Read PolitickerNJ.com's Year End Review

BEST AND WORST CAMPAIGNS OF 2009
BEST CAMPAIGNS
OF THE YEAR
1. Chris Christie for Governor
The biggest prize in New
Jersey politics is
Drumthwacket. The
Christie campaign stayed
relentlessly on message,
rejecting pro-bono
consulting opportunities
from editorial page
writers, columnists and many in their own party
regarding a property tax plan. The campaign
refused to get dragged into some of the process
issue fights – more than a dozen separate
negative attacks ― despite the best efforts of the
Corzine campaign (and sometimes from the
formidable primary campaign of Steve Lonegan)
to throw things up against the wall with the hope
that they might stick. But when they chose to
fight back, they did so effectively. Team Christie,
knowing they couldn’t compete with Corzine’s
personal checkbook, held firm to their campaign
plan and harvested their money until they were
ready to spend it. That takes incredible
discipline. The Christie campaign successfully
squashed independent Chris Daggett so they
could take anti-Corzine votes away from Daggett
while keeping the anti-Christie voters content to
support Daggett. In what is arguably America’s
bluest state, Christie’s 86,714 vote win, with
pluralities in Democratic strongholds like
Middlesex County, was indeed impressive.
2. Nelson Albano and Matt Milam for State
Assembly
The 1st districts
Democrats were the #1
GOP targets and in a
district that the
Republican gubernatorial
candidate won handily,
Jeff Van Drew’s team
scored a solid and
impressive victory. Democrats separated the two
Assemblymen from the unpopular Republican
governor and made it into a local campaign. Two
other things that helped them win: South Jersey
Democratic money and an inept campaign from
the Republicans.
3. Jerramiah Healy for Mayor of Jersey City
The uncertainties of Jersey City
politics made Team Healy
remain in campaign mode for
four years. They raised lots of
money, ran an excellent
incumbency protection operation
from City Hall, and scared some
serious challengers out of the
race. With a 53%-26% win –
his two main competitors were
arrested two months later), Jerry Healy is only
Jersey City Mayor since Frank Hague to win three
times without a runoff
4. Mike Doherty for State Senate
After losing a special election
convention last January, the
conservative Warren County
Republican said he’d “rather die”
than not run in the June
primary. Insider contests
weren’t his thing, and over the
next five months, Doherty
effectively made his case
directly to Republican primary
voters in a well-organized,
strongly-messaged campaign
that beat incumbent Marcia Karrow.
5. Kristin Corrado for Passaic County Clerk
Passaic Republicans weren’t
supposed to win; they were
deeply divided into two
warring factions – one side
won the County Clerk
nomination and the other
three Freeholders nods. Much
credit goes to the guys out of
power, Peter Murphy and Mike
Mecca, who overcame Jon
Corzine’s win in Passaic
County with huge suburban
pluralities and a surprise win
in Clifton that helped the GOP win three
Freeholder seats too.
6. Peter Cammarano for Mayor of Hoboken
Too bad he turned out to be
an alleged crook: Pete
Cammarano’s campaign for
Mayor of Hoboken was
masterful. The campaign
forged a coalition of young
professionals who were
relatively short-term residents
with the born-and-raised
Hoboken old guard, and added
support from public employees.
7. Bruce Garganio and Mary Ann O’Brien for
Burlington County Freeholder
The numbers favor Republicans in Burlington
County, and while the GOP was helped by internal
strife within the Democratic leadership, they get
credit for running a strong, detail-oriented
campaign to keep control of the Board of
Freeholders in Republican hands. Chris Russell
gets a lot of credit for making sure the GOP made
no mistakes in a county where Democrats were
on the verge of winning.
8. Joe Menza for Mayor of Hillside
This political newcomer beat
the machine – Charlotte
DeFilippo’s local machine – in
a runoff. Joe Menza skillfully
won the support of the losing
candidates in the first election.
Still no explanation why the
Democratic Governor’s
Association viewed the Hillside
mayoral race as important
enough to invest $10,000 in
their bid to beat Menza.
9. Lou Magazzu for Cumberland County
Freeholder
Two ex-Democratic
Freeholders ran as
independents and joined
Republicans in beating up on
Magazzu. He ran an
aggressive campaign, didn’t
let his opponents drive his
negatives, and won decisively.
People in Cumberland County
really do like Lou Magazzu,
and politically, he’s stronger
than ever.
10. John Curley for Monmouth County
Freeholder
After narrowly losing control in
2008, Monmouth Republicans,
helped by Christie/Guadagno
coattails and a strong direct
mail campaign by Jamestown
Associates, easily won their
majority back with Curley
ousting formidable Democrat
Sean Byrnes by 20 percentage
points.
PREDICTION OF THE YEAR
In his closing arguments to the jury,
former State Sen. Joe Coniglio’s
lawyer, Gerald Krovatin said: “What
kind of fantasy world do we live in
here where they’re trying to convince
you someone would send a bill for a
bribe? Bribes are paid in cash — in
envelopes, in diners, in parking lots, in
shadows. Bribes aren’t paid in check
pursuant to invoices.”
RUNNERS UP:
Dick Codey in September: “And I can
handle Sweeney.” Steve Sweeney’s
response: “I can take Codey with one
hand tied behind my back.”
“Right now, the Italians, the Hispanics,
the seniors are locked down. Nothing
can change that now. . . . I could be,
uh, indicted, and I’m still gonna win 85
to 95 percent of those populations.” –
Hoboken Mayor Peter Cammarano at
a diner discussing his runoff campaign
against Dawn Zimmer with a political
consultant and an undercover witness
cooperating with the U.S. Attorney.
According to Nick Sacco: “People say
they don’t like negative campaigns
but, let’s face it, if candidates go
completely positive they usually don’t
win.”
“It’s great to be at the Steve Sweeney
for Senate Presidency breakfast.” ―
Gov. Jon Corzine at the 115th annual
Peter J. McGuire Labor Day
Observance in Camden County, in
September.
South Amboy Mayor Jack O’Leary,
denying that he would drop out, before
he dropped out: “I just need time. I
can take you on a walk right now and
you’ll see people giving me the
thumbs-up sign and honking their
horns at me and encouraging me to
run - 100 people have reached out to
me telling me to run ― but I need
time. Time is on my side when it
comes to vetting this thing out.”