Posted on 08/11/2008 8:48:17 PM PDT by Clintonfatigued
Linden Mayor Richard Gerbounka, an ex-Democrat who turned independent and won control of the city two years ago, called upon residents today to support GOP presidential nominee Sen. John McCain.
Standing in front of City Hall, Gerbounka and four members of the City Council urged residents in this Democratic stronghold to cross party lines and support McCain, who will be visiting New Jersey tomorrow.
Gerbounka's move marked the first time since former Elizabeth Mayor Tom Dunn went for Ronald Reagan that a mayor of a major Union County city turned on his party.
"This election is not about Democrats or Republicans. It's an election about picking the best man," Gerbounka said.
The afternoon press conference--also attended by Council members Robert Frazier, Bruce Howe, Joe Harvanik, and Jack Sheehy--came on the eve of McCain's visit to New Jersey tomorrow, where he and his wife are expected to attend private fund-raising events.
(Excerpt) Read more at nj.com ...
This might carry as much weight as an endorsement from Angelina Jolie, but it can’t hurt. And Linden is a heavily Democrat-voting city.
I think we’ll see a lot of this kind of sentiment this election as sober adults make the decision to support the qualified candidate.
What he should've said.
yeha democrats support mccain....good job.
that doesn’t make him Reagan
There is another article at the same source that i just loved to read.
http://blog.nj.com/njv_steven_goldstein/2008/08/paris_hilton_rides_a_swift_boa.html
bump & a ping
It may hurt the mayor more than it helps McCain. Ex St. Paul Mayor Randy Kelly, a Dem, supported Bush last time around and the libs rallied around Chris Coleman and knocked him off.
Unfortunately.
He might still be a socialist himself. Just a more sensible one.
Interesting. Thanks for posting.
Clemenza, the population of Linden, NJ is largely blue-collar, right? I think that this endorsement may be important not so much because the mayor has a lot of political muscle, but because it is yet another sign that blue-collar Anglo Democrats are not comfortable with Obama.
President Bush got 46% in NJ in 2004 despite getting trounced among the state’s Hispanics and blue-collar Anglos, and doing quite poorly among the state’s Jewish voters. I think that John McCain will do better among all three groups due to their distaste for Obama, and will also do a bit better among RINOs than did President Bush, which could get him to 50%.
Linden, NJ is basically "Little Poland" with the main street (Wood Avenue) being a collection of Polish cafes, groceries, Apteka (drug stores, etc). It also has a sizeable black population on the streets along St. George Avenue, and a hispanic (largely Dominican) population on the border with Elizabeth.
The Polish population is a mixture of new (1990s to present) immigrants, as well as second generation Polish Americans whose parents came to the US as D.P. (no dirty jokes, it meant "displaced persons). It is an overwhelmingly Democratic city, although I doubt Obama will get more than 55%.
The key to winning New Jersey is to pick off enough of the ethnic communities (Indians in the Route One corridor, Koreans in North Jersey) while making inroads into the blue collar white communities that have given the Dems their margin of victory in every Presidential election since 1988. It is telling that, in the primary, Obama lost overwhelmingly in the blue collar suburban counties facing Philadelphia (Gloucester and Burlington, to say nothing of Camden County outside of Camden itself). These counties went heavily for Clinton, Gore, and Kerry, but may swing towards McCain due to the rather rough racial politics of the Philadelphia area.
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