Gannett

Democrats Barack Obama and Frank Lautenberg have huge leads going into Election Day, according to a new Monmouth University/Gannett New Jersey poll released early this morning.  Obama leads Republican John McCain in New Jersey by 21 points, 55%-34%, amog likely voters.  In the race for U.S. Senate, incumbent Frank Lautenberg leads Republican Dick Zimmer, a former Congressman, by 19 points, 50%-31%.  

Offering a possible explanation for the increase in no opinion about the two candidates, Patrick Murray, the dirdctor of the Monmouth University Polling Institute said, “It may be that some voters simply realized that the election is next week and they still haven’t heard much, if anything, from their senate candidates.  Even with that, Lautenberg has a commanding lead.  To borrow from an old saying about Frank Sinatra, it’s Obama’s world this year and Frank Lautenberg is lucky to live in it.”

It was another bad week for newspapers, with the Los Angeles Times and Gannett announcing a new round of job cuts, and the Christian Science Monitor releasing plans to shift from a daily print format to a web-only online publication.

While flipping though old magazines, V. Cullum Rogers, the editorial cartoonist for The Independent Weekly, came across a nugget he wanted to share; The REAL beginning of the decline of the newspaper industry:

The contest between Barack Obama and John McCain in New Jersey is too close to call, with a new Quinnipiac University poll showing the battle for the state's fifteen electoral votes at 48%-45% among likely voters.  Obama led McCain by ten percentage points, 51%-41% in an August Quinnipiac poll.

This is the fourth independent poll within the last week to show New Jersey as an emerging battleground state in the presidential campaign.  A Monmouth University/New Jersey poll released this morning shows Obama leading by 8 points, and a Marist College poll released Friday night had identical numbers to Quinnipiac, 48%-45%. A Fairleigh Dickinson University poll from last week had Obama up by six points.

“The McCain-Palin ticket has narrowed the gap dramatically, but it will take more than this post convention bounce for the Republicans to win in true blue New Jersey.  The upcoming debates probably will provide a clue to whether Sen. McCain can build on his current momentum, or whether the tide will turn back to the Democrats,” said Clay F. Richards, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute. 

WLWT TV had a piece about Pulitzer-prize winning cartoonist Jim Borgman leaving The Cincinnati Enquirer after 32 years. There is also a shorter, edited version of this interview available. 

Jim Borgman behind his desk at The EnquirerShockwaves run through the cartooning industry as the news becomes knows that Pulitzer prize-winner Jim Borgman, The Cincinnati Enquirer's staff editorial cartoonist for 32 years and the artist behind the popular comic strip Zits, has applied for and was granted severance under the company's voluntary program.

The Enquirer has accepted 60 applications in full for a voluntary severance program that included up to a year's pay for employees with longtime service, part of a larger strategy by a Gannett corporate plan to eliminate 1000 jobs nationwide.

New Jersey Gov. Jon Corzine has an upside-down 39 percent to 46 percent job approval rating, and voters give him a grade of C-minus on his report card, according to a new Monmouth University/Gannett New Jersey poll released today. Senate President Richard Codey, who served as governor before Corzine, has a 45 percent to 15 percent favorable rating - making him the most popular statewide politician in New Jersey.

Murray Sabrin, who has anointed himself the “front runner” in the race for the Republican U.S. Senate nomination, issued a press release today announcing “Gannett endorses Sabrin for U.S. Senate.”  Sabrin doesn’t mean the Gannett that operates seven dailies in New Jersey – instead, he argues that the late Frank Gannett (1876-1957), who founded the newspaper chain, would have supported his candidacy.  Sabrin says there is a “striking similarity between Frank Gannett's political philosophy” and his campaign to Legalize Freedom.  Gannett sought the Republican nomination for President in 1940.

Murray Sabrin, who has anointed himself the “front runner” in the race for the Republican U.S. Senate nomination, issued a press release today announcing “Gannett endorses Sabrin for U.S. Senate.”  Sabrin doesn’t mean the Gannett that operates seven dailies in New Jersey – instead, he argues that the late Frank Gannett (1876-1957), who founded the newspaper chain, would have supported his candidacy.  Sabrin says there is a “striking similarity between Frank Gannett's political philosophy” and his campaign to Legalize Freedom.  Gannett sought the Republican nomination for President in 1940.