Statewide, it’s a 5 point race

With 30% of the districts reporting statewide, Cory Booker is leading Steve Lonegan 52% to 47%.

• Tweet

Lonegan Leads By 9% In Monmouth County

GOP nominee for U.S. Senate Steve Lonegan is leading the vote count in Monmouth County 54% to 45% with 91% of the voting districts reporting.

The Monmouth voter turnout reported so far is 22%.

Lonegan needs a higher turnout and a wider margin in Monmouth County to win statewide.

• Tweet

Early Lead for Booker

Gloucester County is the first to report results in the Special U.S. Senate Election.  Booker 51.3% with 2751 votes, Lonegan 45.7% with 2450 votes.

• Tweet

Three things that have to happen for Steve Lonegan to walk away with a win

Three things that have to happen for Steve Lonegan to walk away with a win (via NJ.com)

Polls in today’s U.S. Senate special election put Republican Steve Lonegan somewhere between 10 and 14 points behind Democrat Cory Booker as voters head out to cast their ballots. Booker, though his campaign has not been without its foibles, has succeeded…

Read the rest of this entry »

• Tweet

Long Morning Lines in GOP Areas

By Matt Rooney, SaveJersey.com

Don’t get too excited, Save Jerseyans.

It’s very, very early. The polls are open until 8:00 p.m. tonight. Did I mention it’s early?

That being said, I’ve heard anecdotal but consistent turnout reports this morning that bode well for a strong Lonegan performance in today’s #njsen special election.

Example? More than one person has told me about voting lines wrapping out-the-door in Oakland, New Jersey. The Bergen County community of just under 13,000 is home to approximately 1,000 more registered Republicans than Democrats and voted 55.8% for John McCain in 2008.

PolitickerNJ is reporting robust Booker turnout in Essex County but MoreMonmouthMusings cites a source who says it’s unusually quiet in Newark’s East Ward…

We’ve received similar reports from some other Republican-leaning towns around the state such as the affluent bedroom community of Moorestown in Burlington County.

Read the rest of this entry>

• Tweet

Conflicting voter turnout reports out of Newark

PolitickerNJ is reporting that voters are coming out strong for Cory Booker in Newark’s North Ward, South Orange and Montclair.

However, a Newark resident who asked not to be named told MMM this morning that he was only the 9th voter in Newark’s East Ward at about 11:30 AM.

“The Cory Booker campaign is lackluster,” the Newark resident said, “no sound trucks, no signs, no door knockers, nothing. It’s weird.”

While all Independent polls tracking the Special Senate election have qualified their reports with the caveat that turnout for an election on the third Wednesday in October is unpredictable, most pollsters tracking have weighted their results with the assumption that urban turnout for Booker would be consistent with the vote that turned out for President Obama last November.

If the early turnout in Newark’s East Ward is indicative of urban turnout throughout the state, Steve Lonegan could be a U.S. Senator tomorrow.

• Tweet

Lonegan, in Middletown, Tangles With Pix11 Anchor

• Tweet

West Ward killing marks Newark’s fifth homicide in last 72 hours

West Ward killing marks Newark’s fifth homicide in last 72 hours (via NJ.com)

Tony Kurdzuk/The Star-Ledger NEWARK — A shooting in Newark’s West Ward left one person dead shortly after midnight on Wednesday morning, the fifth person killed during a bloody 72 hours in the state’s largest city. Thomas Fennelly, Essex County’s…

Read the rest of this entry »

• Tweet

Seeing Red Over Red-Light Cameras: A New Jersey doctor fights City Hall

By Dr. Michael Ehrenreich, MD

It takes quite a bit to get me outraged. I am a busy dermatologist in  Millburn, NJ, tending to the rashes and wrinkles of my community. I don’t  write Op-Ed pieces or spend my weekends in political protest. When Thomas Jefferson wrote that “a little  rebellion now and then is a good thing,” he was not envisioning  me.

It all started with a traffic ticket, received in the mail, featuring a  series of photographs showing a blue Chevy Traverse running a red light in  Springfield, NJ, along with a link to  a video. Upon review, there is no  doubt that the car is mine, but there is also no doubt that at the time of  the incident I was in my office seeing patients.

I figured that it would be a simple matter to plead Not Guilty. After all, if I was not the driver of the vehicle, then how could I possibly be guilty?  Since the photographs and  video do not identify an individual but only  a vehicle, it seemed impossible that the state could make a case.

In fact, I was stunned to learn that in New Jersey if your car is caught on a traffic camera running a red light that there is so-called strict liability. This means that if it is your car then you are liable, even if you testify that you were not the operator of the vehicle and even if the State cannot prove that you were.

That’s where my outrage kicks in. I am not a lawyer. I am not versed in  constitutional law. But the situation felt wrong. I pleaded Not Guilty—if  the State has a case, I figured, let them make it. I started researching  New Jersey’s red light camera program in preparation for my day in court.  Not surprisingly, I discovered that there’s money at stake. Quite a bit of  it.

Read the rest of this entry »

• Tweet

Pallone: End the shutdown so my wife can go back to work

Congressman Frank Pallone held a press conference at the EPA’s Edison Lab on Monday, ostensibly  to highlight how the “Republican” government shutdown is negatively impacted the middle class and is putting the environment at risk.

“It is now day 14 of the reckless Republican government shutdown that was orchestrated by extreme factions of the GOP to drive their agenda and drive us all into a national crisis. Shutting down the government hurts our economy and threatens middle-class jobs as shown right here at the Edison EPA Lab, where 100 furloughed workers have been forced to stop their work on New Jersey’s Superfund sites, among other critical environmental programs”

“I’m outraged that the GOP shutdown is putting the health and safety of New Jerseyans at risk. This is no way to run the government”

Pallone neglected to mention that his wife is the Deputy Associate Administrator of the EPA.

If Steve Lonegan manages to pull off an upset today and defeat Cory Booker in the Special U.S. Senate election to replace the late Frank Lautenberg, Pallone is a very likely candidate to challenge Lonegan for a full senate term next year.

For those moderate Republicans planning to write in someone besides Lonegan or to sit out the election, vote for Lonegan if only to open up the NJ CD 6 Congressional seat next year.

A vote for Lonegan sends Booker to Hollywood, after he finishes his term as Newark’s mayor, and makes Pallone a lobbyist.

• Tweet