Constitution Party member announces run for Minnesota Governor…

According to his website, Harley Swarm Jr., is running for Minnesota Governor on the Constitution Party line.

Swarm belongs to The Sons of the American Legion, The Second Amendment Foundation, The John Birch Society, The Heritage Foundation and Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms.

While running for Minnesota Governor many of the issues that he focus on in his website pertain to federal issues.

SOURCE:

http://www.swarmforgovernor.com/

Modern Whig Party expected to announce two new Congressional candidates…

Modern Whig Party is expected to announce two new Congressional candidates. A mention on their blog, the Modern Whigs say they are expected to, “announce the addition of two more Congressional candidates.”

They did not say when the Congressional candidates will be announced, or what race they will be running in.

The Florida branch of the Modern Whig Party is actively searching for a candidate to run in the Special Election to replace Democratic Congressman Robert Wexler, who has announced his resignation from Congress. Wexler will become the new president of the Center for Middle East Peace and Economic Cooperation. Wexler’s seat is Florida’s 19th Congressional District seat.

SOURCE:

http://modernwhigparty.blogspot.com/2009/10/upcoming-announcements.html

The Scozzafava nightmare in the GOP…

Call it "The Scozzafava nightmare in the GOP". The “Cook Political Report” is reporting the finger pointing is already beginning on why the Republicans will lose the Special Election for the 23rd Congressional District of New York. The race includes Democrat Bill Owens, Republican Assembly Member Dede Scozzafava, and Conservative Party candidate Doug Hoffman.

The election is open because Republican Representative John McHugh is now Army Secretary John McHugh.

According to Taegan Goddard’s Political wire: The Charlie Cook Political Report is saying, "It's never a good sign when the blame game commences before the election even takes place. But that's exactly what's happening in GOP ranks three weeks before voters go to to (sic) the polls in the NY-23 special election, at a time when the party's House prospects are booming just about everywhere else.”

The problem is that only Republican loyalist are voting for the Republican candidate. It seems that the Republican’s best hope may be that their hand-picked Republican candidate bombs and finishes in a distant third place (That may be why Michael Steele and company have not give any money to the Republican). As the Cook Report is reported to have written, “The 'conservative Republican' spoiler is actually stealing more votes from independents than Republicans."

That spoiler, the Conservative Party’s Doug Hoffman, may even vote with the Republican leadership in Washington more than the liberal-leaning Republican nominee Dede Scozzafava.

What a wacky world in Northeast New York.

SOURCE:

http://politicalwire.com/archives/2009/10/15/republicans_unraveling_in_ny-23.html

New poll makes it clear: The third party candidate can win in NY’s Congressional special election…

The third party candidate can win in NY’s Congressional special election according to a new Siena College poll showing all three candidates for the New York Congressional special election are with-in 10% of each other. This thing is a toss-up.

The poll showed Democrat Bill Owens at 33%, Republican Assembly Member Dede Scozzafava has 29% and Conservative Party candidate Doug Hoffman has 23%.

Since the college’s last poll two weeks ago Hoffman has the most moment. He gained seven points. Owen picked-up five points support, while Scozzafava has lost six points.

It is very easy to see the Conservative Party candidate Doug Hoffman coming-out with a win in this race. The poll shows that 14% of Republicans are still undecided, and 17% or independents are still undecided.

Here’s how Hoffman wins: Doug Hoffman was a scorned Republican bolting to the Conservative Party after Scozzafava’s nomination by party bosses. If Hoffman can convince at least half of the undecided Republicans that he is “more Republican” than liberal-Republican Scozzafava he will inch closer to the victory. Hoffman is already winning the independent vote, he will work hard to pick-up a significant portion of those 17% of independents that are undecided. If Hoffman can keep the 10% of Democrats that are already supporting him, plus picking-up some of the 18% still undecided Democrats, Hoffman could be the winner of this race.

Siena pollster Steven Greenberg was quoted in the poll news release saying, “…given how tight the race is, this election may very well be won by a candidate with less than 40 percent of all the votes cast.”

SOURCE:

http://www.siena.edu/uploadedfiles/home/Parents_and_Community/Community_Page/SRI/SNY_Poll/23rd%20CD%20SNY%20Poll%20Release%202%20--%20Final.pdf

NJ’s most favorite recent governor was Tom Kean… who was his first Deputy Chief of Staff again?

New Jersey’s most favorite recent Governor was Tom Kean according to a new survey from Public Policy Polling. It was runaway with Governor Kean getting 43% of the response. The second place favorite Governor was Christie Todd Whitman with 19% of the people polled.

Who was Kean’s first Deputy Chief of Staff again? It was independent New Jersey Gubernatorial candidate Chris Daggett.

According to Daggett’s campaign biography, “After Kean’s election as Governor in 1981, Chris (Daggett) served as his deputy chief of staff… (after becoming the Regional Administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency)… In 1988, Daggett rejoined to the Kean administration as Commissioner of the state Department of Environmental Protection.”

Chris Daggett was twice hired buy the most popular New Jersey Governor of the past 25 years. This is something that candidate Daggett must mention and play-up. Currently Kean is on-board with team Christie, but that does not change the past.

SOURCE:

http://daggettforgovernor.com/wordpress/about/chris-bio/

http://publicpolicypolling.blogspot.com/2009/10/looking-back-at-new-jersey-governors.html

Give seniors $250…

Give seniors $250 is the stand from Independent Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders. Sanders is proposing Congress give a one-time $250 payment for Social Security recipients and disabled veterans. He made the proposal after the Social Security Administration announced there would no cost of living increase next year in Social Security payments.

Senator Sanders said in a news release posted on his Senate website, “In my view, the current formulation for determining Social Security cost-of-living adjustments does not reflect the reality of senior citizens’ lives.”

SOURCE:

http://www.sanders.senate.gov/newsroom/news/index.cfm?id=29E376B2-D492-4A08-A149-13851B4BBB6B

Daggett climbing, the other guys – the opposite…

A new Survey USA polls shows Independent New Jersey Gubernatorial candidate Chirs Daggett climbing, the other guys – the opposite.

The poll results shows Chris Daggett registering 18% of the vote, which is the highest of any scientific polls in the campaign so far. The poll showed Republican challenger Chris Christie at 40% and Democratic Incumbent Jon Corzine at 39%.

The USA survey analysis of the poll said, “Chris Daggett is the only candidate with momentum.” Daggett was up four points since the last Survey USA poll, and the other candidates are down.

The Thirds looking at the poll finds two very intresting things with Demographics in the poll. First, nearly across the board Daggett appeals to all voters nearly equally in demographics including Age, Race, Party Affilication, Ideology, What voters believe to be the biggest issue, College grads, income level, 2008 Presidential vote, 2005 Gubernatorial vote, Bruce Springsteen fans, and region of New Jersey.

There was one strange outlier. Jets fans believe in Daggett. The poll showed a statical three-way tie between Christie, Corzine and Daggett, polling at 36, 33 and 31% of Jets fans. If Daggett can raise his NFC favorably rating, it looks like he could win this election.

SOURCE:

http://www.surveyusa.com/client/PollReport.aspx?g=5dfe443b-b0b3-4162-8ce1-408d9f9007f3

Poll shows Daggett at 16% or 9%…

A new poll from Rasmussen Report show mixed news for Independent New Jersey Gubernatorial candidate Chris Daggett. The final numbers in the poll show 9% voting for Daggett, but 16% of people prefer Daggett.

That shows that 7% of people want to vote for Daggett, but may feel a vote for Daggett would not be wise. Daggett’s focus in Friday Gubernatorial debate could be: Convince the viewers that he is a viable. If Daggett can get to 20% preference in any poll, the flood gates could open-up.

The Rasmussen poll also raised the question of how much effect the Star-Ledger’s endorsement of Daggett could have made on voters. The showed only, “32% of voters… (correctly identified) Daggett as the candidate endorsed by the paper.” Which means a lot of the gain for Daggett may not have been a Star-Ledger bump, maybe it is just a Daggett bump.

As for that theory of Daggett stealing votes from the Republican, that may have been nixed with the poll showing an equal number of voters would consider leaving their major party candidate for Daggett.

SOURCE:

http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/elections2/election_2009/new_jersey/election_2009_new_jersey_governor#

Daggett blew away Star-Ledger’s editorial board…

Independent Gubernatorial candidate Chirs Daggett blew away Star-Ledger’s editorial board according to Wally Edge writing on PolitickerNJ.com.

Edge writes about John Farmer Senior, the Star-Ledger editorial page editor, talking about the Star-Ledger’s endorsement of Chris Daggett to “On Call, a National Journal publication”. Edge said Republican challenger Christopher Christie was the front-runner before the candidates met with the editorial board, but that changed.

Farmer said Daggett was, “so good we brought him back a second time." Farmer said the man they were leaning towards Chris Christie, was not specific enough on his plans for taxes and budgets. "Arithmetic...didn't add up," he said.

SOURCE:

http://www.politickernj.com/wallye/34114/farmer-says-daggett-beat-out-christie-endorsement-corzine-preparing-new-york-times-supp

Daggett taking heat for not having huge bank roll for staff salaries…

Independent New Jersey Gubernatorial candidate Chris Daggett is taking heat for not having huge bank roll for staff salaries. Opponents of Daggett are seizing on an article on PolitickerNJ.com writer by Matt Friedman. The story starts, “…Daggett is stretching his limited campaign resources by not providing health insurance to his campaign staff, and by paying them not as employees but as independent contractors -- - a move that saves him some money because he does not have to pay a payroll tax.”

The Daggett campaign explains they have to pay people as contractors because of the massive fundrasing differences between Daggett and the major party candidates. Friedman writes, “Daggett has raised $1.1 million to Christie's $9.6 million and Corzine's $16.8 million.”

The article said the Daggett campaign had only $109,000 on hand.

SOURCE:

http://www.politickernj.com/matt-friedman/34116/save-money-daggett-avoids-payroll-taxes-and-health-insurance-staff