Tom Kean

SPRINGFIELD -- It’s probably the millionth time he’s answered the question, but Gov. Corzine once again today downplayed the possibility that he would accept a cabinet position in the Obama Administration if offered.

“I like my job,” he said.

Still, Corzine chose not to make his response unequivocal. Some insiders are still convinced that he would like to be Secretary of the Treasury, no matter how many times he says otherwise.

On the other hand, Corzine said he would support former Republican Gov. Tom Kean, Sr., a McCain supporter, for Secretary of Education. His name recently turned up in a Politico story speculating about Obama’s cabinet picks (Kean, the former president of Drew University, has been offered three cabinet positions by two presidents over the course of his career).

SPRINGFIELD -- It’s probably the millionth time he’s answered the question, but Gov. Corzine once again today downplayed the possibility that he would accept a cabinet position in the Obama Administration if offered.

“I like my job,” he said.

Still, Corzine chose not to make his response unequivocal. Some insiders are still convinced that he would like to be Secretary of the Treasury, no matter how many times he says otherwise.

On the other hand, Corzine said he would support former Republican Gov. Tom Kean, Sr., a McCain supporter, for Secretary of Education. His name recently turned up in a Politico story speculating about Obama’s cabinet picks (Kean, the former president of Drew University, has been offered three cabinet positions by two presidents over the course of his career).

A bottomed-out President George W. Bush and losses in New Jersey presidential elections extending to the late 1980s invariably prompt Republicans to designate the Reagan era as a modern touchstone for their party.

The fact that he won here in back-to-back elections still sparks the GOP to pepper their fighting words with Reagan invocations, evidenced by McCain surrogates specifically targeting “Reagan Democrats” at the opening of their headquarters in Woodbridge this summer.

The Gipper remains the man among GOP, going up the top of their ticket, where Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) repeatedly refers to Reagan as his hero and Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin hits a raise the roof crescendo every time she utters the late president’s name on the stump.

CRANFORD -- Speaking in support of Assemblywoman Linda Stender's congressional bid at Union County College today, former President Bill Clinton said Hillary had sent him.

"She said that New Jersey had been good to me and good to her, and we needed to be good to New Jersey by helping Linda Stender get elected to Congress," said Clinton.

Clinton spent the bulk of his time giving his usual stump speech for Barack Obama, but he started off by rattling off some of Stender's accomplishments in the legislature.  He characterized her as an integral part of a sweeping change needed in Washington.

"I have reviewed Linda Stender's record very carefully, and if you look at the needs of America today, I think you can make a very compelling case that she has a record that is one of the finest not only in the legislature in New Jersey, but in the entire United States of America," he said.

Clinton specifically mentioned Stender's global warming bill, her previous work dealing with mortgages, her support for stem cell research and her bill to ban junk food in school cafeterias.

He also demonstrated some familiarity with her last race against now-retiring U.S. Rep. Mike Ferguson.

"She lost by 3,000 votes last time.  There are enough people in this room to turn 3,000 votes between now and Tuesday," he said.

He was less familiar with the margins he won New Jersey by in his two elections.  Clinton said he won the first time by one percent, and the second time by 15 percent.

"We haven't won by less since," he said. (John Kerry beat President Bush in the New Jersey by 6%).

Getty Images Photo

Former President Bill Clinton with Linda Stender in the closing days of the 2006 campaign

CRANFORD -- Speaking in support of Assemblywoman Linda Stender's congressional bid at Union County College today, former President Bill Clinton said Hillary had sent him.

"She said that New Jersey had been good to me and good to her, and we needed to be good to New Jersey by helping Linda Stender get elected to Congress," said Clinton.

Clinton spent the bulk of his time giving his usual stump speech for Barack Obama, but he started off by rattling off some of Stender's accomplishments in the legislature.  He characterized her as an integral part of a sweeping change needed in Washington.

"I have reviewed Linda Stender's record very carefully, and if you look at the needs of America today, I think you can make a very compelling case that she has a record that is one of the finest not only in the legislature in New Jersey, but in the entire United States of America," he said.

Clinton specifically mentioned Stender's global warming bill, her previous work dealing with mortgages, her support for stem cell research and her bill to ban junk food in school cafeterias.

He also demonstrated some familiarity with her last race against now-retiring U.S. Rep. Mike Ferguson.

"She lost by 3,000 votes last time.  There are enough people in this room to turn 3,000 votes between now and Tuesday," he said.

He was less familiar with the margins he won New Jersey by in his two elections.  Clinton said he won the first time by one percent, and the second time by 15 percent.

"We haven't won by less since," he said. (John Kerry beat President Bush in the New Jersey by 6%).

Former Gov. Tom Kean with John McCain and Joe Lieberman in Hamilton last March: Getty Images Photo
With two polls released this morning showing Sen. Barack Obama leading Sen. John McCain in the Garden State by between 17 and 23 points, former Gov. Tom Kean acknowledged that winning this state is a long-shot, and that Vice-Presidential Sarah Palin hasn't helped.

"I think one of the problems is there hasn't been much of a campaign in New Jersey, if any. That's always a problem. It's uphill for any Republican to win in New Jersey, and the ones who have won are those who have spent a great deal of time here," he told PolitickerNJ.com from California in a phone interview.

Kean, who governed as a moderate in the 1980s and developed cross-party appeal, was one of McCain's early New Jersey backers. He endorsed him late last year, when most of the GOP establishment - including his son, Senate Minority Leader Tom Kean, Jr. -- was on board with Rudy Giuliani. McCain, Kean said, was the most helpful Senator when he chaired the 9/11 commission - the creation of which McCain often cites as a major policy difference between himself and President Bush.

Kean did accompany McCain on the three public appearances he made in New Jersey this year. While he'd like to see more of McCain here, he understands that, with no chance of winning in New York, it wouldn't make sense to spend his limited campaign cash in that extremely expensive media market to make a play for North Jersey voters.

With just over a year to go before he’s up for reelection, Gov. Jon Corzine today released a comprehensive package that he said is the final piece of ethics reform that he outlined during his 2005 gubernatorial campaign.

Corzine promised that the plan -- parts of which he’s already enacted through executive order and parts of which will require legislation-- will “end pay-to-play once and for all, at all levels of government.”

“We have reached a point where New Jerseyans have come to believe that instead of government of, by and for the people, we have a government of, by and for political contributors, lobbyists and those who are at every level of pay to play,” said Corzine at an outdoor ceremony in front of the state house.  “Today, that era ends.”

To prove his point, Corzine stood next to a checklist of his nine-point reform plan from his first campaign for governor.  Assuming that the reforms outlined today were passed, each one was checked off.

“All this is about accountability – not just about laying down new rules. It’s also about enforcing,” he said.

BLOOMINGTON, Minn. -- Former Republican Gov. Tom Kean tends to be more circumspect about criticizing Democratic Gov. Jon Corzine, even while he’s the favorite target of members of his own party. But Kean, perfectly aware of the ups and downs of gubernatorial opinion polls, said that he thinks that Republican criticism of Corzine is legitimate.

“It’s not unfounded,” he said. “The state’s not in great shape. Taxes are too high, we’re losing people and businesses. We can’t sustain that. We’ve got to be a state that’s expanding and creating jobs, not losing jobs.”

Kean, who after his second term expired in 1990 went on to become president of Drew University before retiring in 2005, said he recognizes the need to cut the budget, but it’s the programs Corzine has chosen that bother him.

“I have no problem with his cutting the budget, but I do have a problem with the cuts he’s selected that are going to take it out on higher education. I think the future of the state these days is college education is like a high school education… I’m really not happy with that.”

If Rick Merkt and Chris Christie both wind up in the race for the 2009 Republican nomination for Governor, it will be the first time in 28 years that two former running mates and two candidates from the same small town compete in a statewide primary.  Merkt and Christie, who live in Mendham, ran as a team in the 1995 State Assembly primary in District 25; they lost to incumbent Anthony Bucco and newcomer Michael Patrick Carroll, who was seeking the open seat of retiring Assemblyman Arthur Albohn.   Merkt went to the Assembly two years later when Bucco ran for the State Senate.

JERSEY CITY - U.S. Rep. Albio Sires (D-West New York) been in Congress for almost two years, and he says his second year was a big improvement on the first, in part because he feels focused in his new job as a member of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee.

"It takes a while to be effective because it’s very much based on seniority," Sires said of the Congress. "The first year was very difficult. I was new. The entire Democratic Congress was new.

"But I have a mission now," said the freshman congressman. "I still enjoy being on the foreign affairs committee very much, but I also have transportation now and that’s critical. My job is to go after the money for transportation and infrastructure projects."

Sires has confidence he can get federal money for the ARC (Access to the Region’s Core) Tunnel, but he needs the state to get in gear.