| Posted on Mon, Oct. 23, 2006 |  |
| |
| Bergen County: Battle zone Inquirer Trenton Bureau PARAMUS, N.J. - Sen. Hillary Clinton took the stage to hoots and applause yesterday at a union hall here in Bergen County - the ultimate battleground in New Jersey's ferocious race for U.S. Senate and the one contest in the country where a Democratic incumbent is in trouble. Speaking to a crowd of 650 Democratic activists at IBEW Local 164, Clinton said Washington "has a dangerous combination of arrogance and incompetence" and urged them to help get out the vote on Election Day. "Will you work for the next two weeks, for the next two days, to elect Bob Menendez senator?" she asked. "A lot of people only vote in the presidential election. This is a midterm election. We need them to vote in this election." Clinton was speaking in Bergen County - the bellwether county of New Jersey. It's particularly important for Republicans in a close race. Christie Whitman, the last Republican to win statewide office, took the county by 30,000 votes in her narrow reelection victory in 1997. Since the earliest days of his campaign to unseat Bob Menendez, Republican nominee Thomas H. Kean Jr. has had his eyes on Bergen County. It's the site of his North Jersey headquarters, the place where cable-television viewers have been watching Kean ads for months - well before he began running ads on broadcast television on Oct. 3 - and where he took his first shot at Menendez. The numbers explain the attention. Bergen County, the most populous county in New Jersey, is a "microcosm of the state. It has incredible affluence, racial diversity and poverty. It really is the bellwether of the state," said the county Democratic chairman, Joe Ferriero. It rings up a high volume of votes for both parties, and although it has been handing victory to Democrats lately, it's where any major-party candidate can rely on running 30,000 to 50,000 votes ahead of the loser. The margin of victory alone is close to the total number of voters who turned out for both parties in Cumberland and Salem Counties for last year's governor's race. So as Democrats were setting up the Hillary Clinton visit, Kean operatives were poring over spreadsheets laden with voter turnout and contact data until 3 a.m. on a regular basis. "Kean's operation in Bergen County is by far the most impressive ground operation I've seen from a Republican campaign in New Jersey," said Kevin Collins, Bergen County Republican director. Republicans plan to march out their 72-hour operation - where likely Republican voters are contacted with telephone calls, mail and door knocks in the 72-hour period before the Nov. 7 election. That operation helped President Bush win in several states other than New Jersey in 2004. Still, Democrats have a polished field operation, which a senior party strategist calls one of the best in the United States. That machine pulled out voters from the cities and suburbs for a long winning streak that included Gov. Jim McGreevey, U.S. Sen. Robert Torricelli, U.S. Sen. Jon Corzine, and Corzine, a second time, for governor. In each instance, though, the Democratic base of minorities and people of European ethnicity was asked to vote for a candidate with an Irish or Italian surname or in Corzine's case, a candidate whose last name appeared Italian. In this race, for the first time in state history, Democrats are asking their base to support a Hispanic candidate. Menendez is playing that advantage and has ads running on Spanish-language television and radio stations. Because a minority candidate has never run statewide, analysts suggest that Menendez is going to need to offset potentially lower turnouts in the suburbs. So, Democrats are pounding hard on the richest areas, Hudson and Essex Counties, for them. Historically, they've pulled out a combined 200,000 votes for statewide candidates in recent elections in those counties and trounced the GOP by as much as 3-1. Some Democrats worry about growing internal conflicts in Menendez's home base of Hudson County, where insurgents plan to go after old-guard stalwarts State Sens. Bernard Kenny and Joseph Doria, who also is the mayor of Bayonne. Middlesex County, where Democrats beat Republicans by between 30,000 and 60,000 votes in the last four statewide races, is a Democratic stronghold under stress. Its most powerful political figure, former Senate President John A. Lynch, pleaded guilty to corruption and tax-evasion charges last month, leaving the party organization wounded. Edison, in Middlesex County, was the site of yesterday's Kean campaign rally with Sen. John McCain (R., Ariz.). And some worry about history: The Democratic base areas gave big votes to Kean's father, the former governor. In 1985, the elder Kean won every town in New Jersey except for tiny Roosevelt in Monmouth County. He even won Newark's central ward. He did well with African American and Jewish voters, generally reliable Democrats. The former governor has taken to the campaign trail on his son's behalf with an event in North Jersey last week and one scheduled for South Jersey this week. Republicans are banking on Morris, Monmouth and Ocean Counties - where they have historically pulled a combined 200,000 votes. Split counties such as Union, Passaic and Bergen are battlegrounds. Union County Democrats rely on turnouts from Elizabeth, Linden and Rahway and hold their breath as votes come in from the "ridge" communities of Westfield, Kean's hometown, and Summit. In those split areas, like the rest of the state, both parties are struggling with a lack of enthusiasm among voters. Some Republicans aren't happy with the war in Iraq and Bush; some Democrats don't know Menendez or are worried about the barrage of attacks against him over ethics issues. So while they're fighting over Bergen, they're trying hard to stir up their base votes. Democrats in Camden County are sending out crews every day to drop literature. On weekends, unions take over. Robo calls from Hillary Clinton will have a Burlington County specific message to the growing number of voters who are choosing Democratic candidates. In a pitch to voters who are most likely to pull the party lever on Election Day, signs line main thoroughfares in Newark, Jersey City, Camden and other urban communities saying "Stop Bush, Vote Nov. 7." To find more news and information about New Jersey politics, go to http://philly.com/njvoters Contact staff writer Cynthia Burton at 856-779-3858 or cburton@phillynews.com. | |
Monday, October 23, 2006
Hillary Clinton Addresses IBEW Local 164 Crowd
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment