They'll be burning more than steaks at this cookout

Steve Lonegan is hosting a cookout and swim party at his home in Bogota for a minimum donation of $100 per person to pay off his campaign debt. The "taxpayer's best friend" who always put "taxpayers first" will use the donations as leverage to obtain twice the amount in taxpayer-provided matching funds.

I wonder what bathing attire looks like for Klan members.

So, only Republicans can create jobs?

Assemblyman Jay Webber dismissed Democratic Lt. Governor candidate Loretta Weinberg as a tax and spend liberal [so what else is new] "As someone who has endorsed and been a vote for Governor Corzine's failed policies, Senator Weinberg has squeezed struggling families with property tax increases and done nothing to bring jobs back to the state," said Webber. "This election is and will continue to be about Governor Corzine's record. The choice for New Jerseyans this November could not be clearer - a failed governor and his liberal legislative ally or a team of outsiders who will change Trenton for the better, create jobs, and get our state back on track."

I thought Republicans were the ones who always say the government can't create jobs.

He'll get back to us after the election

Chris Christie held an impromptu press conference to discuss the arrest of so many New Jersey politicians. When offered the opportunity by a reporter to describe how he would cut back on corruption as Governor, Christie said “we’ll get into that after I’m elected.”

I guess he hasn't decided yet which consultants and lawyers will get the no-bid contracts he'll hand out after he's elected.

Sounds like "Right To Life" is ready to lose

New Jersey Right To Life is not very happy about Chris Christie's choice of Kim Guadagno to be his running mate. “With the lieutenant governor pick, I don’t see how we can endorse someone who has a pro-choice running mate,” said Executive Director Marie Tasy after Guadagno revealed that she is pro-choice at a press conference.

NJRTL stayed out of the Republican gubernatorial primary, since both Christie and Lonegan said they were against abortion. “We take Chris Christie at his word that if elected he will work to enact life-protecting laws that are overwhelmingly supported by New Jersey voters,” said Tasy.

More likely the reason NJRTL didn't back Lonegan is because they didn't want to embarrass themselves by backing a sure loser.

Who would Lonegan pick?

Most GOP leaders and activists seemed happy about Chris Christie's choice of Kim Guadagno to be his lieutenant governor. But not everybody was pleased, and among the usual suspects was Steve Lonegan who said that Guadagno’s statement that she was pro-choice today was a let down. "I guarantee you unequivocally, I would have chosen a good, solid pro-life lieutenant governor that reflected my views,” said Lonegan.

Even Donny DiFrancesco or Dick Codey couldn't be as bad as Joe The Plumber.

To move or not to move: "Homeless" wingnut wants to run for Congress (he just doesn't know where)

Last year's 12th Congressional District general election challenger could be next year's 4th District GOP primary challenger. Holmdel businessman Alan Bateman is now mulling a 2010 run against veteran U.S. Rep. Chris Smith (R-Hamilton), he told PolitickerNJ.com. The former deputy mayor of Holmdel whose home has been on the market for six months now says he might move into the 4th Congressional District.

Although Republican Mayor Michael Halfacre of Fair Haven earlier this month announced his decision to challenge Rush Holt in the 12th, Bateman said he has not ruled out a primary fight and may yet challenge Halfacre. "I'm looking at both," he said of the 4th and 12th districts. "Certainly Mayor Halfacre's presence in the race has no impact on my decision. I have the grassroots infrastructure in the 12th. I've got a good base with which to begin."

Should he make the move to the 4th and primary the Republican congressman, he anticipates the denunciations of those Smith fans who will immediately brand him as a carpetbagger. "Constitutionally, you need to live in the state," argues Bateman, whose allies charge that Smith, a congressman for three decades, has all but abandoned his home base in Hamilton for the life of a Washington insider. "When you've in a Washington job for that long you become part of the problem," said Bateman.

And part of Bateman's problem is convincing voters he knows what he's doing when he can't even decide where to live.

Christie welcomes Obama

Chris Christie put out a web video welcoming President Obama to New Jersey. In the video, Christie equated the “change” that Obama ran on last year with his own candidacy.

Last year, when you ran for president, your campaign gave people great hope that
change could come to America, and people voted for that change. But you
know, your election didn’t end the peoples’ hunger for change here in New
Jersey. People understand that high taxes, high spending, overzealous
regulation and lost jobs is not the way they want New Jersey’s future to be.
They know that to get the change we need in New Jersey, we have to start by
changing governors.

And if we change governors we'll have to change the bathrooms in Drumthwacket to a bigger size.

Plumbing for the internet

In a recent email Steve Lonegan is soliciting supporters to attend a conference on opportunities for conservatives to spread their message on the internet. In his message Lonegan states, "I am inviting you to attend our Second Annual RightOnline Conference on August 14th and 15th in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. We will be joined by prominent leaders of the conservative movement, grassroots leaders, the nation’s top bloggers and online strategists, and citizen leaders from across the country. Confirmed speakers include: The Wall Street Journal’s Steve Moore and John Fund, Taxpayer Activist Joe the Plumber, Former Congressmen Pat Toomey and John Peterson."

Right; Joe the Plumber at an internet conference for wingnut bloggers. Maybe he'll show them how to use a plunger to unclog all the crap they put on their websites.

He got up on the wrong side of the bed

Chris Christie barely acknowledged Steve Lonegan's missive against the state’s establishment Republicans during a campaign appearance today. Lonegan called Christie’s top supporters and operatives “hollow men” in an email to supporters. When asked about it by a reporter Christie blew the question off. “I don’t think Steve really means that. He probably just had a bad morning,” he said.

The way he looks and acts it seems like every morning is a bad morning for Steve Lonegan.

Getting down to specifics

Pushed for specifics on what parts of the government he would cut if elected, Chris Christie said that “antiquated” civil services rules and collective bargaining make it impossible to specifically target cuts. Although he has not come up with a number by which he would slash state jobs (he has said that he wants to get rid of two-thirds of political patronage positions), Chris Christie said in a recent radio interview that “it’s very specific to say that you’re going to reduce the size of government.”

By that standard, it's also very specific for Christie to say that he is going to reduce the size of his ample girth by skipping dessert at his next fundraiser.

GOP leaders call on 3rd district Assembly candidate Lee Lucas to step down because of racial slurs

3rd district GOP Assembly candidate Lee Lucas and campaign manager meet to discuss strategy.

Wild bears, and hot air, in Jackson

Steve Lonegan's current meal ticket, a.k.a. Americans For Prosperity (AFP), sponsored a "tea party" in Jackson Township featuring another wingnut dressed in costume going around making a fool of himself to protest recent "cap and trade" legislation and promote the notion that global warming is nothing more than a vast left-wing conspiracy to enslave Americans.

I really don't know much about global warming, but looking at the crowd and listening to the speakers I'd bet the combination of verbal and digestive flatulence emanating from the event did more to heat up the atmosphere than all the dairy cows in New Jersey.

Christie's looking for some attention

In a recent radio interview Chris Christie said the presence of President Obama and other high-wattage Democrats "adds to the challenge" of unseating Corzine, but will not distract voters. "His record is such a failed record on behalf of the people of New Jersey," Christie said on WOR. "Obviously, whenever Air Force One lands someplace it gets a lot of attention."

Not as much attention as Chris Christie would get campaigning at a Jersey shore beach in a men's bikini swinsuit.

Christie to Rudy and Mitt: Don't bother

Chris Christie told a reporter from PolitickerNJ.com that he doesn’t know for sure whether any of President Obama’s luster will rub off on Jon Corzine when he visits in support of him later this month but he doubts it. “I firmly do believe that it’s not a race about President Obama. I think it’s a race about Jon Corzine and his record, and me and my vision for what the future would be,” said Christie. “I don’t think New Jerseyans are going to decide how to vote based upon who comes and visits.”

I guess those visits by Rudy Giuliani and Mitt Romney before the primary were just a waste of time.

"We hold these truths to be self-evident" . . . $40 please

William Vastine and Martin Marks are GOP candidates for State Assembly in the 22nd district. They are celebrating the fourth of July with a "community reading" of the Declaration of Independence at Brookside Park in Scotch Plains. Among the featured "invited" (which means they probably won't show up) guests are Congressman Leonard Lance (who more likely will be hiding in his basement to avoid wingnuts outraged over his vote on "cap and trade"), State Senator Tom Kean Jr., Chris Christie, Steve Lonegan and Assemblyman Rick Merkt.

Their campaign committee is charging $40 per person ($20 for children).

Just think how much money the founding fathers might have made if they charged for reading the Declaration of Independence.