Larry Weitzner

PART ONE | PART TWO | PART THREE

Ken Kurson, the co-author with Rudy Giuliani of Leadership, which spent 25 weeks on the New York Times bestseller list, has joined Jamestown Associates, a New Jersey-based political consulting firm that works for GOP candidates nationally.  Kurson served as Deputy Director of Communications for Giuliani partners, and most recently served as COO of Giuliani’s presidential campaign.

"I am thrilled about Ken Kurson joining the firm. He is brilliant writer, a smart strategist and is  passionate about winning. He is a perfect fit for Jamestown Associates,” said Jamestown Associates CEO Larry Weitzner.  “Over the month that we've been discussing Ken's arrival, Tom Blakely and I were very excited to bring Ken aboard and the three of us had a lot of fun anticipating the great things we'd accomplish together."

Larry Weitzner, the CEO of Jamestown Associates, issued a statement this evening on the death of his business partner, Tom Blakely:

Third district congressional candidate Christopher Myers has dropped Jamestown Associates as his campaign consultant – just a week after Jamestown scored a major victory in Maryland where their client ousted a seven-term incumbent in a GOP primary.

Judging by the pre-election coverage, at least two of the state’s congressional races are expected to be among the most hotly contested House seats in the nation.

Perhaps the big story is the Republican’s financial disadvantage given Jim Saxton's and Mike Ferguson’s retirements in 2008. At least that was the focus of the Inquirer’s recent coverage by Cynthia Burton, GOP retirements could prove crucial, (11/21/07). The story highlighted the Republican Party’s electoral loss of a “$2 million head start on campaign fundraising”.

Two interesting scenarios for people who want to over think the race for Congress in the seventh district:

Could millionaire businesswoman Anne Evans Estabrook, a former resident of Summit, switch from the U.S. Senate race to a bid for Congress? Estabrook lives in Spring Lake, where Mike Ferguson lived when he decided to move to Union County in 2000 and run for a suddenly open seat. Estabrook’s consultant is Larry Weitzner – the same strategist who came up with the idea of moving Ferguson north (he was preparing for a rematch of his ’98 race against Frank Pallone) and entering a crowded GOP primary with the biggest campaign budget.

Not a great cycle for Message & Media hotshots Steve DeMicco and Brad Lawrence: their two State Senate candidates got beaten – Ellen Karcher received 46% in District 12, and Seema Singh took just 37% in the fourteenth.

And now DeMicco and Lawrence have a bigger problem: their mail in the 37th district for Democrats Loretta Weinberg, Gordon Johnson and Valerie Huttle – the reformer pieces – seems to have really annoyed Bergen County Democratic Chairman Joseph Ferriero. Does this but DeMicco and Lawrence in a war with the powerful Ferriero?