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1 ( PLACE AN AD /opinion_sen_buono_faces_tough.html/l24/ /leaderboard/njonline /SuperbowlHost01_NJ_ROS_Multi_2/012-HST-13_StarLedgerDigital_728x jpg / f a a32) Sign in Join IN YOUR COMMUNITY: JOBS AUTOS REAL ESTATE RENTALS CLASSIFIEDS OBITUARIES FIND N SAVE LOCAL BUSINESSES 5-day Satellite Search N.J. NEWS LOCAL NEWS N.J. POLITICS SPORTS H.S. SPORTS ENTERTAINMENT ( By Times of Trenton guest opinion column ( on February 04, 2013 at 6:23 AM, updated February 04, 2013 at 9:04 AM Print ( /opinion_sen_buono_faces_tough.html) By Carl Golden As a result of its delay and effort to recruit a gubernatorial candidate, the state s Democratic Party leadership generated speculation that it appeared ready to concede Gov. Chris Christie s re-election in favor of regrouping and devoting its resources to averting significant losses at the legislative, county and municipal levels in November. Sen. Barbara Buono faces a tough challenge to upset Gov. Chris Christie in the 2013 gubernatorial race. Star-Ledger Photos Middlesex County Sen. Barbara Buono secured her party s nomination uncontested /politics/index.ssf/2013/01 /democrats_embrace_buono_to_run.html) after other potential candidates spent the past few months presumably deeply immersed in thought and introspection before finally withdrawing from consideration. Party leaders and organizations quickly coalesced behind Buono, pledging their loyalty Sponsored By: /ads/click_lx.ads/ww /opinion_sen_buon /SecSponsor/NJON /MassageEnvy06_N / f ( / N.J.News Es /opinion_sen_buon /Rectangle/NJONL /SetonHall_8_Recta / f //tr.adinterax.com S T /re/advance%2cse ( /

2 and support and striving to put to rest events of the past few months when many of them were engaged in efforts to entice someone else into the race. Those most often mentioned as alternatives to Buono acted as follows: Essex County Sen. and former acting Gov. Dick Codey chose to remain in the Senate; Newark Mayor Cory Booker considered the strongest challenger to Christie took a pass in favor of seeking a U.S. Senate seat in 2014; Senate President Steve Sweeney of Gloucester County decided to stay put and direct his energies toward assuring Democratic control of the Legislature, and Rep. William Pascrell of Passaic County declined, although he never really went beyond the casual flirting stage. None of these decisions was surprising. The suspense was manufactured. Unseating Christie is a Herculean task. His job performance rating exceeds 70 percent a truly astonishing number. His months of campaigning for candidates around the country will attract a level of campaign contributions that will allow him to forgo public financing and spend virtually without limit. While his approval ratings will certainly decline over the coming months as voters re-focus their attention on issues closer to home property taxes, unemployment, economic growth and job creation, for example Christie is a skilled campaigner, a political force of nature seldom seen in New Jersey. Buono cannot hope to match Christie dollar-for-dollar in campaign spending and her name recognition remains low. A recent poll showed she trailed Christie by some 30 points. Both Codey and Sweeney lagged behind the governor by similar margins. Only Booker was within competitive range. Party leaders squandered most of January in search of a candidate they felt would be stronger than Buono, someone who while losing could run well enough to avoid a Christie landslide and losses by local candidates. While the party appeared increasingly desperate, it also produced a belief among some that the search for a candidate other than Buono was based on gender. Buono maintained her equanimity throughout, until public expressions of frustration with what they saw as an embarrassing process came from South Jersey political leader George Norcross of Camden County and Essex County Executive Joseph DiVincenzo. While not explicitly endorsing Buono, both said the time for navel-gazing contemplation was over and the party should unite behind one candidate. As motivated as they might have been in seeking an end to the vacillation, there was considerable speculation that they recognized an opportunity to take potshots at Codey, with whom they d been at odds for some time. ledger/ind /0/tc%2Cac%2Cc% // Mens-Basketball-tic /841522?&DB_OEM F N ( w /results /index.ssf SearchKey SearchReg SearchCat SearchDat S bu ( /NJ-New - Most Com m Priest who 384 appointed ( Newark Ar /new s/index /news/inde /priest_wh /priest_w ho_ comments com m ents) Florida clea 222 across N.J ( /politics /christie_h /index.ssf comments /christie_hur Jersey City com 176m ents) excessive ( /index.ssf/2 /hudson /jersey_city /index.ssf comments /jersey_city_ Menendez com 96 m ents) the rest is ( ( /njv_editoria /menendez /m enendez_p comments com m ents) Man who u 50 at Newark (

Codey returned fire and was particularly harsh in responding to DiVincenzo, whom he accused of being in the tank for Christie and sharing the tank with Norcross.

3 Codey returned fire and was particularly harsh in responding to DiVincenzo, whom he accused of being in the tank for Christie and sharing the tank with Norcross. He accused the two of entering into a power-sharing arrangement with Christie and suggested they were more interested in preserving it than in mounting a strong Democratic challenge. /essex ( /index.ssf /man_who_ comments /m an_w ho_u com m ents) See more His withdrawal was certainly influenced by the bitterness between him and the Norcross/DiVincenzo alliance. Competing in a party primary and, if successful, in a general election, verges on the impossible without the money, organization and get-outthe-vote efforts controlled by the two men. Codey is not alone in his belief that Norcross and DiVincenzo s relationship with Christie is important to them. Questions have been raised about whether the two will declare an all hands on deck call on Buono s behalf or simply exert enough of an effort to avert electoral disaster for state and local candidates. Buono is an intelligent, insightful and articulate candidate who fully understands the odds she faces, leading some to speculate that she will strive to make a respectable showing in 2013 and position herself at the top of potential candidates in 2017, when the governor s office is an open seat. She s made it clear she ll campaign on the party s left-of-center issues and has already criticized Christie for what she says is his lack of leadership on restricting access to guns, for sharp cutbacks in women s health care programs, for supporting policies favoring the wealthy and hurting middle- and low-income families, and for vetoing same-sex marriage legislation. While the Democratic nomination is hers, Buono may find that convincing broad segments of her own party of her viability and competitiveness is equally as daunting as taking on Christie. Carl Golden is a senior contributing analyst with the William J. Hughes Center for Public Policy at the Richard Stockton College of New Jersey. Tweet 5 Like 2 0 Foursquare /opinion_sen_buo /L24/ /B /CBC03_NJ_Mer blood120x / f3036 /opinion_sen_buo /L24/ /MCTS05_NJ_Me 1109.jpg/ /opinion_sen_buo /L24/ /B /PatAir01_NJLT_S /patriotbadge_103 / f3036 /opinion_sen_buo /L24/ /WilmUniv07_NJ_ /NJ_LOGO_F12_ / f3036 ( w w.nj.com /m onm outh /index.ssf ( w w.nj.com /new s/index.ssf /pow erball_jackpot_clim bs_to_20_1.htm l) /union_beach_residents_choose_blue_to_ Pow erballjackpot clim bs to $208M sandy_despair.htm l)union Beach ( w w.nj.com /new s/index.ssf

residents choose blue to sym bolize hope over post-sandy despair /pow erball_jackpot_clim bs_to_20_1.htm l) (http://w w w.nj.com /m onm outh /index.

4 residents choose blue to sym bolize hope over post-sandy despair /pow erball_jackpot_clim bs_to_20_1.htm l) ( w w.nj.com /m onm outh /index.ssf /union_beach_residents_choose_blue_to_ sandy_despair.htm l) Add Your Com m ent Sign in with your NJ.com or Facebook account ( Type your comment here... POST Sort By: Most Recent Pause Live Updates» DTIndy ( I am not comfortable with any no-bid contract situation, however, in some circumstances you need to act quickly and engage a company with a proven track record. Apparently, this Florida company in real subject matter expert in this type clean-up operation. We have less than three months until boaters take to the bays at the Shore. Also, there are as many as 1,400 boats still sitting at the bottom of the bays and soon their fuel tanks will start breaching and diesel and gasoline will start contaminating the waters and estuaries of the Jersey Shore. Tides will bring tar balls to beaches and the clean-up costs will multiply quickly. Speed is critical here. An open bid process in this situation will only hold up the clean-up effort and bring more opportunity for corruption. 57 Minutes Ago (

5 / html) shamoobully ( The Port Authority Union may endorse him, but he won by 80K votes last time, swing all the unions and their families and its a huge loss for him. Last time the unions endorsed Corzine; and Christie won. I think this is going to be a real close election. I do predict Christie to lose! 1 Hour Ago ( / html) watchdoggggg ( And NOBODY, Republicans included, thought that Christie would stand a chance against Corzine, when HE ran for Gov. ABC in Nov Hour Ago ( / html) (http ://co nnect.nj.co m /user /libe ralnp roud /inde liberalnproud ( nobody can be assured of a victory before election in a democratic country...not even Christie that idiot's one week of hall of fame during Sandy cleaning efforts is wiped out by the bribery and no bid scandal to that politically connectd cleaning firm. This idiot Christie says he is the Governor of the State of NJ and he is for the people of NJ... WHAT IS THE REASON FOR AWARDING THAT NO BID CONTRACT FOR

6 x.ht ml) COMPANY BASED IN FLORIDA? In other words he is implying that the companies and contractors in NJ are dumb and stupid. oops! forgot! he can no longer collect percentages from contractors doing busines in NJ as he was doing before with that certified tax cheating Mrs. Whitman...the collection firm 'reformnj' is closed 2 Hours Ago ( / html) shamoobully ( /user/shamoobully True a no bid contract to a company that has to sub everything out including subbing out the job of finding sub contactors. If the subcontractors are willing to do the job for less than the Florida firm, then why the middleman? Deal directly with the NJ contractors. It would be a great job for the lieutenant governor, time she earns her pay anyway! Oh and the Environmental regulations being suspended? Are you kidding me, we will be back there cleaning that up at a huge cost in the future. This is ridiculous! 1 Hour Ago ( / html) (http ://co nnect.nj.co m /user /goo sehu nter6 09 /inde DTIndy ( I am not comfortable with any no-bid contract situation, however, in some circumstances you need to act quickly and engage a company with a proven track record. Apparently, this Florida company in real subject matter expert in this type clean-up operation. We have less than three months until boaters take to the bays at the Shore. Also, there are as many as 1,400 boats still sitting at the bottom of the bays and soon their fuel tanks will start breaching and diesel and gasoline will start contaminating the waters and estuaries of the Jersey Shore. Tides will bring tar balls to beaches and the clean-up costs will multiply quickly. Speed is critical here. An open bid process in this situation will only

7 x.ht ml) hold up the clean-up effort and bring more opportunity for corruption. 56 Minutes Ago ( / html) rikky1 ( that's the great thing about being a human. in the face of impossible odds we can still have hope, and hope is all Barbara can lean on in this election. sadly for her it will end in a crushing loss as it should. the question is how wide will the % win be for christie? 2 Hours Ago ( / html) flyingelephants ( Why not give the dark horse a chance? Christie has accomplished very little and blames everyone else for his failures. Won't be voting for him again. ( likes this. 3 Hours Ago ( / html) Deciminyan ( (http ://co nnect.nj.co m Barbara Buono is the best candidate to face Chris Christie. Here's why: ( /qfegbryu7zm) ( likes this.

/user /deci 3 Hours Ago (http://nj.com/times-opinion/index.ssf /1359977817-478-74.html) shamoobully (http://connect.nj.com /user/shamoobully She is also easier to look out and doesn't scream overindulgent.

htm l# Harry Reid:M enendez 'did nothing wrong'(http://w w w.nj.com /new s/index.ssf /senate_m ajority_leader_harry_r.htm l# (http://w w w.nj.com /new s/index.ssf (http://www.nj /index.

8 /user /deci 3 Hours Ago ( / html) shamoobully ( /user/shamoobully She is also easier to look out and doesn't scream overindulgent. 1 Hour Ago ( / html) ( w w.nj.com /new s/index.ssf /senate_m ajority_leader_harry_r.htm l# Harry Reid:M enendez 'did nothing wrong'( w w.nj.com /new s/index.ssf /senate_m ajority_leader_harry_r.htm l# ( w w.nj.com /new s/index.ssf ( /index.ssf/2013 /st_patricks_day_parades_planne_1.htm /super_bow l_co St.Patrick's celebrations to go on, A look at the be despite Sandy ( w w.nj.com com m ercials (h /new s/index.ssf /entertainm ent /st_patricks_day_parades_planne_1.htm /super_bow l_co About Us About NJ.com /aboutus/) Jobs at NJ.com ( /careers/company NJ.com Sections N.J. News /news/) Local News Shore /shore/) Obituaries Newspaper stories and photos The Star-Ledger /starledger/) Subscribe ( /ads/click_lx.ads/

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