[laconic]

Yep, its unfortunate that people see the turnpike (admittedly awful in north Jersey and Newark) and ignore the rest of the state, which has many fine places and wonderful people. They also forget that this is a state that voted twice for Ronald Reagan by overwhelming margins and once for GW Bush, just 15 years ago. Its also a state that had 3-1 Rep majorities in both houses of the legislature in the early 1990s after the Florio tax debacle. I recognize that part of the problem is the New York transplants to Central Jersey who bring liberal politics with them; I don't know how you change their views. But a large part of the problem is that the Reps who controlled the legislature really tried to out-dim the Dems, and largely succeeded.