Nate Silver of FiveThirtyEight.com has just introduced his new "Partisan Propensity Index" (PPI). If you've been following elections closely, you're probably already familiar with the Partisan Voting Index (PVI) from Cook, and similar statistics from Swing State Project. Cook's idea is to look at how each Congressional District voted for President compared to the nationwide average. So, for example, the NJ5 district (Garrett's) is rated R+7, meaning it voted 7 points more Republican than nationwide, while NJ13 (Sire's) is rated D+21. You can see why Democrats had such a hard time even with a good candidate against Garrett, and why Republicans didn't seriously contest NJ13 when Menendez left it. Unlike Congressional races, where often one candidate is hardly covered in the news and has hardly any campaign budget, the two party's Presidential candidates are well known. The PVI index is widely used to identify competitive districts.
Here's Silver's idea:
Are there any systematic differences in the ways that votes tend to fall for the Congress, as opposed to the Presidency? Are certain districts better or worse for Democrats, or Republicans, than PVI alone would suggest?
It turns out that there's one other factor which is fairly useful to look at, which is socioeconomic status. Relative to how they do for the Presidency, Democrats are somewhat more likely to win races for Congress in poorer districts, and somewhat more likely to lose them in wealthier ones. Another way to put this is that a split ticket of Republican for President, Democrat for Congress is more likely to occur in a poor district, whereas a split ticket of Democrat for President, Republican for Congress is more likely to occur in a wealthy one.
Click through for the statistical analysis he uses. Silver expresses his PPI index as the chance for Democrats to win an open seat in an average election cycle, based solely on two factors: the recent Presidential Vote and the percentage of the population with incomes under $25,000/yr. Here are the results for New Jersey:
District
Name
PVI
PPI
NJ11
Frelinhguysen
R+7
2.5%
NJ5
Garrett
R+7
3.2%
NJ4
Smith
R+6
10.9%
NJ7
Lance
R+3
13.9%
NJ3
Adler
R+1
27.9%
NJ12
Holt
D+5
62.9%
NJ2
LoBiondo
D+1
66.0%
NJ6
Pallone
D+8
85.2%
NJ9
Rothman
D+9
88.8%
NJ8
Pascrell
D+10
96.6%
NJ1
Andrews
D+12
97.0%
NJ13
Sires
D+21
99.95%
NJ10
Payne
D+33
99.998%
The main lesson, if you take this ratings seriously, is that New Jersey's wealth makes the battleground Congressional districts lean Republican compared to how they vote at the Presidential level. In many states, the R+3 and even the R+7 districts have a great chance of going Democratic at the Congressional level, but here NJ5 and NJ7 are actually quite unfavorable, and should vote for the House like R+14 districts in the rest of the country. When we evaluate how our candidates did, it's worth keeping this effect in mind.
Frank LoBiondo's district is the poorest in New Jersey, and by this measure is slightly better for Democrats than Holt's district, but we are stuck with the echo of 1994. In case it's not obvious, being an incumbent matters, scandals matter, and cycles can be more or less Republican than the average cycle, and you should always remember that the most likely outcome doesn't always happen. All of our 2010 races have incumbents so the percentages definitely do not apply. Also, this is the last election in the current districts.
Late yesterday, Hopeful posted a diary asking that you contact Rep. Adler's office with respect to the House "robust public option/Medicare+5" bill that Speaker Pelosi was hoping to bring for a vote.
We also found out that Reps. Steve Rothman (NJ-9) and Albio Sires (NJ-13) may also be on the fence, so we are asking that if at all possible, can you call all three of their offices and urge them to support the Speaker and 70% of Americans for REAL healthcare reform.
Here are their numbers, both in DC and here in NJ:
John Adler:
DC-202-225-4765
NJ-856-985-2777
NJ-732-608-7235
Steve Rothman:
DC-202-225-5061
NJ-201-646-0808
*************
I'm told we may have until around 2PM today, so anything you can do this morning is extremely helpful. And as Rosi said last night:
If you live in their congressional district be sure to tell the staffer.
If you don't live there, but work there, or spend vacation time or money there, tell them that. And of course, be brief and polite to the staffer who takes your call.
If you know somebody in the district, please shoot them an email with the phone number - you can make a difference this morning.
Also, if you could tweet this and post to your Facebook status, that would be great too. After all, elections have consequences, right?
NEW BRUNSWICK, NJ? Launching a bold grassroots electoral campaign of a magnitude not seen in decades, a diverse coalition of 50 New Brunswick residents hailing from all corners of the city filed petitions yesterday afternoon (Monday 4/6) to run for seats on the Middlesex County Democratic Committee in the upcoming June 2 election.
The candidates, running under the common slogan ?Democrats for Change," represent the full range of city neighborhoods in all five New Brunswick wards and include such notable residents as Thomas Peoples, leader of the Fourth Ward Crime Watch and Angela Salazar, 2002 New Brunswick High School valedictorian.
?Democrats for Change? candidates want each neighborhood to have representatives that will put the real-life concerns of their neighbors first on the city?s agenda.
Noting that current city leaders have grown aloof to the needs of residents and are unknown to most of the city, Thomas Peoples, candidate for committeeman in Ward 4, District 5 said: "There is no communication with the Councilpeople. They never come to the neighborhoods. The only way we can have change is if real people step up to represent that actually LIVE in all neighborhoods.?
Adam Gold, a Rutgers graduate and candidate for committeeman in Ward 6, District 6 added: ?I just want people to be able to answer a simple question: Who is representing you??
?Democrats for Change? slate plan to address citywide issues that impact all residents such as the lack of representation for many constituencies in the city (by supporting ward-based elections) and the need to improve the city?s schools and to make them more accountable (with an elected school board). Additionally, candidates plan to tackle specific issues impacting their neighborhoods such as improving street cleaning, alleviating parking and transportation problems, offering greater access to affordable and safe housing, expanding and improving city parks, and providing activities and programs for local youth.
The Star Ledger is reporting that Pelosi appointed Pascrell to the Ways & Means committee.
And Albio Sires went for financial services. Big surprise.
And here's what the chair of Intell, Sylvestre Reyes, border agent from Texas knows about Al-Qaeda, from CQ. Why couldn't it have been Rush Holt???
Reyes stumbled when I asked him a simple question about al Qaeda at the end of a 40-minute interview in his office last week. Members of the Intelligence Committee, mind you, are paid $165,200 a year to know more than basic facts about our foes in the Middle East.
We warmed up with a long discussion about intelligence issues and Iraq. And then we veered into terrorism's major players.
To me, it's like asking about Catholics and Protestants in Northern Ireland: Who's on what side?
The dialogue went like this:
Al Qaeda is what, I asked, Sunni or Shia?
"Al Qaeda, they have both," Reyes said. "You're talking about predominately?"
"Sure," I said, not knowing what else to say.
"Predominantly - probably Shiite," he ventured.
He couldn't have been more wrong.
Al Qaeda is profoundly Sunni. If a Shiite showed up at an al Qaeda club house, they'd slice off his head and use it for a soccer ball.
That's because the extremist Sunnis who make up a l Qaeda consider all Shiites to be heretics.
Al Qaeda's Sunni roots account for its very existence. Osama bin Laden and his followers believe the Saudi Royal family besmirched the true faith through their corruption and alliance with the United States, particularly allowing U.S. troops on Saudi soil.
It's been five years since these Muslim extremists flew hijacked airliners into the World Trade Center.
Is it too much to ask that our intelligence overseers know who they are?
Civil War
And Hezbollah? I asked him. What are they?
"Hezbollah. Uh, Hezbollah..."
He laughed again, shifting in his seat.
"Why do you ask me these questions at five o'clock? Can I answer in Spanish? Do you speak Spanish?"
"Poquito," I said-a little.
"Poquito?! " He laughed again.
"Go ahead," I said, talk to me about Sunnis and Shia in Spanish.
Reyes: "Well, I, uh...."
I apologized for putting him "on the spot a little." But I reminded him that the people who have killed thousands of Americans on U.S. soil and in the Middle East have been front page news for a long time now.
It's been 23 years since a Hezbollah suicide bomber killed over 200 U.S. military personnel in Beirut, mostly Marines.
Hezbollah, a creature of Iran, is close to taking over in Lebanon. Reports say they are helping train Iraqi Shiites to kill Sunnis in the spiralling civil war.
"Yeah," Reyes said, rightly observing, "but . . . it's not like the Hatfields and the McCoys. It's a heck of a lot more complex.
"And I agree with you - we ought to expend some effort into understanding them. But speaking only for myself, it's hard to keep things in perspective and in the categories."
What do these eleven House seats have in common, you might ask? All eleven were held by Democrats before the election, but all eleven are now held by different Democrats after the election. These were our eleven open seats, at least eight of which can be considered safe blue districts (OH-06 is a swing district, and IL-17 and OH-13 are both about the same as CT-04, the district held by Republican Chris Shays). For people who are interested in helping to build a Democratic majority that is responsive to the interests of the people-powered progressive movement, these are exactly the type of seats where you should be directing your resources. Beyond Republican-held seats, beyond primary challenges to safe Democratic incumbents, the open, safe Democratic seat is exactly the sort of district we need to pay more attention to in 2008. Unfortunately, in the 2006 cycle, this was a type of district the online component of the progressive movement, the netroots, virtually ignored...
ahf8 responded:
This was a total failure on our part. Albio Sires is a corrupt machine hack, and is a former Republican. He's not as liberal as Bob Menendez was for this seat, and Joe Vas, Mayor of Perth Amboy, who ran in the primary, was much more of a grassroots progressive. If the netroots had gotten involved in this race, we could have made a difference.
and teferi:
You've got to be kidding me (none / 0)
Vas may have been more liberal than Sires, but he made so many missteps and blunders during his primary campaign that I shudder to think of what he would have done in the House.
We'll get another chance in 2008 with a better candidate. In the meantime, things could be a lot worse than having Sires in that seat.
In the weeks preceding a relatively quiet primary election day, arguably the only Congressional race that excited anyone was the mudfest between Perth Amboy Mayor Joe Vas and West New York Assemblyman Albio Sires.
How about Vas's hometown paper, the Gannett-owned Home News Tribune? The good folks who bring us reasoned and enlightened commentary by Bob Ingle penned a generic "staff and wire report" (read: we were too cheap to send a reporter to Hudson County so we tried to do it by telephone) story that doesn't even include a comment from the local candidate.
PoliticsNJ.com once again failed to link to any of today's Jersey Journal coverage of the race (wow, there really is a paper in this state called Today's Sunbeam).
Maybe the site has an anti-Hudson bias. Despite my constant nagging dating back a few years, PoliticsNJ.com has consistently ignored my e-mails asking when it will start linking to Al Sullivan's fantastic 'Between the Lines' political column in the Hudson Reporter weekly newspaper. Sullivan has been covering Hudson politics since the late 1990s and has inherited the esteemed mantle as the county's best political writer since the 2003 passing of longtime Jersey Journal columnist Peter Weiss.
The Home News Tribune has an editorial today criticizing Mayor/Assemblyman/Congressional Candidate Joe Vas' mismanagement of the Perth Amboy budget this year:
Perth Amboy property owners have every reason to feel squeamish about their city's yet-to-be-finalized budget and the bite it will take out of their hides. For starters, the spending plan is months behind schedule for presentation to the state, a sure sign of trouble. Add to that the fact that the Department of Community Affairs has ordered City Hall to slice $8 million in anticipated revenues from the tab and the outlook is even more grim. While Mayor Joseph Vas has told residents to expect an increase in their property taxes of about $126 for a home assessed at the city's average, the real figure could climb as high as $700, according to other estimates, made worse by the knowledge the city has been so lax in prepping for this year's financial plan.
"It's not good," Councilman David Szilagyi said last week. "I think the best-case scenario is we're looking at a $3 (million) to $4 million gap."
I'm no economist, but $3-4 million seems like a lot of money to me.
And why are they lacking these funds? Turns out to be laziness on the part of Vas and his administration:
Perth Amboy failed to document to the state how certain revenues would be generated, according to the Department of Community Affairs. That means the city might not be able to claim certain income for budget purposes. Two items have already been dropped: $3 million from an extention of its water/wastewater utility lease and $1 million in emergency medical service billing reimbursements. Still up in the air are $2 million in revenue from the Middlesex County Recreation Grant Pool and $2 million from the YMCA Public Safety Complex Recreation Pool.
City officials have pledged to properly document these revenue streams in the future, but what of now? Vas has yet to explain these oversights to any degree of satisfaction, let alone move forcefully to rectify them. The sloppy planning could cost city residents dearly.
Isn't this the sort of sort of weak, sloppy budgeting and fiscal policy that we're trying to get rid of in Washington? This is not the type of record I expect to see on a Republican candidate for Congress, not a Democrat.
But let's hope this is simply incompetence and not a political maneuver to avoid releasing an ugly budget before the primary:
More sinister, it is legitimate to wonder whether the tardy unveiling of Perth Amboy's budget wasn't planned. Vas is a candidate in the June 6 Democratic Party primary for New Jersey's 13th District seat in Congress. To delay bad budget news suits the mayor's political aspirations.
After all of the scandals and missteps revealed about Vas in this primary - the support of drug dealers and sex offenders, the poor attendence at Committee meetings, and this budget mess - you have to wonder if he'll face a stiff challenge for his Assembly seat next June. I've already heard of people beginning to get their ducks in a row to give it a shot.
This is big news. It's clear from their statement that GSE and NJ Stonewall Democrats had a difficult time coming to this decision.
To tell it like it is, our organizations would have preferred to make the same endorsement that Governor Jon Corzine, U.S. Senator Bob Menendez and county party leaders have made.
...
But in a state legislature where almost all Democrats and many Republicans have been supportive of LGBTI rights, Albio Sires has been stand-out awful. At every turn throughout his time in the Assembly, he has sent signals of being deeply uncomfortable with equality for the LGBTI community.
In fact, our organizations waited until this late stage to endorse a candidate in this race in order to give Assemblyman Sires and his staff every opportunity to meet with us. They would not.
The statement goes on to detail Sires' poor record when it comes to GLBTI issues, but what stood out for me was what they said next:
Though we are LGBTI rights organizations, we must note with great discomfort that Assemblyman Sires has a chequered record on a woman's right to choose. A self-described Reagan conservative until he switched parties strategically -- to run in a district where no Republican could win -- he once opposed a woman's right to choose including in cases of rape or incest.
Mayor Vas, on the other hand, is a longtime progressive and one of the LGBTI community's staunchest allies. He is a Prime Sponsor of the transgender equality bill in the state legislature. He supports needle exchange to prevent the spread of HIV/AIDS. And he has spoken out repeatedly against amending the federal and state constitutions to ban marriage equality.
These guys seem to get it. Though they're "single-issue" groups, they recognize the importance of building progressive alliances and working beyond their natural constituent base as a necessity to progressive success. They look out for their friends. Unlike NARAL which took a beating from Lieberman and came back to endorse him anyway, the leadership of GSE and the Stonewall Democrats took the much more politically difficult route of putting their principles first, knowing that they will probably get a cold reception at the next political cocktail party.
The entire press release is below, and I strongly encourage you to read it all.
Generally, I believe every election should be contested. Otherwise, they simply don't deserve to be called an election, right? After all, Castro lets people vote for him but that hardly makes him the leader of a democratic country.
As we've seen over the last twenty years or so, the way that the National Republican Party has contested elections is through a "divide and conquer" strategy. By setting Americans against Americans, they have driven wedge issue after wedge issue into the heartland of our country. Now we openly talk about "Red states" and "Blue states" instead of the "United States". (Note: Research "Roger Ailes" if you think this was a harmless by-product of politics.)
A recent poll conducted on behalf of Joe Vas' campaign (take with grain of salt) showed him leading Albio Sires by 26%-24%. In October, the poll, with a 3% margin of error, showed Sires ahead by 30%-22%. Vas' name recognition is also up to 36% (from 15% in the October poll) - almost matching Sires' 38%.
According to a statement from Vas' campaign, Joe Vas held a press conference outside of Sires' office Wednesday morning, but they were ordered to leave by a city employee. Vas' responded with a scathing statement, even comparing Sires to George W Bush:
Albio Sires seems to have no problem spreading his hateful rhetoric and lies but at the same time refuses to say it to Joe Vas... face to face.
Albio Sires is a coward. He goes around spreading lies about Joe Vas but refuses to debate Joe Vas.
...
Albio Sires and George Bush have a lot in common. They are both liars. They are both dedicated Republicans. They are both pro-life, pro-war, pro-NRA, anti-environmental politicians. In fact, Albio Sires at one time supported and voted for George Bush. This was around the same time he campaigned with Newt Gingrich and Christie Whitman.
The statement then went on to list 12 "lies of Albio Sires". The full statement is below.
In an article on the front page of the NJ section of the Sunday NYTimes, Mayor Underdog, that doesn't seem to appear free on line (I don't even see it indexed "Times select"), Jonathan Miller reports that Vas, after first defending himself, admitted he made a mistake:
Mr. Vas has had to overcome some recent stumbles. It was first reported last month on politicsnj.com that Mr. Vas wrote a letter in 2004 -- on General Assembly letterhead -- requesting leniency in the sentencing of Joe T. Trinidad, 43, a son of a friend.
Mr. Trinidad had pleaded guilty to sexual assault in Morris County in a case stemming from Mr. Trinidad's relationship with a 15-year-old girl. Mr. Trinidad also pleaded guilty to possessing child pornography. Initially, Mr. Vas defended his written request for a lighter sentence, noting Mr. Trinidad's veteran status and psychological history. But in a recent interview, he said that he was wrong to write the letter.
''As I look back at it today,'' he said, ''it is definitely a mistake on my part.''
Miller leaves out the fact that the 'friend' is "Lydia Trinidad, the longtime executive director of the Puerto Rican Association for Human Development, a high-profile post at a high-profile social services agencyin Perth Amboy," as reported in the Home News.
And what is up with this?
Mr. Vas has assailed Mr. Sires for taking $12,000 from casino operators, then passing an exception for them in a recently imposed state smoking ban, a move that would have been illegal had the donations been given to a state campaign. But in 2005, donors forgave Mr. Vas $150,000 in debt (much of it contributed by the city's Democratic organization) for his Assembly campaign -- an unusual move, but one that is not illegal.
When asked about it, Mr. Vas said: ''We loaned money to the campaign. We could have just donated it to the campaign. You can just chalk that up to inexperience in these campaigns. We're not professional politicians in Perth Amboy.''
A report slated to be released today exposes thousands of wasted dollars at UMDNJ. To add to the troubles the medical school has faced in the recent months, the report depicts (among other monetary dishonesties) how the financial records were falsified to show that the university’s headache center was making a profit, which enabled the former dean of the School of Osteopathic Medicine to receive an annual bonus of $15,000.
Roughly a year after a federal judge removed the leaders of the corrupt Local 734 of the Laborers’ International Union of North America, the Rochelle Park based local union’s pension plan is on the verge of collapsing. This comes after a former executive hired friends and family members to work frivolous part-time jobs at exorbitant salaries, in addition to questions being posed about the organization’s connections to organized crime.
Daniel Ellsberg, who’s known primarily for leaking the “Pentagon Papers� to the New York Times in 1971, is calling for full disclosure by the Bush Administration on the Iraq War. He did this while addressing an audience composed primarily of members of the Coalition for Peace Action at the Princeton Theological Seminary last evening.
Governor Corzine hits the 100-Days in Office mark this week. The first 100 days are often the most crucial in determining how any elected official will lead their constituency. The Governor appears to be embracing his new role humbly and not striving to constantly be in the limelight, like some of his predecessors have done.
Pity John Guarini. He hasn't learned that the only way to win office in Hudson County is to become a Democrat. Endorsing George Bush is generally NOT considered a good career move in Hudson County.
This is the most recent listing of candidates that have filed petitions for federal office. The first candidate listed in each category is the incumbent. The number after their names indicates the number of petition signatures submitted, and I also included the slogans of some of the candidates running without the party endorsement.
US Senate:
Bob Menendez (D) 8029 James D. Kelly Jr (D) 1300 Thomas H. Kean Jr. (R) 4202 John P. Ginty (R) 1742
House Districts
1: Rob Andrews (D)
2: Frank LoBiondo (R) 804 Viola Thomas-Hughes (D) 298 Henry David Marcus (D) 207 "Change the Course!"
3: Jim Saxton (R) 949 Richard Sexton (D) 293
4: Chris Smith (R) 675 Gary Schiavone (D) 310
5: Scott Garrett (R) 513 Michael Cino (R) 300 Paul Aronsohn (D) 495 Camille M. Abate (D) 427 "A New Spine For Congress"
6: Frank Pallone Jr (D) 310 Leigh-Ann Bellew (R) 278
7: Mike Ferguson (R) 896 Linda Stender (D) 532
8: Bill Pascrell (D) 4301 Jose Sandivol (R) 407
9: Steve Rothman (D) 1020 Vincent Micco (R) 321
10: Donald Payne (D) 1244 Deshon Porter (D) 211
11: Rodney Frelinghuysen (R) 699 Tom Wyka (D) 332
12: Rush Holt (D) 1216 Joseph Sinagra (R) 225
13: Special election for unexpired term Albio Sires (D) 530 James Geron (D) 268
13: For full term Albio Sires (D) 3229 Joseph Vas (D) 594 John Guarini (R) 255
Update 3 (A big one, so I'm posting it up top): There WILL be two Democratic challengers to Frank LoBiondo in NJ-2. Fairfield Township councilwoman Viola Thomas-Hughes and Henry David Marcus will compete in the primary. This now means that every Republican House member in New Jersey will face a challenger in November.
According to the Division of Elections, Gary Schiavone has filed to challenge Chris Smith in the 4th Congressional district. With about two hours left until the filing deadline, no Democrat has filed in the 2nd yet to challenge LoBiondo.
The GOP has failed to file challenges to Rob Andrews (NJ-1) and Donald Payne (NJ-10).
Update 1: Donald Payne (NJ-10) will have a challenger in the primary, and Michael Cino has just filed to challenge Garrett in the primary. Assemblywoman Oadline Truitt (D) from the 28th legislative district will face a primary challenge.
Correction: Senator Menendez has not endorsed anyone. Senator Corzine, Governor Codey, and Representatives Andrews, Pascrell and Rothman have all endorsed Sires.
Underdog Congressional candidate Assemblyman Joe Vas, competing against Assembly Speaker Albio Sires in the Democratic primary to fill the empty 13th Congressional district seat, today received the endorsement of the 150-member Hudson County DFA organization. Sires has already lined up support from Governor Corzine, Senator Menendez and the vast majority of elected officials in the district. But a statement from the group's organizer, Jake Stuvier, notes that the endorsement was not to buck the machine:
"This was in no way a knee-jerk anti-machine vote...This was a long, deliberative process in which we took both candidates very seriously and appreciated the time they spent meeting with us. In the end, the majority of our members, many of whom are veterans of progressive, reformist activities around the county, identified with Vas as someone who is enthusiastically fighting for change."
Albio Sires may have a hiccup in his plans to succeed Robert Menendez in NJ's 13th Congressional District. PoliticsNJ has a photocopy of a court summons issued for Sires to appear and answer charges of harrassment.
West New York resident Frank Caratura alleges that the former NJ Assembly Speaker was "invading the victim's privacy and following him using a repetative voice and physical menance {sic) causing the victim alarm, concern, and annoyance."
Given this happened in Hudson County, it's unlikely to change things at all in the primary. Technically, Sires is being challenged by Joe Vas of Perth Amboy. As of this writing, there's nothing on the Vas website about the latest misadventure of Albio Sires - but I'd say that's just a matter of time (and the decision of the court).
So I am barely waking up this morning and I hear a blathering Mary Martha Corinne Morrison Claiborn Boggs a.k.a. Cokie Roberts talking about how the Katrina Report was all Republicans as is the opposition to the UAE owning the port system.
First off, in fairness, the Republican committee that issued a report on Wednesday is totally Republican. However, when asked on ABC's This Week, Rep. Gene Taylor said that they didn't bother to subpoena White House records, for fear of being stonewalled and thus delaying the report. I guess the report just HAD to come out February 15th so that folks planning Mardi Gras could prepare special floats with Chertoff bullseye's painted on. Either way, the Republican committee failed to really scathe the White House because, the White House wouldn't let them see their records. Good job Committee. In other words, the reasons Democrats boycotted the committee in the first place came to fruition in the Republican's version of the GAO and DHS Inspector General reports. I won't even get into how screwed up our country is when Republicans get stonewalled by their own party's leader.
Besides, this is only the first of 3 reports on Katrina. The next one to come out is from a BI-PARTISAN Senate Committee. Too bad Cokie forgot to mention that.
However, Cokie wasn't done lifting the Republicans above all ills.
She then went right ahead and blatenly lied.
Cokie went on to say that Republicans were the only one's outraged over the UAE takeover of our Port system. This as we all know, is what Washingtonian Press Folk would potentially call, blatant disregard for the truth. Isn't it enough that Bob Menendez has to issue rapid responses to Michael Chertoff? Go ahead give it a listen, not one mention of Menendez, Clinton, or any legislation that they happen to have already introduced! Though there was a tone of belittlement when she mentioned Chuck Schumer using 9/11 familes to highlight the issue. You can almost hear her think "politicizing 9/11."
However, NPR wasn't done with their Republican cheerleading effort just yet. Immediately following Cokie Roberts' wankery, Peter Overby filed this report, which basically tried to explain the already debunked convoluted way that Harry Reid shares guilt in the Abramoff scandal. The explanation itself is totally convoluted, then again, most baseless accusations come accross this way.
This Morning Edition's pyloric parastolsis gives credence to the idea that NPR really stands for Nice Polite Republicans.
My State Senator Nick Sacco (sounds like he could get a part on the Soprano's), chairs the Transportation Committee. He is pushing for a bill that would make it a "distinct" crime to steal an EZ-Pass Tag.
Now that is what I think every legislature should be worried about. Changing the penalties for EZ-Pass tag thieves.
There must be an astounding number of EZ-Pass tag thievery going on. It is most certainly the most pressing issue of the day! Great job Sen. Sacco!
Now if only your committee could figure out a way to solve the Transportation Trust Fund, and keep the EZ-Pass tag issuers from robbing the tag holders, we would be getting somewhere.
Update 3 (A big one, so I'm posting it up top): There WILL be two Democratic challengers to Frank LoBiondo in NJ-2. Fairfield Township councilwoman 
