Bill Baroni

Gov. Jon Corzine continues to struggle to win the approval of New Jersey voters
Voters' feelings on Gov. Jon Corzine remain tepid, although they've slightly improved, according to a Fairleigh Dickinson University PublicMind poll released this morning.

Corzine’s approval rating stands at 45%, while 39% of respondents disapprove of the way he’s handled his job. 17% are unsure or mixed. 40% of voters have a favorable opinion of the Governor, while 43% are unfavorable.

Only 23% of voters think the state is heading in the right direction – the same number that FDU found last month.

Republican presidential candidate John McCain’s New Jersey campaign today announced its coordinators for the state’s 21 counties.

According to State Sen. Bill Baroni, who chairs the state campaign, each coordinator will “work hard to ensure (McCain) comes out first on Election Day.” 

Below is the full list of county leaders. 

A riverboat welcome.: Politicker photo 

MINNEAPOLIS - If the Democratic National Convention provided a simple conflict-resolution storyline, the Republican counterpart took the shape of a Quentin Tarentino script in comparison, with a hurricane threatening to throw everything off and the New Jersey delegation heading out on a river boat cruise anyway and doing relief work in the morning, and protest actions punctuating the streets.

All against the backdrop of McCain/Palin.

Despite a gaffe-filled Tuesday production, with Jo Ann Davidson, co chair of the Republican National Committee, referring to Alaska Gov. Sarah "Pawlenty," and a trio of gray or white-haired prime time speech-makers, including an unpopular sitting president and a former Democrat, hardly igniting the New Jersey delegates.

Tear gas cartridges hit the pavement outside the Xcel Center

"The protesters are all in here fighting with police," said the cabby on the way out of the downtown.

ST. PAUL, Minn. -- On Friday, State Sen. Bill Baroni flew in to Minneapolis/St. Paul, knowing that a Hurricane was bearing down on a town 1,000 miles south.  And through the convention, he’s been not only the point man, but the official face of New Jersey.

Last night, Baroni, perhaps McCain’s most visible backer in New Jersey, had the cast the state’s votes for John McCain.

“This has been a nine year journey with the McCain campaign.  Nine years ago I was doing advance events in Michigan and California for Sen. McCain.  Nine years later I had the opportunity to stand and cast our votes for John McCain. That’s an extraordinarily humbling moment,” he said.

Sen. Kevin O'Toole (R-Essex).: Politicker file photo 

MINNEAPOLIS - It’s several hours until Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) takes the stage downtown at the Xcel Center and one of his supporters sits in a hotel where the New Jersey delegation is housed, and he reflects on the years he’s spent in support of this man who would be president.

Soon he will again observe McCain in person.

State Sen. Kevin O’Toole (R-Essex), a state campaign co-chair for McCain, goes back to 2000 in his support. But it was during the 2008 Republican presidential primary that he deepened his respect for the Arizona senator and recognized up close what he sees as McCain’s particular leadership qualities.

"He came into Hamilton - and look, I’ve been in politics going back to 1984, I’ve been around presidents and the rest of it, it’s heady stuff - but we were sitting in the back of a bus that day in Hamilton: Baroni, and Sean Kean and others who have long supported McCain," O’Toole says. "Lindsay Graham and Joe Lieberman were there, and so was John McCain."

The presidential candidate talked strategy, and seated with him, O’Toole, the Essex County political insider who came up in politics the hard way, says unabashedly that he felt he was in the presence of greatness.

GOP State Chairman Tom WilsonMINNEAPOLIS - A floor blanketed with white faces at the Republican National Convention doesn’t mean the GOP - or their presidential nominee - lack a universal message, argues State Republican Chairman Tom Wilson.

Coming off their convention in Denver last week, Democrats urged observers to note the contrast between their ethnically diverse party and the Republicans.

"When you have a quota system, it guarantees the result you saw in Denver," Wilson shot back. "Look, you have one million Republicans in New Jersey, and 52 New Jerseyans sitting on the floor, representing them. These 52 people are there day in and day out doing the hardcore party activism.

"Our hardcore party activists are predominantly middle class, white New Jersey," Wilson added.

BLOOMINGTON, Minn. -- Assembly Speaker Joe Roberts’s decision to kill the Clean Elections Program wasn’t met with regret by Senate Minority Leader Tom Kean, Jr.

Although Kean voted for the previous incarnations of the pilot program, he said that, even if it’s retooled for 2011, he’s not sure whether he’ll support it again.

"I never agreed that just because there was a Clean Elections program last year there had to be one this year. But clearly we have to ensure that the program is constitutional.”

BLOOMINGTON, Minn. -- To hear Assembly Minority Leader Alex DeCroce tell it, Legislative District 14 will be a major battleground in next year’s assembly races.

That’s where State Sen. Bill Baroni (R-Hamilton) heads a district with two Democrats lower down in the Assembly, eight year veteran Linda Greenstein (D-Plainsboro) and the newly elected Wayne DeAngelo (D-Hamilton).

DeAngelo, beause he’s been in office less than a year, is the obvious target. But DeCroce, who wasn’t specific about who he’d like to recruit to run, said he’s gunning for Greenstein as well.

“Linda’s a nice lady, but I think her voting record leaves something to be desired, frankly, and I think it’s time for a change,” he said. “Obviously Linda would be the tougher one, being a lady too and a nice person. It’s not easy, but you have to show there’s a difference between the candidates and the incumbent, and the issues are going to be on our side.”

Despite all the buzz surrounding state Sen. Bill Baroni as a possible U.S. Attorney pick if John McCain wins the presidency, Baroni won’t touch the topic.

“I’ve spent nine years working for John McCain, and the only new job that I care that somebody gets out of November’s election is John McCain becoming president. There’s no other consideration, no other thought, no other discussion about any other job – period,” he said.

Baroni, an attorney, teaches a course at Seton Hall Law, and headed up the effort against Sen. Robert Toricelli’s ballot switch with Frank Lautenberg in 2002. 

“I have spent hours in the snows of New Hampshire and Michigan, and the traffic of southern California, and now nine months later we’re two months away from electing John McCain,” he said.  “I’m not going to begin to discuss hypotheticals.  This is all about John McCain. It has been for nine years, and it will be for 9 more weeks.”

Like the Democrats last week, the New Jersey delegation at the Republican delegation is sitting in the back of the house – way off to the podium’s right, but close enough to get a profile view of the speakers. 

New Jersey McCain State Coordinator Rick Mroz, however, said the issue comes up at every convention, and it doesn’t bother him. 

“I love our seats,” he said. “It’s actually still a pretty intimate setting with the delegation on that floor, so I don’t have a problem with it.”