Richard Gerbounka

DENVER - Republicans who feel that New Jersey just might be winnable for John McCain sometimes look back to 1984, when Ronald Reagan carried Elizabeth over Walter Mondale.

Back then, Elizabeth Mayor Thomas Dunn endorsed Reagan. J. Christian Bollwage, then a Councilman, was there when Reagan held a rally in town - his first public appearance since being shot, he said.

"I said to him 'President Reagan, we're all Democrats here!' He said 'You should jump in. The water's fine."

But since Reagan's visit the demographics of this town have shifted significantly, with a huge influx of Hispanic immigrants. Its black vote, expected to go heavily for Obama, remains unchanged, while the working-class white "Reagan Democrats" are fewer.

Linden Mayor Richard Gerbounka has endorsed John McCain for President, but declined to say who he would support for Congress in the hotly contested seventh district race between Democrat Linda Stender and Republican Leonard Lance.  Part of Linden is in the seventh.  Gerbounka was a Democratic Councilman until launching an Independent bid to unseat longtime Mayor John Gregorio in 2006.

Back in 1984, another Democratic Mayor from Union County endorsed a GOP presidential candidate.  In a much heralded announcement, Ronald Reagan won the backing of Thomas Dunn, who spent 28 years as the Mayor of Elizabeth.  That year, Reagan beat Walter Mondale in Elizabeth by nearly 4,000 votes, 56%-44%.  Reagan carried Linden by slightly less than 2,000 votes, also 56%-44%.  In other Democratic Union County strongholds, Reagan won Rahway by almost 2,000 votes (58%-42%), but lost Plainfield by almost 7,000 votes, 72%-28%.  But Reagan had no coattails: Democrat Bill Bradley, seeking a second term in the United States Senate, carried Elizabeth, Linden, Rahway and Plainfield by wide margins.

LINDEN -- To millions of non-residents who pass through New Jersey on the Turnpike, it's Linden and its environs that tend to leave the strongest impression. It's here that oil refineries and railroad tracks serve as the symbols of the stereotypical rough-around-the-edges Jersey town.

State Sen. Bill Baroni (R-Hamilton), who heads up John McCain's New Jersey presidential campaign, was trying to capture that blue collar aura as he trotted out Linden Mayor Richard Gerbounka, a long-time Democrat who turned independent in 2006, and four of the city's councilmen to endorse McCain for president.

The endorsement comes one day before McCain and his wife, Cindy, make a fundraising swing through New Jersey, which according to Baroni will include some as-yet undisclosed public campaign stops.

Linden Mayor Richard Gerbounka, a Democrat who ran as an independent in 2006 and ousted longtime incumbent John Gregorio, will endorse John McCain for president on Monday. Gerbounka spent twelve years as a Councilman before unseating Gregorio, a former State Senator who been mayor for thirty years.

Among the most stunning upsets of the 2006 campaign was the defeat of Linden Mayor John Gregorio, described by the Star-Ledger at the "iconic lion of Linden politics ... a controversial and bare-knuckled Democrat whose career was punctuated by a criminal conviction and an extraordinary comeback." The 80-year-old Gregorio lost to Councilman Richard Gerbounka, a former Democrat who ran as an Independent, by 74 votes.

Gregorio was first elected Mayor in 1967 and served until his 1983 criminal conviction; he was elected to the State Assembly in 1973 and 1975 and won races for the State Senate seat in 1977 (defeating incumbent Thomas Dunn, the Mayor of Elizabeth) and 1981. On his final day in office in 1990, Governor Thomas Kean pardoned Gregorio, enabling him to run again for Mayor later that year.

Gerbounka, 60, a retired Police Captain and onetime Gregorio ally, won a Council seat in 1994 as a Democrat. He split with Gregorio four years ago and won re-election to the Council as an Independent.