Happy Birthday, PolitickerNJ.com

When PoliticsNJ.com began a journey into the world of New Jersey politics on February 1, 2000, we all lived in a different universe. Christie Whitman was midway through her second term as Governor, Republicans controlled both houses of the Legislature, 76-year-old Frank Lautenberg was retiring from the United States Senate, and some mega millionaire Wall Street guy no one ever heard of was running for his seat.

These eight years have been epic times in New Jersey politics: Jon Corzine spent $75 million to win a Senate seat; for twelve days in the summer of 2000, Bob Torricelli was an announced gubernatorial candidate; Whitman resigned as Governor to join the Bush cabinet and was replaced by Donald DiFrancesco, who dropped his own bid for Governor just four months later amidst allegations of ethical violations; Democrats outmaneuvered the GOP on legislative redistricting; Bret Schundler beat Bob Franks in the '01 gubernatorial primary; the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 changed the world; James E. McGreevey was elected Governor; Democrats captured control of the State Assembly - and an election night coup installed Albio Sires, not Joe Doria, as Speaker - and the Senate was tied at 20-20, leaving both parties with shared power of the upper house.

In 2002, a political unknown named Douglas Forrester appeared to be headed to the U.S. Senate. The GOP front runner, Jim Treffinger, dropped out of the race four days after FBI agents raided his office - huge news since the new United States Attorney, Chris Christie, was a Republican fundraiser who had been talking about waging war on political corruption. Forrester was leading the embattled incumbent, Torricelli, who had been admonished by his Senate colleagues for ethics issues. But just five weeks before Election Day, Torricelli dropped out of the race. He was replaced by Lautenberg, who beat Forrester by ten percentage points.

McGreevey struggled with upside-down approval ratings, but in 2003 Democrats scored legislative gains: Co-Senate President John Bennett lost his reliably Republican seat amidst ethical woes, and George Norcross spent $5 million to help Fred Madden oust George Geist by just a few dozen votes. One year later, McGreevey was gone: he resigned after admitting he had a sexual relationship with a male staffer whom he had named as his Homeland Security Advisor. Dick Codey became Governor.

Then Jon Corzine decided he wanted the job, so he left the Senate, pushed the popular Codey aside, and easily beat the hapless Forrester in the general election. He appointed Bob Menendez to replace him in the Senate. Some say Corzine believed he was on the road to the White House.

But as they say, be careful what you wish for. State government actually shut down in Corzine's sixth month as Governor, and less than two months later, Attorney General Zulima Farber was forced to resign after she mishandled a simple traffic incident involving her boyfriend. He was nearly killed in a car accident, when a State Trooper was driving at 91 mph and Corzine wasn't wearing a seatbelt. Voters rejected his stem cell research bond issue. He wants to make tolls about as expensive as his campaigns. And then there was Carla.

Menendez beat Tom Kean, Jr. for Senate, and Linda Stender almost beat Mike Ferguson. Paul Stuart Aronsohn became a Rotarian. Cory Booker was elected Mayor of Newark. Bill Gormley retired; Democrats won his Senate seat, and beat Nick Asselta - but Ellen Karcher lost. Christie continued his war on corruption; Wayne Bryant (Oink! Oink!), Sharpe James, Mims Mackett, and Al Steele, among others, were indicted. Steve Lonegan was arrested - a badge of honor; he was protesting toll hikes at a Corzine Town Hall meeting. Rudy Giuliani dominated New Jersey's GOP endorsements and had a 30-point lead - now Rudy's people have flocked to John McCain, and Barack Obama is challenging Hillary Clinton for New Jersey's Democratic delegates.

And Frank Lautenberg, who celebrated his 84th birthday nine days ago, is seeking a fifth term in the United States Senate.

When we started PoliticsNJ.com, now PolitickerNJ.com, eight years ago today, we disclosed that Wally Edge was a pseudonym. We have chosen to remain anonymous, much like James Madison, Alexander Hamilton and John Jay when they wrote the Federalist Papers under the pseudonym Publius. That's provided an interesting dimension to our coverage of state politics, complimented by full-time reporters like Brian Murphy, Steve Kornacki, and now Max Pizarro and Matt Friedman.

(Wally Edge is not related to the Honorable Walter Evans Edge, a former newspaper publisher from Atlantic City who was twice elected to serve as the Governor of New Jersey, twice elected to the United States Senate, the United States Ambassador to France under President Herbert Hoover, and even more impressively, the New Jersey Senate President.)

We're pleased by the impact our site, the quality and depth of the audience we reach - elected officials, party leaders, opinion leaders, journalists, staffers, and political junkies - and we're proud of the recognition we've won as a premier source of political news:

"Mandatory daily reading for the political class in New Jersey." --The Record

"A necessary daily stop for politically minded web surfers. It serves up a quirky compendium of columns, political news flashes and links to other peoples stuff and a pretty solid diet of local and state politics for people who are hungry to know." -- New York Times

"A virtual watercooler for the state's officeholders, news makers, editorial writers, and policy hounds. No doubt anyone with ties to Trenton's political or governmental apparatuses logs on regularly to read the skinny on themselves, their allies, and their enemies." -- New Jersey Monthly

"This anonymous web master knows Jersey politics back and forth." -- Star-Ledger

"The PoliticsNJ Web site (is) the designer drug for Garden State political junkies." -- Jersey Journal

Under the ownership and leadership of the Observer Media Group since March 2007, PolitickerNJ.com has experienced substantial growth, with a better technological platform and a modern design that provides political news for political insiders.

Since PolitickerNJ.com's launch, New Jersey has had eight separate Governors (albeit some for extraordinarily brief periods - was John Bennett really the Governor?) and has experienced historic changes in state politics. Now, the New Jersey model for state political websites is going national, and Wally Edge is now writing political insider columns in nine different states - with more to come.

With grateful appreciation to our readers, thank you for a wonderful eight years. Hopefully the next eight will be equally as exciting. Of course they will: New Jersey never disappoints us.