Time to pick a VP

by: Jeff Gardner

Wed May 07, 2008 at 01:10:02 PM EDT

Barack Obama should choose Hillary Clinton as his Vice Presidential nominee.

Now, I realize Clinton is still vying for the nomination, and I have no problem with that - our primary has turned what has been an every-four-year snoozefest into a vibrant democratic 50-state-strategy come to life. That alone so far outweighs any imagined advantage to the republicans that in the aggregate, I don't buy the nonsense that it is helping John McCain a bit. So, I say, have at it.

But, if she can look ahead to the next primary, we can certainly look ahead too. And looking ahead at this point means thinking about our Democratic ticket. And, nothing would secure a win in November like keeping the dream team together.

My reasons are a click away...

Bittersweet

by: carolh

Wed Jan 30, 2008 at 02:18:14 PM EST

It was clear that the reason he did not endorse anyone was the simple fact that that he wanted the issues he cared about to take center stage for the rest of the race no matter who won the primary.

We all had become so cynical - our pundits thinking small as well - analyzing the most incredibly important Presidential race of our lives in numbing sports metaphors and fight talk.  Spoiler, kingmaker, etc.

Edwards was always the grownup in the room, but as a "son of the South" raised during segregation, he also was wise enough to see his place in history.  He wanted to take this one important moment to shine the media attention that he never really got during the campaign finally onto the issues that mattered.  The only ones that have ever really mattered.  It took leaving the race to get those issues the attention they could never garner from the media during the campaign, but he really did us proud today.  

I am sad, but encouraged that the issues I care about will hopefully take center stage in our political discourse - and maybe, just maybe, change our world from one where everyone only cares what is legal, or who is on top, to a place where we truly consider - and ACT on, what is ethical, moral, and just.  

A Solution to Primary Madness

by: rmfretz

Wed Jan 02, 2008 at 11:04:45 AM EST

Back in August I wrote this post about fixing the primary system.  After reading the round up I thought there might be some interest in talking about it.

Here's my solution for 2012 and beyond. However, part of it starts now.

- Iowa and New Hampshire go in mid-January.

- The remaining states are split into four groups of 12, with a geographic distribution so that each region of the nation has 3 representative states in each group.

- Then, the second Tuesday of February, March, April and May one group has a primary.

- This primary rotates every four years, so that the group that goes last one year goes first the next.

(ex. Year 1: 1234 Year 2: 4123 Year 3: 3412 Year 4: 2341)

- The initial order would be determined by overall eligible voter turnout percentage in the GENERAL election of 2008 for the group. The group of states with the top turnout goes first in 2012, with the group coming in second going 4th so they get to go first in 2016.

- Finally, in 2024, after everybody has had the chance to go first, the order is redrawn based on the voter turnout percentage over the last four elections (2012-24), and the process begins again.

It really isn't that hard, and I would think the parties and states could come to some kind of agreement before their conventions in August 2008.

Don't Vote Absentee on February 5

by: huntsu

Sat Dec 22, 2007 at 08:19:59 AM EST

Normally I am all for this.  The paper trail is a big part of it, as is the potential for bringing in more voters.  

But the February 5th Presidential Primary is different, with the relative strength of various candidates determined in contests that are over an public before ours even starts.  By the time they get to us, the outsided Iowa and New Hampshire primaries will be over.  Michigan and Florida, with huge delegate counts that may or may not matter in the convention predate ours.  Nevada and South Carolina are considered really important as representatives of the newly important Southwest and the always important South.

With all those contests done by February 5, some candidates may drop out or be totally marginalized.  If you cast your vote for Richardson -- not a bad vote and just an example -- and he's dropped out after Florida and throws his support to Hillary your vote is wasted.

Or the race could be different, with someone new surging like Chris Dodd (again, example!) who you wanted to support but thought had no shot.  If you sent in your abssentee ballot for Edwards (also just an example) who got crushed in early primaries in this case but liked Dodd better, your vote is not what you really want.

Or if you don't really care who wins but want to see a longer race you might cast your vote for the #3 candidate to give them more support. 

Who knows?!  We won't  really until after Florida on January 29th where it is all shaking out, and less than a week later it's our primary along with a ton of others.

In short, I am suggesting that we all hold our fire until February 5 and we know what's going on and who's leading/fading/surging.  Casting an absentee ballot early could marginalize your vote, and doesn't really save all that much time.

Of course, if you do have to be out of town or can't get to the polling place use the absentee ballot.  But if it's just convenience or a paper trail you're looking for I suggest it's more important to cast a vote when you have all the facts.

What do you think? 

NOT democratic. Not even close.

by: Jeff Gardner

Wed Dec 19, 2007 at 10:36:29 AM EST

Last year, the Democratic National Committee put together a little something called "Delegate Selection Rules" for the 2008 Democratic National Convention, to ensure a fair and equitable process nationwide. Among the more obvious requirements is Rule 17-B:

Any individual or group of Democrats may sponsor or endorse a slate of candidates for convention delegates. But no slate may, by virtue of such endorsement, receive a preferential place on a delegate selection ballot or be publicly identified on the ballot as the official Democratic Party organization slate....

Obvious? Not in New Jersey.

Here in the Garden State, our Democratic State Committee's attorney has submitted a letter (right) to the AG's office requesting that ballots statewide not only place the county Chairs' choice first, but in those counties where no endorsement has been made, to hold a two-step process to determine ballot position:

1- a drawing between only Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama to see which of their delegates will receive the first position, and which will be second, and

2- a second drawing among all the rest to see whose delegates will be placed in the remaining positions, third and below.

Some county Chairs are even interpreting the DSC proposal to mean that the Clinton and Obama delegates will automatically be entitled to the first two ballot positions in every county.

Absurd? Yes. Legal? Almost certainly not. Fair? Absolutely not.

Putting aside the question of whether county Chairs should ever have the power to unilaterally decide ballot position (they shouldn't) or to have their official endorsement appear on the ballot (most states have outlawed this practice), the really undemocratic part of the DSC's proposed plan is the elevation of Clinton and Obama to preferred ballot status statewide.

That plan clearly violates both the letter and spirit of the DNC's delegate selection plan, and puts our state's delegation at risk of disqualification.

And that wouldn't be democratic at all.

Menendez to serve as Clinton Campaign national Co-Chair

by: Jay Lassiter

Tue Jun 12, 2007 at 11:16:11 AM EDT

Menendez:

Senator Hillary Clinton is uniquely prepared and unquestionably ready to lead this country and inspire each of us to be our best. Senator Clinton stands out for the richness of her experience, the depth of her intelligence and the strength of her ideals. She is clearly the right leader, ready to chart a new course for America.

I'm honored to have [Menendez's] support, and I look forward to continuing our work on expanding healthcare access and ensuring retirement security for all Americans.

Blue Jersey Blog Talk Radio. Today!

by: Jay Lassiter

Fri May 18, 2007 at 08:36:15 PM EDT

 Did you miss the show?  We dished about  the upcoming Presidental primary, Statehouse fashions, the Rutgers logo and more.  Listen to the podcastable version here.

Don't forget to log on (and tune in) to tomorrow's 10:30am show where we'll be taking your calls to discuss the Democratic Presidential primary

It's live radio with your calls! (646) 652-2773 

Join us at 10:30am (or download later to listen when you want.)  (646) 652-2773 

Quote of the Day

by: JRB

Wed Apr 11, 2007 at 04:56:28 PM EDT

Then there's the awkward fact that each party has a frontrunning New Yorker among its candidates and that both have already gathered endorsements from the bulk of their parties' New Jersey establishments. So, who's going to come here to campaign against Hillary Clinton or Rudy Giuliani?

Legislature Moves Primary Up

by: Juan Melli

Thu Mar 15, 2007 at 06:48:34 PM EDT

Speaker Joe Roberts in a press release:

"For years, New Jersey's primary date guaranteed that our residents were left on the sidelines when it came time for selecting presidential candidates," said Roberts (D-Camden).  "It's past time New Jersey voters moved from back of the class to front of the class in determining who should lead this nation."

The legislation (S-2193/A-4010), which passed the Senate and has the support of the governor, would ensure that New Jersey voters become a part of what is being called the biggest change in presidential primary politics in decades.

The National Association of Secretaries of State lists 22 other states that have changed, or are considering changing, the date of their presidential primaries to the first Tuesday after the first Monday in February, or February 5 in 2008.  They are:  Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Kansas, Michigan, Missouri, Montana, Nevada (GOP primary), New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Rhode Island, Tennessee, Texas, and Utah.

"There is a real cost in relevance with the late primaries, a cost paid through policy decisions in Washington that have been especially wrong in recent years. We want a stronger voice and we want the presidential candidates to listen. If we want to increase our relevance then we want to be out in front.

"We've led the way on national political trends, we should also be in the forefront on the primary calendar. This is good for New Jersey and good for the country."

FDU Presidential Primary Poll

by: Juan Melli

Thu Mar 08, 2007 at 01:49:55 PM EST

Fairleigh Dickinson University's latest presidential primary poll among New Jersey voters is out today. The winners are Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama and Rudy Giuliani. The losers this month are John Edwards and John McCain who each lost 3 points from their January numbers.

Also, Bill Richardson's support grew by an astronomical 200%.

	March	January
Hillary Clinton	46%	(41%)
Barack Obama	18%	(15%)
John Edwards	10%	(13%)
Joe Biden	5%	(4%)
Bill Richardson	3%	(1%)
	March	January
Rudy Giuliani	59%	(48%)
John McCain	20%	(23%)
Mitt Romney	6%	(2%)

Moving On Up

by: Juan Melli

Fri Feb 23, 2007 at 12:51:03 PM EST

The bill is sponsored by Speaker Joe Roberts and is the complement of the Senate version sponsored by President Dick Codey and Senator Ellen Karcher. It passed in the Senate in December by a vote of 33-5 and the Assembly version is expected to pass easily.

In 2004, New Jersey and Montana were the last two states to hold a presidential primary in June. Candidates used New Jersey as a giant ATM, but did little to court our votes. In 2004, the Princeton zip code alone was responsible for over $300,000 in contributions to John Kerry - ranking it #33 out of over 47,000 zip codes in the country.

Thanks to the front-loading taking place this year, even the currently improved February 26th primary date would probably be meaningless since it's likely the nominee will have been decided already. As of now, Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Delaware, Missouri, New Mexico, North Carolina and Utah will have their primaries on February 5th. Several other states are considering moving up, too.

Photos from the Winter DNC Meeting

by: Hopeful

Fri Feb 02, 2007 at 04:03:07 AM EST

DNC Winter Meeting: New Rules on Scheduling Primaries

by: Hopeful

Thu Feb 01, 2007 at 10:08:16 PM EST

The rules for 2008 seek to give incentives for states to schedule their primaries later in the season.  The key is that these are incentives only, so that if New Jersey moves up to February 5 we will not lose any delegates.  Since our original date was in June, we would receive a 10% bonus for remaining there.  (This is a reward for "good behavior.")  By the way, if we moved back to June from an earlier date, we would have gotten a 30% bonus.  (Somehow the Prodigal Son comes to mind.)

The co-chair started by joking that this could be a very brief meeting, or a very long one.  Indeed, I noticed quite a few people with Iowa and New Hampshire on their badges in the audience, but their states were never mentioned.  As it turned out this discussion was brief and not contentious at all.  Matters were a bit different on a resolution related to young delegates, which I'll describe later. 

I should also note that the written proposal considered a long-term solution for 2012 and beyond, although it was not clear to me whether that was approved in this meeting, since nothing was said about it.  I imagine it could be changed anyway.  That system gives slightly larger bonuses for moving back with respect to 2004, and penalties for moving forward from 2008.  This suggests that the best move for New Jersey is go to February 5 in 2008, since we would not face any future penalties.  If we schedule a late February primary in 2008, then we'd face penalties if we moved up more in 2012,. 

New Jersey Loves New Yorkers

by: Juan Melli

Thu Jan 11, 2007 at 09:31:12 AM EST

Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama have 72% and 70% approval ratings, though Obama's name recognition is only 74% at the moment.

New Jersey's primary will likely be moved up to February 5th and be one of the first states to weigh in on the issue.

Who do you support in the primary right now? Take the poll below.