new jersey

The Republican National Committee has made available two lengthy voter surveys conducted in New Jersey and Virginia as Republican candidates were winning gubernatorial races there last week. There’s a lot in there, including message-testing on anti-health care reform and cap-and-trade arguments, but this part really jumped out at me. The easiest explanation for the Republican [...]

In Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele’s statement on  the new unemployment rate of 10.2 percent, he argues that “it is time the Obama administration stop spreading their phony ‘saved or created’ talking points and start creating the dependable jobs America needs”:
President Obama promised jobs during his campaign for president, and the elections in Virginia [...]

Republicans have real bragging rights to the election results in Virginia and New Jersey. But I’m still struck by how the National Republican Congressional Committee spun last night’s two congressional races by talking about the governor’s races, not NY-23 and CA-10. In California, a lot of conservatives saw an opportunity to beat a carpetbagging Democrat [...]

A buoyant Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele, speaking this morning to reporters about last night’s election results, declared, “The Republican renaissance has begun.”
He praised the volunteer efforts to get Bob McDonnell and Chris Christie elected as governors in Virginia and New Jersey, respectively, saying, “Our folks are fired up.” Yet he expressed some misgivings [...]

More end zone dancing from the Republican National Committee chairman:
“Tonight, Chris Christie exceeded all expectations by charging to victory in the heart of Democrat country.  I would like to extend my sincere congratulations to Chris on becoming New Jersey’s next governor and in a special way I congratulate Kim Guadagno on becoming New Jersey’s first [...]

On MSNBC just now, Larry O’Donnell announced that NBC is calling the New Jersey governor’s race for Republican Chris Christie. With 74 percent of the votes counted, Christie leads 50 percent to Gov. Jon Corzine’s (D) 44 percent, with 5 percent for Independent Chris Daggett.
Update: The Associated Press has also declared Christie the winner.

“This is a state that Democrats said was going blue, or least purple,” said Grover Norquist, the president of Americans for Tax Reform, on Virginia. “How do they explain it if they lose?”

The other highly watched Research 2000/Daily Kos poll result casts the New Jersey gubernatorial race the way that everyone else is casting it — a tie, with Gov. Jon Corzine’s (D-N.J.) fate depending on base turnout and the strength of independent candidate Chris Daggett. In this poll, his support has doubled. Toplines, with trends:
Chris Christie [...]

I’m hearing some smart Republican pushback to today’s Quinnipiac Poll – given its record in the state, one of the more credible surveys — showing Gov. Jon Corzine (D-N.J.) pulling out of a year-long rut and leading Republican candidate Chris Christie by five points.
The main Republican critique of the poll, which contradicts Public Policy Polling [...]

The new Rutgers-Eagleton poll for New Jersey’s gubernatorial race piles more bad news onto the campaign of Republican candidate Chris Christie, seen just a few months back as the all-but-certain next governor of the state. The topline numbers are bad enough: Christie trails Gov. Jon Corzine (D-N.J.) by three points, 39 percent to 36 percent, [...]