Menendez' lead against Kean has vanished and the pressure is on Charlotte DeFilippo and Jerry Green to deliver what may be the decisive votes if he is to win in November.
The margin by which Menendez wins in PLAINFIELD may settle whether the Democratic party nationally is able to pick up the necessary seats for a majority in the US Senate this fall. Yes, Plainfield.
Because if the Dems pick up the six Senate seats they might elsewhere in the country and LOSE the race in New Jersey, they will have let control of the Senate slip from their grasp. Are they anxious?
You bet. Menendez' lead disappeared after US attorney Chris Christie entered the fray by announcing a federal investigation into Menendez' leasing of a building he owned to a nonprofit for which he advocated in Washington.
In the face of this change of fortune, can Charlotte and Jerry deliver the margin needed?
That is the burning question. In the nearly two months since Ray Blanco's untimely death, Green has made NO PUBLIC COMMENT about how he is going to replace his point person for getting out the Menendez vote.
With GAYS MIFFED over the treatment they received at the state Dem conference last week and threatening not to work on the Menendez campaign, things were in even more turmoil.
In Plainfield, with Van Blake and Burney considered shoo-ins for City Council, many Democrats still smarting from the displacement of Al McWilliams by DeFilippo and Green last year see LITTLE INCENTIVE to come out to the polls in November.
Add to this the RESENTMENT IN THE LATINO COMMUNITY Green has stirred up over his rough treatment of Christian Estevez in filling Blanco's empty Council seat, the shabby treatment of merchants and property owners in the North Avenue redevelopment area, AND his inflammatory remarks about Latino merchants reportedly made at the August 1 Senior Center meeting.
Meanwhile, with just SEVEN WEEKS TO GO to election day, the only Menendez signs seen in Plainfield are on the lawns of Latino homeowners in the Fourth Ward.
Have Green and DeFilippo painted themselves into an impossible corner in Plainfield?
We'll only know on November 9th.
BACKGROUND READING
The oddsmakers:A lot is riding on a Menendez victory:
- The Cook Political Report [nonpartisan] - "2006 Races" -- TOSSUP
- Congressional Quarterly - "Balance of Power Scorecard: Senate" -- NO CLEAR FAVORITE
- Larry Sabato's Crystal Ball - "2006 Senate Outlook Summary Chart" -- TOSSUP
- Politics NJ - "The Batttle for New Jersey 2006" -- TOSSUP
Will gays work on the campaign?:
- "New Jersey Is as Democratic as It Gets. For One Democrat, That’s a Problem." -- NY Times article, and Plainfield Today archive.
- David Rebovich (Politics NJ): "The political battle: The war? Or Dem corruption?"
- Wally Edge (Politics NJ): "Some interesting poll numbers in a swing town" -- What you get when you strip out the war is a Kean advantage of 11 points.
- Ledger: "The Auditor, Sunday, September 17, 2006" -- Gays threaten not to support Menendez.
- PoliticsNJ: "Joint State Dems / LGBTI statement"
-- Dan Damon
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1 comment:
Maybe this is a good thing. It is clear that incompetence is keeping Plainfield becoming the town it should. What is not so clear is how to stop the madness. And I don't want to hear "that's the way it is!"
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