12/30/19 in New Jersey

Former Governor Chris Christie, who knows a thing or two about winning elections in New Jersey, lays it down:

You know what’s happening in blue New Jersey, a very blue state. Jeff Van Drew switches from Democrat to Republican, from the majority party to the minority party in the middle of impeachment because of impeachment. Andy Kim, who won his seat two years ago, is now losing to Katie Gibbs, his Republican challenger. And Tom Malinowski is losing to Tom Kaine Jr., the son of the former governor.

New Jersey may be blue, but we ain't California, we're more a light blue. Medium blue?

As previously noted, Tom Malinowsi is our congressman. To be honest, we've gotten to like the man. He's more or less sane, and has a sense of humor. Malinowski could be a Dem president's secretary of state. Oh well.

12/23/19 in New Jersey (NFL Edition)

Alternate headline: Chris Christie to New Jersey Giants and Eagles fans: Drop Dead.

Beloved former governor Chris Christie likes the Dallas Cowboys:

There wasn’t much reason to hug this time. But Gov. Chris Christie on Sunday sat once again in the private box of Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones, as the Cowboys rolled into Philadelphia’s Lincoln Financial Field to face the Eagles. Of course, despite hailing from New Jersey, and governing it for eight years, Christie is a lifelong, unabashed Cowboys fan. And he’s friends with Jones, often taking in games with the team’s owner.

It's true. The New Jersey native loves the Cowboys and wasn't afraid to let New Jersey know about it. Of course here in New Jersey we like the Giants or the Eagles, both Cowboys' division rivals.* For European readers, it's like finding out your Prime Minister is a huge fan of Brazil's Futball team. Jerry Jones is thought by most to be evil incarnate.**

That's based. Christie was always this blunt when he was governor. We loved him for it. 

As it happens the Cowboys played the Eagles last night. Thankfully the Eagles won 17-9, a great game and win. If the Eagles take care of business next week against our own Giants, they'll win the division. Mrs. Stroock was on a plane to Indiana last night and while she had WiFi  the NFL ap was glitchy. We relayed scores to her. It was fun.

*We won't count the Jets. Decent people do not associate with their fan base.
**We really don't have a problem with the man.

12/2/19 in New Jersey

We're having some sort of winter storm here today in New Jersey:

With New Jersey set to see its first snowstorm of the season just as people hit the roads to return home, to work, and to school after Thanksgiving, Gov. Phil Murphy warned residents Sunday morning to brace for two days of messy weather and travel conditions — and urged them to practice patience and caution.

No shit?

One of the annoyances of modern politics is that northern governors feel they have to give twice daily updates from impressive sounding 'command centers' and what not.

Chris Christie did it best. As Hurricane Irene bore down on New Jersey the corrupt mayor of the corrupt Atlantic City decided people should hunker down in a local gymnasium rather than get the hell off the coast. Christie took to the airwaves and said you've been warned, you're on your own and 'you're not blaming us.'

We loved our governor.

6-18-19 in New Jersey

Well this is no surprise:

MADISON - One-third of adult New Jersey residents cannot name the state’s current governor, according to a poll conducted by Fairleigh Dickinson University.  

The survey by the school found that only 67% of adults surveyed knew that New Jersey’s governor is named Gov. Phil Murphy.

Some New Jerseyans could only remember the name “Phil” or “Murphy”, while others referred to the governor as “William Murphy” or “Bill Murphy.”

And apparently 21 out of the 802 people surveyed said that they knew the name of the governor and then named former Gov. Chris Christie.

Murphy is pretty forgettable while Chris Christie, for whom we twice voted, is not.

As we have stated before, in New Jersey the governor's office is more or less a non-partisan thing. You really have to piss people off to be hated. 

Ask Jim Florio, Florio Free in '93!

NJ12 reports that 1/3 number is in line with other states.

New Jersey and Virginia, the Suckitude

This blog's unholy trinity of commentators, Carmichael, Harris and Markey Mark are eagerly awaiting our thoughts on the NJ and VA elections. Well, here they are.

New Jersey is a blue state.

After eight years of Chris Christie Democrat candidate Phil Murphy could have embezzled the state orphan fund, ordered the sate police to racially profile Senator Corey Booker, molested a Girl Scout troop, and been the 'Lucky Pierre' in a three way with Chris Christie and Jim McGreevey and he still would have ground Republican Kim Guadano to dust for later use as tire traction in an ice storm.

Virginia's also a blue state.

As late as 2004 Virginia was reliably red. That actually started to change in 2001 when Mark Warner won the governorship. Tim Kaine won same in 2005. In 2006 when Senator George Allen was defeated we knew the tide had turned.

We moved form Virginia to New Jersey in 2001, just when the blue transformation began. Coincidence, we think not.

Interestingly Virginia's blue areas, NOVA (Northern Virginia), Richmond, Norfolk, seem to be getting bluer. While the red rural areas seem to be getting redder.

Let us call Virginia a purple state, though a deep purple state. There, now you won't be able to get  Hush out of your head all day.

We lived in Arlington, the very NO of the NO part of NOVA.

In 2000 it was filled with young people like Mrs. Stroock and myself just getting started after school. One  met few people who were actually from Arlington much less Virginia. Arlington Country is really part of the Washington metro area surrounded by the infamous Beltway.

One also encountered a ton of immigrants. Here The Simpsons was played out live in that every 7/11 was owned by an Indian man. So were the hotels. There were tons of Somali immigrants, we once helped the head-scarfed wife of a Somali man with a broken down car. Mohamed was a janitor in Arlington but back in Mogadishu he'd been a computer science professor. We say the career change was worth it. The area also had a large Ethiopian immigrant population. Our friend who worked at Fridays said the Ethiopians always, always ordered 7&7s. NOVA had Lots of people from the Middle East too with a big mega-mosque at Seven Corners. After September 11th we asked our G-Man  friend if he knew of that mosque and he said, 'Yes I'm parked outside it all the time'.

So there's your demographic change, and there's why Virginia is blue.

The other take away from this election is motivation. Like Labour after Brexit in Theresa May's blundering election this year, the left is highly motivated. They're pissed off and organized. We saw this first hand at a town hall for our own Leonard Lance last winter.

So the GOP, Bannon, Trump, et al better be prepared.

Governor (elect) Tim Murphy and entourage