New jersey had a republican governor when Bill Clinton was president

[SoCalDem]

Wasn't Christie Todd Whitman re-elected during Clinton's terms too?

States elect some pretty weird people..all states do it.. Look at California..we are the bluest of the blue, and yet we have had republican (ruinous) governors MORE often than we have had dems (in recent history)..and then there's Massachusetts, and a few other blue states as well.

It's NOT a reaction to the prevailing party in office in DC, unless the governor is on the ballot in a presidential year, and the state in question allows for straight-ticket voting.

People have a bad habit of voting for the "lesser of two evils", and when things are bad for them personally, they often swing 180° ..the other way..thinking that the other guy might be better

[no_hypocrisy]

1. The reason our state of NJ is digging out of debt is because of Governor Whitman.

[SoCalDem]

4. The successor to a profligate governor always suffers, because it's up to them to clean up the mess

This is how republicans work.. They cruise in after years of belt-tightening, to correct the economy.

People remember the struggle to get financially fit again, and they react to the "free pony" promises.

It always reminds me of the first-wife v 2nd-wife of rich men.. The first wife is the one who works 2 jobs, to help hubby finish school, the one who learns 101 ways to fix hamburger, the one who makes the kids' pajamas, who shops at thrift stores...and then gets dumped for wife #2, who shops at Nieman-Marcus, lunches with friends at the best restaurants, buys the acceptance of the step kids, and travels the world...first class..

[Johonny]

5. I agree

One might claim Republicans on purpose run up huge debts to insure Liberals will not be able to enact policies when they get into office. In California they have passed laws that enable a small minority of conservatives to actually control the budget process. The only way for a progressives to "fix" the budget process would be to have a near impossible super majority.

[SoCalDem]

6. and of course the media never exposes this cute little scam

they choose to focus on the "anger" of the public, and the idiocies of the campaign.. People are not very quick these days, and it would sure help to remind people that state /national finances are very similar to family budgets..

running up a huge cc debt is pretty quick & easy..and can even be fun..but paying it off takes YEARS..and is NOT fun.

[burning rain]

11. & shags the pool boy, gardener,tennis pro, & UPS driver.....

proving that there is some justice in the world.

[FormerDittoHead]

2. NJ Republicans ain't Kentucky Republicans...

They'll carry the water but they won't drink the Kool Aid! Whitman was treated like an outsider by the Bush administration.

One thing everyone has to consider about ANY election: a core number of voters want TURNOVER. ANY political system (fed,state,local) has its share of cronyism, and in NJ, we've got more than our share!

Corzine and his 'crew' has had his share of scandal and mismanagement. His unwillingness / inability to clean things up is frustrating for those of us who are being milked to death. State income tax, sales tax, property tax - we're getting drained every which way, and it's only getting worse.

It's only natural for people to be dissatisfied, and voting against the incumbent is just their way to shake things up.

This whole "Obama depends on NJ's Gubernatorial Race" meme is bullshit.

[Freddie Stubbs]

3. Whitman was a fairly moderate Republican campared to Christie

[spanone]

7. don't tell the media...they will declare the democratic party dead if one thug wins

[karynnj]

8. That was because the previous Democratic Governor created a state income tax

The fact is he had little choice. The previous republican Governor had left the state budget in debt and the courts had ruled that the state needed to provide "thorough and efficient" education everywhere. This was interpreted to mean that it was wrong to spend huge amounts in Wealthy Short Hills and far less in Newark. This meant that something other than property tax had to pay for it.

This so angered people, that in the next statewide election, the very popular Bill Bradley nearly lost to the then unknown Whitman. She than ran against the unpopular governor. (Take with grain of salt - this is from memory)

[TreasonousBastard]

9. You're right. Hands Across New Jersey ramped up a...

humongous hate campaign against Florio based on his "toilet paper tax."

Even at that, Whitman won by a hair. Then, she won by a smaller hair on her re-election. I think it was her re-election that was won with a deal she made with the Communications Workers union that barely put her over the top.

At any rate, those elections had almost nothing to so with anything going on in Washington.

For the years I lived in Joisey, I noticed that a radicals of either the left or right had no chance for statewide office. The cities, like Newark and Camden, were solidly Democratic and run by the county machines and always went for the moderate Dem. The suburbs were soldly Republican and went for the moderate Republican. Wingnuts of all stripes were effectively frozen out most of the time.

[Bitwit1234]

10. It is what I have said over and over

a republican gets in a state and sends it down the drain and then they have to elect a democrat to straighten it out. They never learn. Virginia does it over and over. If Warren had not gotten elected after George Allen and the following republican Virginia would be bankrupt. They have a shorter memory than the rest of the country. They are the original Bible Thumpers because of Farwell.