The Garden State

Word is that Bill Clinton is feeling a little better, walking a mile or so a day in cardiac rehab, still has some pain and fatique from his heart surgery. (A confidential source reports that Clinton was walking more than two miles from his Chappaqua house this weekend). Thrilled to hear he's OK. As soon as he's able, the Kerry campaign should send a limo to Chappaqua and send it across the George Washington Bridge for a day in New Jersey.

Chervokas is right: the Garden State is in play and KE04 needs to play some solid defense over the next two weeks to keep it blue. Jersey and its 15 electoral votes is crucial to the electoral coalition Kerry needs to win the Presidency. As Jason points out, "The northern part of the state is full of upper middle-class suburban voters who are center-left socially but who think Kerry is soft on terrorism." He targets uber-blogger Jeff Jarvis, reliably centrist and stubbornly (even annoyingly) on the fence so far, as emblematic of NJ voters Kerry needs.

Another ominous sign, according to this AP story:

The president took a day off from campaigning. While his rival was in Ohio and Florida, Bush readied what aides called a major speech on terrorism for Monday in New Jersey, where millions live within sight of the terrorist-scarred lower Manhattan skyline.

So saddle up Bubba, and get him to NJ. And while you're at it, schedule a day for John Edwards. I know from personal experience that he's quite popular among Democrats, and raised serious funds in NJ during his primary run. Oh, and those pro-Kerry concerts? Can Springsteen add just one more date - in his hometown?

UPDATE: New Rutgers poll has Kerry up big in NJ - 51-37.

Comments

[Keith]

I'm one of those voters that democrats used to be able to count on up here in Northern Jersey. (I was out in the streets for Clinton's elections) My wife too. And they have lost us, irretrievably, in this election.

The thing is, I KNOW on a gut-level that the rank-evil folks that want to kill us want Kerry to win. A lot of us feel that way, and that, combined with Kerry's undeniable weakness on this subject, have ensured my vote for Bush.

[bruce b.]

Keith says:

<< The thing is, I KNOW on a gut-level that the rank-evil folks that want to kill us want Kerry to win. A lot of us feel that way, and that, combined with Kerry's undeniable weakness on this subject, have ensured my vote for Bush. >>

I'm glad you KNOW this at a "gut level", just the way Bush "instinctively" knows what he knows, as the article in the Times magazine last Sunday showed.

but the FACTS are something different.

first of all, i will DENY Kerry's "undeniable" weakness on this issue. that is the sort of statement a lot of Bush supporters are making now. it is simply not true.

second of all, do you REALLY think that invading random countries is making us SAFER? do you know ANYTHING about how terrorists actually function, what they think, how they recruit?

if the Democrats have lost you, it has NOTHING to do with the campaign they have run. sadly, you buy into the Dick Cheney/Rudy Giuliani "fear and trembling" line.

Having Bush in power provides AL Queda with so much political ammunition. it proves to their "constituents" everything they have been saying about the US.

What Al-Queda and the other Islamic fundamentalists want is to win control of the Arab world, in particular Saudi Arabia, and set up a fundamentalist theocracy. the Bush policy is helping them in this mission.

by the way, what do you think about Kerry's answer to the question of the greatest danger in the first debate? he said it was nuclear proliferation. how do you respond to that? Bush has done little or nothing in this area.

And why is it ok to negotiate with terrorist-supporting Mohamar Khaddafy in Libya? Remember the Pan Am Lockerbie bombing?

I restrained myself from reacting in anger to the statement you made about the terrorists WANTING Kerry to win. but it is a shameful statement with no basis in fact nor any analysis behind it.

[elvis56]

or maybe NJ is in the Dem Bag:
via dailykos
Tue Oct 19th, 2004 at 13:20:39 GMT
Rutgers Poll. 10/14-17. MoE 3.8%. (10/1-6 results)
Kerry 51 (47)
Bush 38 (41)