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Doug Forrester, the Republican businessman who lost the governor's race to Jon Corzine in 2005, has launched a new health benefits company for public-sector employees, unions and small businesses in New Jersey.   Called Integrity Health, it is designed to fix the problems Forrester and his wife encountered when their teenage daughter suffered a traumatic brain injury and soon after was diagnosed with Hodgkin's lymphoma. "I had to hire somebody to figure out the bills," said Forrester, who, as state director of pensions, ran the state's employee benefit program for six years until 1990. "The bills are impenetrable. A lot...

Former Gov. Christie Whitman believes the Republican Party is in deep trouble. The GOP, she says, is now where the Democrats were a dozen years ago in Washington when they lost control of the House for the first time in 40 years. President Bush's popularity is at a low ebb and several GOP leaders have been snared in ethics scandals. "We're at a critical point," she said. "We're starting to see polls that look just like the polls looked to Democrats in '94." From a converted hayloft of the barn on her family estate in Oldwick, Whitman works each day...

Corzine Ready To Lower Tax Boom On N.J. CBS 2 Speaks To Upset Residents, Many Hint At Leaving Image Marcia Kramer Reporting (CBS) BERGENFIELD New Jersey Gov. Jon Corzine unveils his belt tightening new budget on Tuesday. But even before the announcement, New Jersey taxpayers were expecting the worst. When Corzine voted for himself to become governor of New Jersey he knew that one day he would have to make some difficult and unpopular budget decisions. That day is Tuesday. And already people are lining up to oppose his expected tax hikes. ”It’s utterly ridiculous we have to have the...

If last week's governors elections and the exuberant Democratic claims after sounded familiar, that's because it was, in the immortal words of Yogi Berra, "deja vu all over again." Four years ago, Democrats also won the governorships of Virginia and New Jersey in the only two statewide contests in that 2001 off-year election. The next day Democrats and political news analysts said the results proved Republicans were in trouble and would suffer serious losses in 2002's elections. But it didn't turn out that way. The Republicans, with some nonstop campaigning by President Bush, made sizable gains in the House and...

I expect most New Jersey Republicans will never again allow themselves and the party to be abused by Mr. Forrester. Forrester lost not because of George Bush, but because he was not George Bush (who by the way was not even on the ballot). Forrester used his money and the party establishment to get the nomination against a number of primary opponents who, though less well funded, were powered-up by a base of conservative activism that had voted for Bush in 2004. As a result, a good many local activists, among those who voted for Bush in 2004, set aside...

The Corzine Agenda: Good for New Jeresyans? By MURRAY SABRINJerseyPolitics.com.com Columnist In his victory statement Tuesday night, governor-elect Corzine reiterated a number of goals he wants to accomplish in his first term. Let’s look at the major initiatives he wants to pursue. One of Corzine’s first priorities is property tax relief/reform. During the campaign he promised a 40% increase in property tax rebates over four years to seniors and middle-income families as well as rebates for renters. Tax relief for upper middle and upper income families and individuals are not on the governor-elect’s agenda. Why? Corzine is a proponent of...

It's all George W. Bush's fault. Doug Forrester, in his first postelection interview, laid the blame for his loss in the governor's race last week directly at the feet of President Bush. He said the public's growing disaffection with Bush, especially after Hurricane Katrina, made it impossible for his campaign to overcome the built-in advantage Democrats have in a blue state like New Jersey. "If Bush's numbers were where they were a year ago, or even six months ago, I think we would have won on Tuesday," Forrester said. "Katrina was the tipping point."

ON THE MORNING after Republican gubernatorial candidate Doug Forrester conceded defeat, one of the party's most feisty conservative pugilists declared war. But Bogota Mayor Steve Lonegan wasn't attacking Democrats. His target was his own party. Fire the GOP state chairman, Lonegan thundered. Fire the assembly minority leader, too. And one more thing: cleanse Republicanism of any taint of liberalism. "It's time to start winning again," Lonegan said. His blistering three-page e-mail, sent well before noon the day after Tuesday's double-digit triumph for Democrat Jon Corzine, was not so much a call for Republicans to regain their footing, but proof that...

It's all George W. Bush's fault. Doug Forrester, in his first postelection interview, laid the blame for his loss in the governor's race last week directly at the feet of President Bush. He said the public's growing disaffection with Bush, especially after Hurricane Katrina, made it impossible for his campaign to overcome the built-in advantage Democrats have in a blue state like New Jersey. "If Bush's numbers were where they were a year ago, or even six months ago, I think we would have won on Tuesday," Forrester said. "Katrina was the tipping point." Forrester sat for the interview yesterday,...

To paraphrase the late conservative intellectual Richard Weaver, election results have consequences. The consequences of the off-year 2001 elections will not be limited to the manner in which the victors govern; they will have a national impact as future pretenders to public office ponder their meaning and plan campaigns accordingly. Republicans are likely to draw all the wrong lessons from November 6 and do so at their peril. To review, the GOP lost the governorship in both Virginia and New Jersey while retaining the mayor's office in New York City (the Houston mayoral race will be decided in a runoff)....

“Wilson and DeCroce Must Step Down in wake of 2005 debacle.” Bogota Mayor Steve Lonegan said today that the massive ten-point Corzine landslide victory over Doug Forrester coupled with a minimum one seat Assembly loss was a message that the state Republican Party needs to rebuild with new, conservative leadership and said the first step were resignations from State GOP Chair Tom Wilson and Assembly Minority Leader Alex DeCroce. “The Republican Party faced a humiliating defeat in last night’s elections because the party leadership went out of its way to tell conservatives to ‘shut up and sit in the back...

Unofficial 2005 election results for NJ Governor Follow the money. (Look at Essex.) NOTE: Newark, the 'drag and drop' capital of NJ, is in Essex County Corzine "walking around money" is virtually unlimited (source: Chris Matthews) Calculating a black man's worth to be 5/3 of a vote is no less racist, and arguably more so, than calculating his worth to be 3/5 of a white man; the latter is demeaning, but the former is dehumanizing. THE FIRST BLACK PRESIDENT? clinton legacy of lynching update

The 2001 elections http://www.michaelbarone.com ^ | 11/7/01 | michael barone The 2001 elections, Democrats have been spinning for weeks, are a harbinger of what will come in 2002 and 2004. Anticipating the victories they have now won in the races for governor in New Jersey and Virginia, Democrats suggested that 2001 would show a weakening of the Republican Party and an inability by George W. Bush to translate his 85 percent-plus job approval rating into victories for Republican candidates. Now that we have the results, how valid are these claims? Odd-year elections are a harbinger of off-year and presidential-year elections...

Corzine elected governor of New Jersey 13 minutes ago Democratic U.S. Sen. Jon Corzine (news, bio, voting record) was elected governor of New Jersey on Tuesday, defeating Republican Doug Forrester after an exceptionally nasty and expensive race, media outlets reported. Corzine, a multi-millionaire and former Wall Street executive, and Forrester, a wealthy business owner, spent an estimated $72 million of their own money in campaigns marked by charges of corruption and infidelity, including the Forrester campaign's use of damning quotes by Corzine's ex-wife.

Can this be true?????

For Everything Jersey on this Election day...find info at http://videos.news12.com/2005NJVOTE/NJVOTE2005.HTM#Public%20Questions

For those of us following the recent history of exit polls, the headline is all you need to read to get the joke. ;-) Go Forrester!!! Go Kilgore!!! Pull the upsets, gentlemen!!!

U.S. Sen. Jon Corzine (news, bio, voting record) acknowledged a little nervousness as he voted Tuesday in his race for governor of New Jersey, one of several contests being closely monitored for evidence of how the GOP's recent struggles are influencing voters. ADVERTISEMENT Tuesday's voting in New Jersey concluded a campaign that featured more personal attacks than actual talk about the issues. The races there and in Virginia — together the biggest contests in this off-year election season — broke spending records in both states, got progressively nasty and yet remained close. Several New Jersey voters said Tuesday they were...

My Fellow FReepers, As it now past midnight (well at least for those of us in Central Standard Time) and I did a general search and couldn't find a single thread dedicated to election 2005, I have taken the liberty of creating one. THIS is the place to post all your updates and discussions on '05 races around the country. From the Boston Mayoral Race to the fight for Virginia Attorney General, keep the adrenaline flowing here. Will the GOP make a midterm gubernatorial comeback after suffering through the 2001 "mistakes" of McGreeley and Mark Warner? Will Ahnuld, the...

I just saw a ridiculous, over-the-top, negative ad by Jon Corzine on Monday Night Football. It started out by intoning about the "Bush-Rove smear campaign by Doug Forrester." Then it talks about Forrester "raising taxes by $200 million" (I'm still trying to figure out how a guy who has never held elected office can raise taxes) and some other dumb stuff. I can't believe a candidate cruising toward election would run such a desperate and nasty new ad the night before an election. Corzine's numbers must have dropped like a rock since his miserable debate performance Saturday night.