republican opponent Ed Gillespie, a former Republican National Committee chairman, has demonstrated with equal clarity that he will only work for those who vote for him.  Just like Trump.  Also, Gillespie is kind of creepy.  I hope his pledge to preserve Confederate monuments in Virginia has the adverse effect of increasing black voter turnout.

For U.S. Senate, Alabama: This blog endorses Democrat G. Douglas Jones. Jones supports quality affordable health care as a right, a first-class education for all children, protecting the right to vote, and working to slow or hopefully reverse the impact of climate change.  Meanwhile, Roy Moore, his reactionary Republican opponent, is . . . f--king nuts!  F--king nuts!  

Those are my endorsements for 2017.  No go out and vote on Tuesday, November 7 . . . or on Tuesday, December 12 if you're an Alabama resident.  And remember  - all general elections are on Tuesdays.  Don't miss 'em. 

Murphy's Law of Optics

Democrat Phil Murphy is comfortably ahead of Republican Kim Guadagno in the polls for the New Jersey gubernatorial campaign, and right now it's a better-than-even bet that he'll win.  But he's chancing it a bit. 

This past weekend Murphy, running as a populist, appeared with noted non-populist Hillary Clinton at an expensive fundraiser in the town of Harrison, just outside Newark.  Being seen with a Democratic presidential nominee who didn't win the White House but still won New Jersey handily may seem to make sense, but no one saw Phil and Hill together, as the fundraiser was closed to the press.  While that was going on, Guadagno was going to fall festivals to talk to voters - i.e., the people, whom the Republicans haven't represented very well in the past few decades.  But who do you think had the better optics?

Note to Murphy:  Don't coast!  Close the sale!  And get a good photographic opportunity while you're closing it!