Ron Paul

Senate candidate Murray Sabrin was presidential candidate Ron Paul’s biggest advocate in New Jersey.  And tonight, Paul, a Texas representative, returned the favor by visiting the self-proclaimed Republican frontrunner for a fundraiser at the Hilton next to Newark’s Penn Station.

The event, which attracted about 100 supporters, cost $250 per head and $100 for the under 30 crowd, who made up about a quarter of the audience.  Though the campaign wasn’t certain exactly how much they made tonight, spokesman George Ajjan announced with great fanfare that the campaign has raised a total of $500,000 so far. 

The general theme of the night was an impending economic collapse if the government doesn’t radically alter its fiscal policy.  But Paul, Sabrin and economist Peter Schiff – Paul’s economic advisor --  all said that the Paul’s presidential campaign ignited a movement that has continued with Sabrin’s Senate candidacy, which Paul referred to as “the strategically most important Senate race that’s going on in the country.”

A Hawthorne man and Ron Paul supporter is fighting the borough after he said local code enforcement officers told him to remove two Ron Paul for president signs from his lawn.

Andrew Gause said a few days after the Feb. 5 primary, officials visited his residence and cited a municipal ordinance outlawing the display of political signs more than seven days after an election.

Threatened with fines if he did not immediately remove the  offending display, Gause said he was determined to defend his Constitutional rights, and refused.

Their candidates are not expected to win in New Jersey, but Mike Huckabee and Ron Paul supporters are preparing for different kinds of victories.

Huckabee state campaign head Peter Kane spent part of the day working the phones and handing out flyers at supermarkets. He’ll hold a victory party tonight at the Scotchwood Diner in Scotch Plains.

A new Quinnipiac poll has Hillary Clinton leading Barack Obama, 48%-43%: Getty Images Photo
Hillary Clinton's lead in New Jersey has shrunk to just five points and leads Barack Obama 48%-43% among likely Democratic primary voters, according to a new Quinnipiac University poll released this morning. On the Republican side, John McCain leads Mitt Romney 52%-30%.

"Sen. Obama has put together a coalition of blacks and independents to dramatically narrow the gap in just the last few days in New Jersey, but the big question remains: Will there be enough of these new, young, first time voters showing up to pull a surprise on Super Tuesday?" said Clay F. Richards, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute.

The Quinnipiac poll mirrors one conducted at the end of last week by Democratic pollster Stanley Greenberg for George Norcross that showed Clinton ahead by six points. Clinton had a 17-point lead in a January 23 Quinnipiac poll, and had been ahead by as much as 34 points late last year.

A Monmouth University/Gannett New Jersey poll of likely Democratic primary voters has Hillary Clinton leading Barack Obama 50%-34% in New Jersey’s February 5 Democratic presidential primary. Among likely GOP voters, John McCain has a 55%-23% lead over Mitt Romney, with 7% for Mike Huckabee and 3% for Ron Paul.

New Jersey Right to Life endorsed Mike Huckabee, saying that Ron Paul's libertarian views conflic with his pro-life stand: Getty Images Photo
New Jersey Right to Life has endorsed Mike Huckabee for the GOP presidential nomination, saying that the former Governor of Arkansas supports passage of a constitutional amendment to protect the right to life, and believes that Roe v. Wade should be overturned.

Two polls show John McCain leading Rudy Giuliani in New Jersey’s February 5 presidential primary: a Neighborhood Research poll has McCain leading 31%-26%, with 18% for Mitt Romney, 9% for Mike Huckabee, and 4% for Ron Paul; and a Fairleigh Dickinson University poll has McCain ahead of Giuliani by a 23%-29% margin, with 10% for Romney and 7% for Huckabee.

On the Democratic side, Hillary Clinton leads Barack Obama, 41%-27%, with 8% for John Edwards in the FDU poll.

Quinnipiac University will release their poll this morning.

A new poll of 380 past Republican voters likely to vote in the Feb. 5th New Jersey primary shows Sen. John McCain leading former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani by 31-26% with 18% for former Mass. Gov. Mitt Romney.

Conducted for a private client on Sunday through Tuesday by Neighborhood Research of Franklin, the survey has a theoretical margin of error of +/- 5.0% in 95% of cases.

New Jerseyans like the job Democrat Frank Lautenberg is doing in the United States Senate, but most voters seem ready for a change – and not because Lautenberg would be 90-years-old at the end of his text term, according to a new Monmouth University/Gannett New Jersey poll released today. Just 19% of New Jersey voters say that Lautenberg should be re-elected to a fifth term, while 58% want someone else. And still, 51% of voters disagree that Lautenberg is getting to old to be effective.

In head-to-head contests, Lautenberg leads two Republican candidates by about the same margins: 38%-24% against millionaire developer Anne Evans Estabrook, and 40%-25% against State Sen. Joseph Pennacchio. The poll did not include Ramapo College Professor Murray Sabrin, a Ron Paul supporter who entered the race after the survey went into the field.

U.S. Senate candidate Murray Sabrin today distanced himself from the content of newsletters released in the name of presidential candidate U.S. Rep. Ron Paul in the 1990s.

Representing Paul at a straw poll in Woodbridge sponsored by Conservatives with Attitude, Sabrin, a Republican, told PolitickerNJ.com, "I disavow any racist statement, which is collectivism. I've been an individualist all my life."