He's popular in Randolph

Republican gubernatorial candidate Chris Christie sought a home county boost Saturday morning, beginning his day of campaigning at the Randolph Diner.

He was not disappointed. Even if you exclude the dozen or so Republican officials on hand, the breakfast crowd was supportive,

James McClure of Randolph said among the candidates, Christie was the only real choice.

Mark Rubinetti of Roxbury said he’s followed Christie’s career since his days as a Morris County freeholder and that, “I’ve been waiting for this.”

All this must be heady stuff for the guy from nearby Mendham Township. Christie walked from table to table and was asked more than once to pose for photographs.

Christie said he has felt better this past week than at any time on the campaign trail. Christie, accompanied by his wife, brother, father and others, is spending the last days of the campaign travelling the state by bus. On Sunday, he’s scheduled to attend a rally on the
Morristown Green that begins at noon.

“Every day, his money means less,” Christie said, referring to Gov. Corzine. (You’ve got to love the irony, the poor Republican and the rich Democrat).
Could be, but how about Chris Daggett, a wild card in the race? As Christie made the rounds, Daggett popped up on the diner’s TV set.

With polls showing Christie and Corzine tied, the key is going to be just how many votes will Daggett get and which candidate will he hurt the most.

Washington, Hamilton, Lafayette …

and Ed France.

Yep, give Ed credit for one of the more creative campaign pieces you will ever see. France, who is running for the town council in Morristown is pictured standing next to statues of Washington, Hamilton and Lafayette on the Green under the headline “Men on a mission.”

A smaller turnout for tea

Yep, it could have been the rainy weather, but whatever the reason, today’s crowd for the fourth Tea Party of the year on the Morristown Green was probably the smallest of the four. About 500 showed up to hear the usual speeches by people who denounced everything about the federal government they do not like as “Marxist.”

An amusing thing is that I saw a sign in the crowd that said, “Hands Off Social Security” and another one that said “Hands off Medicare.” I guess those government programs are not “Marxist.”

This time around, there was a protest group of Drew University Students, who held signs proclaiming among other things that health care is a right.

“We wanted to come here with a positive message,” said one of them, Matt Carroll.

Police were on hand to make sure there was no trouble.

Rudy G. and Christie

Chris Christie is in the midst of a bus trip around the state. He was in southern New Jersey yesterday and today.

On Friday, Rudy Giuliani will join the Christie bus trip for stops in four counties …Passaic, Bergen and Hudson counties. Christie better hope that Rudy doesn’t have any leftover “karma” from his presidential campaign.

Of local interest Christie’s bus comes to the Hackettstown American Legion at 9:45 am tomorrow and to the Randolph Diner the same time on Saturday.

Joe "You Lie" Wilson coming to Morristown

So says, the Jeff Weingarten of the Morristown Tea Party organization …

Now this gets confusing, but bear with us. Weingarten says he is part of the original Tea Party group, not the organization putting on Saturday’s gathering on the Green.

Weingarten says Wilson, the South Carolina congressman. who yelled “You Lie” at President Obama during his health care address earlier this year, will be at Washington’s Headquarters for a rally at 11:30 am.

Another new poll…

And this one is better news for Chris Christie.

Public Policy Planning of Raleigh, N.C. reports that Christie is ahead of Gov. Corzine 42 to 38. The group’s last poll had Christie winning by a point.

Christie on "Fox and Friends''

Republican Chris Christie was on Fox News this morning and was asked if the gubernatorial election was a mandate on President Obama.

Christie said no, and I think he’s right. He noted that New Jersey has enough problems to occupy voters.

Another issue raised was a Corzine TV ad that poked fun at Christie’s weight … Christie shrugged it off, but he also talked about the incident that sparked that ad: an accident Christie had while driving up a one-way street in Elizabeth with a motorcycle.

Christie, in contrast to earlier reports of the incident, said he wasn’t driving the wrong way on the street and that the “governor knows it.”

Actually, I don’t think he does.

The Tea Party is back

Another Morristown “Tea Party” is set for Saturday on the Green. This will be the fourth this year with the last coming on Labor Day. Recall that Bob Grant of talk radio fame was supposed to be the guest speaker, but that he never appeared. Maybe, Grant will show up this time.

Supporters say they are bipartisan. That may be in terms of a political party, but most attendees reside on the political right. Nothing wrong with that, but they should stop the bipartisan nonsense and say their goal is to oppose President Obama.

Saturday is only a few days before the gubernatorial election, but I’d be surprised if any of the gubernatorial candidates show up.

More on the Suffolk poll

This is the one that showed Jon Corzine leading Chris Christie by nine points …
Patrick Murray, who directs the polling institute at Monmouth University, says there are two problem with that poll, one major and one minor. Here they are:

Major: Their likely voter screen let in 93 percent of registered voters. Yes, their likely voter model is based on a 93 percent turnout! And as we have seen in our polling all year, a lot of Dem-leaning, would-be Corzine voters intend to sit this one out.

Minor: they weighted their party ID question to the party registration split.

Corzine surging??

I do not know if I believe this, but a poll out today by Suffolk University in Boston has Corzine with a nine point lead 42-33, over Christie. That spread seems too large for me.

But it does underscore the fact that Christie has to come up with something significant in the last week.