Reader Says Booker turned out to be a massive disappointment.
Newark, run by Sharpe James, was the Zimbabwe of America. Despite what seemed like massive obstacles, this bright and seemingly inteligent man took on the James machine and finally took over. Hope for Newark, right? Not so fast. The unthinkable happened and Newark’s terrible statistics actually got worse. Then, we entered an alternate universe. Booker’s abysmal performance as Mayor was completely ignored, and he was picked up on the national radar, heading for bigger and brighter things. The man is an empty suit with a good media personality.
The stunning result follows the first poll of likely voters taken by Rasmussen in early June, which had Bell down 13 points and tied with independents. What’s remarkable is that Jeff Bell’s midsummer polling surge has come with no advertising or any other mass voter contact.
It seems New Jersey voters are simply dissatisfied with the job that Cory Booker’s done in Washington and are looking to replace him with someone who has a different approach to the job.
Marco Rubio made the single best argument against Hillary Clinton’s presidential prospects today
Ok, he didn’t say exactly that. In an interview with NPR’s “Morning Edition”, Rubio said that Clinton is “a 20th century candidate” who “does not offer an agenda for moving America forward in the 21st century, at least not up till now.” (Cillizza/The Washington Post)
Voters See A More Divided Nation; GOPers More Enthusiastic to Vote Tuesday, July 22, 2014
Voters strongly believe the United States is a more divided nation these days, and they think both sides are to blame. Most are also ready to do something about it at the ballot box in November.
Sixty-seven percent (67%) of Likely U.S. Voters say America is a more divided nation than it was four years ago. A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that just seven percent (7%) think the country is less divided now, while 21% rate the level of division as about the same.(To see survey question wording, click here.)
Among voters who see more division or about the same level of it, 35% believe President Obama is to blame. But 34% point the finger at Republicans in Congress instead. Twenty-three percent (23%) say they’re both to blame. Just five percent (5%) attribute the division to something else.
Fifty-seven percent (57%) of all voters say they are more likely to vote this year than they have been in past elections. Only four percent (4%) say they are less likely to do so, while 38% rate their intention to vote as about the same as in past years.
Perhaps problematic for Democrats is that 65% of GOP voters and 55% of voters not affiliated with either major party are more likely to vote this year, compared to 53% of those in the president’s party. But that could change as the election gets nearer.
Fifty-nine percent (59%) of voters nationwide are at least somewhat confident that the candidates they vote for will steer the country in the right direction, but that includes just 19% who are Very Confident. Thirty-three percent (33%) lack that confidence, with seven percent (7%) who are Not At All Confident that their candidates will make a difference.
(Want a free daily e-mail update? If it’s in the news, it’s in our polls). Rasmussen Reports updates are also available on Twitter or Facebook.
The survey of 1,000 Likely Voters was conducted on July 17-18, 2014 by Rasmussen Reports. The margin of sampling error is +/- 3 percentage points with a 95% level of confidence. Field work for all Rasmussen Reports surveys is conducted by Pulse Opinion Research, LLC.
Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Ma) Defines Today’s Progressivism
By Hunter Lewis
Sunday, July 20th, 2014
Warren reviewed eleven tenets of contemporary progressivism in a July 18 speech before Netroots Nation . She should be commended. Very often progressive politicians prefer to talk about “hope and change” rather than what they really stand for. Her list is not free of exaggerated rhetoric, such as claiming the mantle of “science” for herself. When she talks about supporting fast food workers on picket lines, she doesn’t mention the millions she is collecting from labor unions. But, even so, her account contains some honest and useful information.
1. “We believe that Wall Street needs stronger rules and tougher enforcement, and we’re willing to fight for it.”
2. “We believe in science, and that means that we have a responsibility to protect this Earth.”
3. “We believe that the Internet shouldn’t be rigged to benefit big corporations, and that means real net neutrality.”
4. “We believe that no one should work full-time and still live in poverty, and that means raising the minimum wage.”
5. “We believe that fast-food workers deserve a livable wage, and that means that when they take to the picket line, we are proud to fight alongside them.”
6. “We believe that students are entitled to get an education without being crushed by debt.”
7. “We believe that after a lifetime of work, people are entitled to retire with dignity, and that means protecting Social Security, Medicare, and pensions.”
8. “We believe—I can’t believe I have to say this in 2014—we believe in equal pay for equal work.”
9. “We believe that equal means equal, and that’s true in marriage, it’s true in the workplace, it’s true in all of America.”
10. “We believe that immigration has made this country strong and vibrant, and that means reform.”
11. “And we believe that corporations are not people, that women have a right to their bodies. We will overturn Hobby Lobby and we will fight for it. We will fight for it!”
Here are a few questions for Warren.
1. Since you are willing to fight for stronger rules and tougher enforcement for Wall Street, are you willing to fight for an end to government bail-outs? How will you end them if Wall Street is operated as a subsidiary of Washington? How will you end them if Washington needs big Wall Street firms to buy its bonds with money created by Washington, since Washington is barred from buying its own bonds directly but can do so indirectly through Wall Street? In general, how will you keep government control from wrecking the internal disciplines of the market, which include loss and bankruptcy as well as profit?
2. How will an increase in the minimum wage help those who can’t get any job because of the minimum wage? How will this help teenagers or other young people get their first job?
One of your favorite presidents, Franklin Roosevelt, intervened to keep wages high during the Great Depression. The result was that those who succeeded in keeping their jobs were even better off than before while millions of others were thrown out of work and had nothing.
3. Hasn’t the federal student loan program driven up the cost of a college education, leaving many students worse off than before it existed?
And why is the federal government borrowing at a low interest rate and then charging the students a much higher rate? How can it be right to make a profit off the students and then apply it to the federal budget under a line called “ deficit reduction.”
4. Since you hold that “equal means equal… in all of America,” why do federal programs discriminate in favor of one group over another? Why, to choose just one of many examples, are non-unionized companies barred from federal construction contracts?
5. If corporations are not people, does that mean the government can not only tell them what to do, but even gag them or tell them what to say?
Having reviewed what Warren believes to be the eleven tenets of contemporary progressivism, what does she think that conservatives and libertarians believe? Here it is: “I got mine. The rest of you are on your own.”
Is this what either conservatives or libertarians teach? Is this what markets teach? They teach us to be selfish? Or do they teach us that we had better put our selfishness aside and tend to the needs of customers and employees first if we want to be successful?
People who run businesses are serving the needs of others. And people who work for the government may be just as selfish as anybody else.
Did Senator Warren describe all the tenets of contemporary progressivism? No, she described the ones she wanted to describe. But it’s helpful to have her eleven.
Bergen County Exec’s race: Booker says “I’m going to come in very hard” for Tedesco
MONTCLAIR – Bergen County native U.S. Senator Cory Booker (D-NJ) paused from speaking out in favor of a bill seeking to reverse the Supreme Court’s decision in the Hobby Lobby case to look homeward to the 2014 Bergen County Executive’s race. (Bonamo/PolitickerNJ)
More voters than ever now say U.S. elections are rigged to favor incumbents and are unfair to voters.
A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 48% of Likely U.S. Voters now say American elections are not fair to voters, up from 46% in April and the highest finding in surveys since 2004. Thirty-nine percent (39%) think elections are fair, but 14% are not sure. (To see survey question wording, click here.)
(Want a free daily e-mail update? If it’s in the news, it’s in our polls). Rasmussen Reports updates are also available on Twitter or Facebook.
The survey of 1,000 Likely Voters was conducted on July 9-10, 2014 by Rasmussen Reports. The margin of sampling error is +/- 3 percentage points with a 95% level of confidence. Field work for all Rasmussen Reports surveys is conducted by Pulse Opinion Research, LLC.
In the March Monmouth/APP poll, 55% of NJ voters said Booker deserves to be reelected. Today, only 44% say the former Newark Mayor deserves his own six year term in Washington.
Cory Booker can be beaten
Senator Cory Booker’s support for reelection took a sharp drop since March, according to a Monmouth University/Asbury Park Press pollreleased this morning.
In the March Monmouth/APP poll, 55% of NJ voters said Booker deserves to be reelected. Today, only 44% say the former Newark Mayor deserves his own six year term in Washington. Booker was elected last October to fill the remainder of the late Senator Frank Lautenberg’s term. He faces off with Republican Jeff Bell in November.
Booker would beat Bell easily if the election where today, 43%-23%, but 15% say they would vote for a third party candidate and 17% are unsure. But the vast majority of voters, 82%, don’t know enough about Bell for express a favorable or unfavorable opinion of him. The GOP nominee for U.S. Senate against Bill Bradley in 1978, Bell scored a surprise victory in the GOP primary for Senate last month. Of those who do know enough about Bell to express an opinion, the overwhelming impression, 2-1, is favorable.
Perhaps the worst indicator of support for Booker is his favorability rating. While net positive by a significant 43%-14% margin, 43% said they have no opinion of Booker. That is a stunningly high number for a man who was elected to the U.S. Senate last fall, served as mayor of New Jersey’s largest city for over seven years, has over 1 million twitter followers and who has spent over $12 million on his reelection effort since the first of the year.
In what could be the latest move toward a 2016 presidential bid, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R) offered a wide-ranging critique of President Obama’s domestic and foreign policies.
Speaking to reporters at the National Governors Association on Saturday, Christie labeled Obamacare, the administration’s signature legislation, a “failure on a whole number of levels” and said it should be repealed.
“But has to be repeal and replace with what. It can’t just be about repeal,” Christie told the audience. “What I’ve said before is, what Republicans need to be doing is putting forth alternatives for what should be a better healthcare system.”
He also urged his GOP colleagues to keep bringing up their opposition to same-sex marriage, even though a series of court decisions have overturned many statewide gay marriage bans.
“I don’t think there’s some referee who stands up and says, ‘OK, now it’s time for you to change your opinion,’” according to Christie.
Christie also said the latest outbreak of violence between Israelis and Palestinians was partly the White House’s fault because the administration “does stand up for our friends.”
Below is an editorial in today’s New York Post, accessible here.
“Cory Booker’s scary big lead”
Normally, Cory Booker would be feeling pretty confident, given his 20-point lead over GOP challenger Jeffrey Bell.
But a closer look at the latest poll numbers suggests Booker may have a rougher ride to re-election than anyone anticipated.
That’s because the New Jersey senator’s support clocks in at just 43 percent. The same poll, by the Monmouth University-Asbury Park Press, has more than a third of voters saying it’s time for a change, though Booker’s been in office only eight months.
Fully 15 percent — including one in eight Democrats — say they would vote for a third-party candidate. This, even though the same voters generally approve of Booker’s job performance. In other words, his support remains strikingly soft.
Some of this, no doubt, reflects the general defensiveness of Democratic senators up for re-election this year. But some also suggests voters have concluded Booker’s been more hype than substance. Newark, for example, just elected one of his harshest critics to succeed him as mayor.
Granted, challenger Jeff Bell, a Reagan speechwriter-turned-tax-reform-activist, last ran for office in 1982. On top of this, statewide Republican candidates — particularly conservatives — historically have faced an uphill climb in Jersey.
But another conservative, Steve Lonegan, lost to Booker last fall by just 11 percentage points, a much closer margin than people expected. And that was without any help from the Republican National Committee.
If Bell can make his case for the middle class — and get the financial support he needs from the national party — he may make this race competitive yet.
Democrats counting on Bergen voters to unseat Garrett By Myles Ma/NJ.com
RIDGEWOOD — Scott Garrett has handily won every race he’s run for New Jersey’s 5th Congressional District since 2002.
Garrett has vastly outspent his opponent in every election year, with the exception of 2008, when he outspent Dennis G. Shulman, but not vastly.
But Roy Cho, his Democratic opponent, believes Garrett can be beaten. So too, does rapper Ghostface Killah.
It was Killah’s (Ghostface’s?) endorsement over Twitter last year that first put Cho and his campaign on the map. But it is the new math in the 5th that Cho believes will put his campaign over the top.
Redistricting in 2010 added Democratic-leaning Fair Lawn, Lodi, Hackensack and Bogota, and parts of Teaneck to the 5th. By population, Bergen County makes up almost three-quarters of the district.
Rob Esposito, Cho’s campaign manager, said these towns have turned the 5th from a safe Republican stronghold dominated by Sussex and Warren voters into a competitive district.
U.S. Supreme Court decisions: Booker v. Bell
TRENTON – In two separate but similarly controversial decisions released earlier today, the U.S. Supreme voted definitively on issues of religious rights for corporations and union dues requirements for part-time state workers. Both rulings, unsurprisingly, have legislators and political onlookers in New Jersey and across the country riled. (Brush/PolitickerNJ)
Bell, Booker and Candle By Post Editorial Board June 22, 2014 | 7:55pm
Sen. Cory Booker has everything going for him in his re-election race against former Reagan speechwriter Jeff Bell.
Booker has a war chest of $2.9 million, against a mere $76,000 for Bell. Booker is a Democratic incumbent running in a mostly blue state where Democratic voters outnumber Republicans by 700,000. And according to a recent Rassmussen poll, 39 percent of New Jerseyans don’t even know who the heck Jeff Bell is.
All Bell has going for him is his conviction, which is that government is making it harder for working people to support their families.
In short, he’s a free-market, traditional values, pro-immigration conservative who thinks its high time someone took this message to the people of New Jersey.
So here’s the question: Despite all Booker’s advantages, why does the latest poll show his support at under 50 percent?
Rassmussen’s recent survey of likely voters puts Booker’s support at 48 percent, against 35 percent for Bell. That’s a 13 percentage-point difference, which is the same percentage who say they are undecided.
Bell, of course, remains a long shot in a state that hasn’t elected a Republican to the US Senate since 1972. Ironically, the Republican who won that seat was Clifford Case, the man Bell beat in the Republican primary back in 1978 — only to lose to Democrat Bill Bradley in the general election.
In election battle for Bergen executive, ‘style’ becomes key argument
Democratic Freeholder James Tedesco said Monday he will use vetoes and lawsuits more sparingly if elected Bergen County executive, while accusing his rival, Republican incumbent Kathleen Donovan, of “not being able to compromise and work together” during her first term. (Ensslin/The Bergen Record)
