Ronald Reagan

State Sen. Sean Kean (R-Monmouth) with a framed photograph of his father, Thomas J. Kean, and JFK. 

ASBURY PARK - As the son of a WWII infantryman who also served in the Korean War, state Sen. Sean Kean (D-Monmouth) found himself drawn to the presidential candidacy of U.S. Sen. John McCain (R-AZ).

"You know more about a guy because of what he’s able to endure," said Kean, a member of the McCain Campaign’s New Jersey steering committee.

When McCain’s most senior supporters in the state talk about going after "Reagan Democrats," they’re describing voters with backgrounds not dissimilar from Kean’s.

I became a registered Republican in 2003. It was because I finally became disappointed with the Democrats over how they were behaving in Annapolis. The more I did research, the more disenchanted I became with the party. From the nitpicking and partisan bickering with Governor Robert Ehrlich (R) to their attempts to raise taxes (which they succeeded in this past November.) Then there was the fact that they took the black vote for granted. They would promise a number of things and not worry about delivering the goods when the time came.

I became a Republican because they were at the very least more honest about what they stood for. Oh, and that whole anti-slavery thing helped as well. The Republicans acknowledge that they were wrong to play racial politics, but the conservative base was honest about their stance on Affirmative Action. Not every person in a political party agrees with each other, but they have core values that unite them. Let me be clear, I DID NOT become Republican because of Ronald Reagan.

President Bush got into a lot of hot water last week when he suggested to the Israeli Knesset that Barack Obama was an appeaser for being willing to talk to Iran.

In New Jersey, incumbent United States Senators have rarely faced competitive primary challenges, and the only incumbent Senator to lose a primary was Clifford Case, a four-term Republican who lost 50.7%-49.3% to conservative Jeffrey Bell, a former speechwriter for Ronald Reagan’s 1976 presidential campaign.  Case had faced primary challenges from the right before: Robert Morris, who had been Chief Counsel for Senate Internal Security Subcommittee headed by Joseph McCarthy, won 33% in 1960; and James Walter Ralph, a Bergen County physician, received 30% in 1972.

In the pursuit of an image that transcends partisanship, Barack Obama is walking a fine line between building a new politics with himself atop the pedestal and engaging in the old-school, bare-knuckle politics it takes to win a modern campaign. The truth is, instead of running a campaign that avoids the gutter in favor of the high road, Obama's team is running exactly the same campaign as every other successful presidential campaign in recent history, and the same one John McCain and Hillary Clinton are running; Obama's people are just doing a better job of it so far

GOP convention officials were facing tight time constraints after elections for national committeeman and committeewoman took far longer than expected on Friday. They decided to cut speeches by congressional candidates back by a couple of minutes.

This did not sit well with a lot of people. The candidates were then allowed to speak again at the district caucuses the following day.

Today's weekend edition of the Wall Street Journal has columnist Kimberly Strassel's wide-ranging interview of Rep. Steny Hoyer, in which the Majority Leader talks about the accomplishments and bipartisanship of the 110th Congress, the 2008 elections and Ronald Reagan's place among Democrats.

On maintaining the House majority in the 2008 elections, Hoyer predicts, "I think we'll pick up north of 10" new Democrats, believing, "Most of [the 41 elected in 2006] are in tough districts, that is say, swing districts, but all of them are in very good shape."

He feels John McCain is the strongest candidate the Republicans could have picked, as he "has appeal beyond his party," yet is ready to engage him on the Arizona Senator's hallmark issue of national security.

From Wilson to Clinton, Hoyer runs through the litany of Democratic presidents who led the country in wartime, noting, "Frankly, the only Republican who is in that group is essentially Ronald Reagan."

CONCORD- Tonight, New Hampshire Republican Chairman Fergus Cullen received the "Gipper Award" at the New Hampshire Young Republicans (NHYRs) annual convention.

The award is in honor of Republicans who have contributed to the NHYRs and the Republican Party. Previous honorees include former GOP chairwoman Jayne Millerick and current congressional candidate Grant Bosse.