The Cox News Service has decided that Bob Menendez may be too
liberal for New Jersey.
"Democratic incumbent Bob Menendez, appointed by Gov. Jon Corzine to the seat Corzine vacated in January, is one of the top Republican targets in the fall. Menendez represented a Democratic stronghold in Congress for more than a decade, but his appointment to Corzine's Senate seat may require him to moderate his politics. In his short time in the Senate, however, he has shown no signs of doing so. He voted against Alito, a native of New Jersey, and is delivering speeches against Bush's "reckless" tax policies. State Sen. Tom Kean Jr., the son of a popular former governor, is favored to win the Republican nomination to challenge Menendez. In some recent polls, Kean has led the Democratic incumbent. Gore and Kerry both carried New Jersey in their presidential campaigns, but it was a battle for both against Bush."New Jersey has both of its state houses controlled by Democrats, it has more Democrats in its house delegation, it has two Democratic Senators and a Democratic governor not to mention that it has gone solidly Democratic in the last four presidential elections. During the last Presidential Election cycle the Bush campaign and the RNC spent over a million dollars here, while the Kerry campaign and the DNC spent One thousand dollars, that was all spent on food. One can only speculate as to why Cox news service would write something like that. Is New Jersey a state hostile to liberal ideals? Is New Jersey a conservative state?
There is no pro-life party in New Jersey. No politician has won state wide office on a pro-life platform. A majority of people from New Jersey are against the Iraq war. There are now 8 counties in New Jersey that give benefits of health-insurance and pensions to domestic partners. New Jersey has some of the stricktest anti-gun laws in the country. New Jersey has always supported unions and its citizens some of the, if not the most amount of taxes in the nation. So I don't think anyone would argue that New Jersey is conservative. Could it be that they are trying to discredit Menendez?
Does Cox believe that a state that consistently gives Bush higher disapproval ratings then Bush gets nation wide wants someone who is similar to Bush? Are we to believe that because Republicans haven't won a senate rate in over forty years that state Democrats are to be more like the state Republicans?
Come back to reality Cox.
