October 23, 2007 - 1:45pm
South Jersey wish list
By Wally Edge
Tags: Francis Bodine, Dana Redd, Wayne Bryant, Richard Codey, Steve Sweeney, Nicholas Asselta, George Norcross, Frederick Madden, John Adler, Diane Allen, Raymond Lesniak
Key South Jersey Democrats believe that they could emerge from the fall midterm elections with seven State Senate seats, giving them a formidable block if there leadership contests. Four seats are locks: incumbents Stephen Sweeney, Frederick Madden, and John Adler, and Dana Redd, who is seeking Wayne Bryant’s seat in Camden County. Democrats are very high on their chances to oust Republicans Nicholas Asselta and James “Sonny” McCullough, and see a possible pickup in the open eighth district, where their Senate candidate is Francis Bodine, a Republican Assemblyman until he switched parties last spring.
Less likely is a victory in the seventh district, where Democratic insiders say that three-term GOP incumbent Diane Allen appears to be a lock.
There has been considerable speculation that South Jersey and its increasingly large block of Democratic Senators might be interested in backing a challenge to Senate President Richard Codey; George Norcross, the most powerful man in South Jersey, is no Codey fan. Senator Raymond Lesniak, a Union County Democrat of considerable clout (and a thirty-year veteran of the Legislature) had been mentioned as a possible Codey challenger, though sources close to Lesniak believe such a challenge to be highly unlikely.
Instead, South Jersey has an agenda led by two high-ticket items: keeping Adler as Chairman of the Judiciary Committee, and enhancing the power of Sweeney – either as the new Senate Majority Leader, or as Chairman of the Appropriations Committee.
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Read the expanded Wake Up Call, our summary of today’s news media coverage.
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Seems like a pretty tame
Seems like a pretty tame wish list to me. Codey would be getting off easy-- just like he always seems to do.
Power shift
Asselta is done. He is looking and acting more like a defeated candidate each day. He is a nice guy who simply has done very little for the 1st District. He made some big mistakes by bringing on " out of state " advisors. Van drew will win this race by a surprising margin. Sonny "the ethnic jokeman" McCullough does not have a prayer. The guy is just a lightweight going up against a heavyweight. The Democratic sweep in the South will alter the way things are done in New Jersey. Everything must now come through Sweeney and Roberts.
Lesniak
Codey and Lesniak are friends, no way would Lesniak stab him in the back.
The Solid South
After this election, it is conceivable that there won't be a Republican senator left standing south of Robert Singer, and I think this should indeed be the goal for South Jersey Democrats. It is also completely within the realm of possibility to have Rich Dennison defeat Diane Allen; this is a low turn-out year, Allen has the "R" albatross next to her name, and this is a Democratic-leaning district. That said, I'm more hesitant than firstamend07 to crown the Asselta-Van Drew contest to the better candidate (Van Drew), and the same cautious optimism should be used for Whelan's race, too.
If South Jersey needs were met in the state legislature (and, to an extent, it isn't), then we wouldn't even need to bring up the idea of Sweeney replacing Codey, especially since the latter is a solid, effective majortity leader already. Either one would make a superb majority leader, though I lean towards Sweeney in picking a favorite. And we're hoping that Adler's tenure after re-election district 6 is a short one, since, with a little luck and some money behind him, he could be the next congressman in district 3.
The Solid Democratic South is arising!
Asselta stuck in the Sand
Money and Momentum are on Van Drews side. Asselta has lost the energy and everyone can see he has nothing positive to talk about. His campaign people have made him into Mr. Negative and the voters of the 1st District are not responding.
There is also an unfortunate aspect to his campaign. Some people who are supporting him are getting out of control and he can't seem to reign them in. A small group of disruptive Asselta supporters are showing up at events and acting in an embarrassing manner. The soon to be ex- State Senator is not being helped by these rude displays.
The South will be unified in two weeks!