Burlington

Burlington County Democrats have picked their candidates for 2007:  Benjamin Braxton, Jr., who spent the last thirteen years as Willingboro Public Safety Dircector, will challenge Sheriff Jean Stanfield, and Dr. Thomas Bader, a Moorestown Civic leader and University of Pennsylvania professor, will run for the open Freeholder seat being vacated by Vincent Farias.  

GOP presidential candidate Duncan Hunter will have at least one supporter in New Jersey: his friend, Jim Saxton, a thirteen-term Congressman who serves on the House Armed Services Committee with Hunter. Saxton has led GOP leaders in Burlington and Ocean counties know of his support for Hunter, but understands that they will not follow him in supporting the long-shot bid of the Congressman from San Diego.

In the part of the state that could become a battleground in the 2007 mid-term legislative elections, Governor Jon Corzine's approval ratings are upside-down.

In Atlantic, Monmouth and Ocean counties, which includes the 2nd, 11th and 12th legislative districts, Corzine's job approval is at 37%-46%, with his handling of the property tax issue at 32%-47%. In Burlington, Camden, Cape May, Cumberland, Gloucester and Salem counties, which includes the 1st, 3rd, 4th and 7th districts, the Governor is at 39%-46%. On property taxes, Corzine is at 26%-51% in the region.

David Fried, the Mayor of Washington Township (Mercer County) is reportedly mulling a challenge to State Senator Robert Singer in the 2007 Republican primary. Insiders say that Fried has the ability to self-fund his race; his company, which heped small businesses outsource employee benefits, was sold to Fidelity Investments. Singer is assured the organization line in Ocean and Burlington counties, but Fried is boasting to Republican leaders that he has already lined up the votes to beat Singer at a Monmouth GOP convention.