Thomas Kean

Remember the little kerfuffle that erupted in September when it was revealed that Tom Kean's press secretary was posting scurrilous comments about Bob Menendez on various blogs under an assumed identity? (No? Congratulations--you are healed! Go forth and blog no more!)

Apparently a few incidents of incompetent sockpuppetry are not enough to get a flack shamed out of high-level Republican politics. John McCain has hired her for his presidential campaign. (Thanks to The Plank on this one.)

-- Andrew Rice

Continuing its tradition of always picking the statewide winner, New Jersey's Bergen County sided with Robert Menendez over Tom Kean for the U.S. Senate. The result from New Jersey's most populous county:

Menendez 100,359 Kean: 88,460

-- Steve Kornacki

So what impact does yesterday's decision by the New Jersey Supreme Court that have on the Senate race?

The immediate analysis, from both camps, is - not much. Though the court's ruling is in many ways monumental, it leaves the question of marriage to the state legislature. That takes pressure off the two candidates, who only have to worry about the next two weeks. Plus, everyone pretty much knows where the two candidates stand on gay rights.

Tom Kean's spokeswoman, Jill Hazelbacker, reminded that "Tom unequivocally believes marriage is between a man and a woman. Tom believes it should remain that way. He supports preserving the traditional definition of marriage. And that's the main difference between him and Bob Menendez."

Well, sort of. While Bob Menendez supports civil unions for same sex couples, he has also said that marriage should be reserved for unions between men and women.

So, in the meantime, the race in New Jersey rolls on with Kean taking a break for a few minutes today from his attacks against Menendez ("Raising YOUR Taxes to Line the Pockets of HIS Special Interests) to release a sort-of-positive television ad.

--Jason Horowitz

How amazing that the Conservative Party leader in Britain, David Cameron, is now lashing out at American neoconservatives and denouncing Tony Blair's "slavish" relationship to the U.S. So the neocons are identified there with Labor. As they have found a home in the Lieberman/Hillary wing of the Democratic Party here.

We're all in for a realignment, and not as David Brooks has stated, of warmongering elites versus populist isolationists. This realignment is about how to handle the Arab world, how to handle autocratic Syria as it tries to put a damper on Islamic fervor, how to handle the Israeli occupation, how to put down weapons, how—as Tom Kean emphasized at the National Press Club yesterday—to win hearts and minds.

Tom Kean, the 9/11 commission member who said he didn't ask Rudy Giuliani tough enough questions, will be on The Daily Show tonight.

Chairman of the Homeland Security Committee, L.I. Republican Peter King, has some kind words for Hillary Clinton.

Mayor Bloomberg and Christine Quinn wine and dine the DNC in hopes of landing another national convention for the Big Apple.

Staten Island Democratic Leader, John Lavelle, is supporting Ned Lamont over Joe Lieberman.

One person who didn't vote for Lamont was his own daughter.

And Karol Sheinin of Alarming News gets dissed by Andrew Sullivan, and likes it.

-- Azi Paybarah

A downtown man—that’s what Billy Joel is.  read more »

With an American flag draped from the cosmos-painted ceiling behind him, and former New Jersey Governor and Chairman of the 9/11 commission Thomas Kean seated in front of him, Mayor Bloomberg this afternoon presented his vision for public safety in New York City. Overlooking the terminal from the perch of Metrazur, a restaurant the billionaire Mayor partly rented out for the event, the Mayor outlined a plan to bring the MTA and the Port Authority under a single command, run by the NYPD, in the case of a disaster striking critical transportation infrastructure, like, oh, say, Grand Central Station. The Mayor said that because of its "size and sophistication" the NYPD was the obvious choice to lead any streamlined response. As for the Office of Emergency Management, (remember them?) they'll be responsible for sending advisory text messages in case of emergencies. For the NYPD to take control of interstate agencies, Governor Pataki and his counterpart, Richard Codey of New Jersey, would have to sign off. "We have briefed them," said the Mayor. "Nobody suggests that there aren't problems in doing so....they certainly haven't signed off yet." Mr. Kean said later that "somebody has got to be in charge. It makes sense to that it ought to be the Mayor." Just don't tell that to Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly.  read more »

The other night, I watched an episode of Over There, a new television drama about the war in Iraq.  read more »

When President George W.  read more »

In an election year, a Republican President seeking his second term can be expected to propose more  read more »

The people in charge of the United States government, up to and including the President, are firm be  read more »