Francis Bodine

Just days after losing one of the hardest fought legislative campaigns of 2007, outgoing Republican state Sen. James “Sonny” McCullough found himself on a flight to Myrtle Beach, S.C. with Democratic Assemblyman Jim Whelan, who had just ousted him from his state Senate seat by a 14 point margin.

Democrats had spent over $3 million to beat McCullough in one of the nastiest races in the state – succeeding in taking him out but not his Assembly running mates Vince Polistina and John Amodeo. But the two former opponents had, even by then, set aside their differences and were on friendly terms.

Democratic campaign spokesman Jeff Meyer said early intel shows high voter turnout in key Democratic Party towns in the 8th district: Evesham, Moorestown and Pemberton Township.

"That is a very good sign for us," said Meyer in a brief telephone interview from party headquarters in Mount Laurel.

Republican state Senate candidate Phil Haines remains the favorite against Assemblyman Francis Bodine, who switched parties earlier this year to run for the state Senate in district 8.

The race for State Senator in District 2 is a Toss-Up, while Nicholas Asselta and Ellen Karcher could be headed for defeat, according to a new PoliticsNJ.com Battleground '07 analysis.  READ

Senate President Dick Codey is taking an active role in some south Jersey campaigns previously considered to the territory of South Jersey boss George Norcross.

Codey is reportedly donating hundreds of thousands of dollars to the ultra-competitive legislative races in districts one and two.

The Republican mail piece hit last week in between two debates in four days, and it was arguably the most controversial of the political season, not just in the contentious 8th district but anywhere.

Next to a photograph of masked men marching in a column with guns at the ready, the words refer to a terror suspect nabbed by authorities in connection with a conspiracy to bomb Fort Dix: "He came to our country illegally. He plotted with other Islamic radicals to kill American soldiers... Now Tracy Riley's family's law firm is defending him... and your tax dollars are paying them to do it."

Riley's husband is the court-appointed attorney representing one of the terror suspects.

All but counted out in his district 8 state Senate race, Assemblyman Fran Bodine threw aside a dysfunctional microphone and declared in a booming voice his willingness to fight Wednesday night in front of an audience of mostly senior citizens in the gated community of Leisuretown in Southampton.

His opposition was subdued, even silent.

Sitting on a lead according to internal GOP polling, confident in the knowledge that the district tilts in his direction, and fearful of being captured by what Republicans said might be the presence of a hidden video camera wielded by the Democrats, GOP state Senate candidate Phil Haines kept his mouth shut.

On information supplied by a mole in the District 8 office of former Republican Assemblyman Francis Bodine, Assembly Minority Leader Alex DeCroce today filed Assembly Minority Leader Alex DeCroceethics complaints against Democrats running in the 1st, 2nd and 8th districts, charging them with failing to keep their political campaigns from spilling over into their district offices.

According to DeCroce, the legislative campaigns of senate candidates Assemblyman Jim Whelan, Assemblyman Jeff Van Drew and Bodine "used state resources to further their campaign activities or the campaign activities of their running mates," a misuse of public resources that violates conflicts of interest law and the legislative code of ethics and rules, DeCroce said.

The minority leader filed the complaint with Judge Herbert S. Friend, vice chair/acting chair of the state Joint Committee on Ethics, after a Bodine 8th District office staffer told Republicans that he collected tax rebate mail pieces at Bodine’s district office, which he then gave to Bodine’s campaign spokesman Peter Clerkin for use in the candidate’s state Senate race.

Burlington County Clerk Phil Haines, state senate candidate in District 8, admitted today that he made a mistake when he said he received no income from the private law firm, Wells, Singer and Musulin, P.A., in 2006.

"I was going from memory," said Haines, who today corrected the record and said he received $1,233.90 from the law firm in 2006, not in 2005, as he stated yesterday in a telephone interview.

Wounded last week by unfavorable news coverage highlighting his employment record, Assemblyman Francis Bodine went on the attack today in what his opponent in the District 8 State Senate race characterized as the actions of a desperate man.

"We feel good about it. This indicates they’re in trouble," Burlington County Clerk Phil Haines said in response to an ethics complaint Bodine filed against him in two separate public forums.

At a press conference today, Bodine, a Democrat, presented letters he had written: one to Freeholder Director James Wujick and the other to the District Court Ethics Committee of the state Supreme Court, in which he charged Haines with moonlighting as a real estate attorney while collecting a six-figure salary as county clerk.