Seven for the 7th.

Rome was built on Seven Hills. And, [at least] for last night, Mountainside, NJ was built on the seven Republican candidates for Congress in the 7th District.

Seven for the 7th. And come June 3rd, only one of them will roll the lucky number seven and be the winner. But which?

And so, I attended the packed house last night for what will probably be the final mass debate between [amongst?] the Republican candidates for the 7th congressional district in central Jersey. Every candidate was in their respective chairs right at 7:30pm on the dot, except for Tom Roughneen, who arrived fashionably late at 7:444pm. So the former military man can’t tell time? Or is there too much traffic on Route 22? Maybe traffic in the district is an issue that should be dealt with. But Roughneen was in time for his first question, and came out battlin' right away.

WordPlay: The top seven most often said words/phrases from last night’s debate:

[1] Taxes, [2] Linda Stender, [3] conservative, [4] pro-life, [5] Iraq, [6] tax cuts, and [7] the ever present, “family values”.

And some new fangled phraseology:

From Mayor Marty Marks---'across-the-board' conservative, as opposed to just plain old 'conservative' or the now ancient 'compassionate conservative'.

From A.D. Amar, calling himself a 'shoestring' conservative, for running his campaign on a 'shoestring' budget.

Also, the least frequently said phrase was from Kelly Hatfield---“We live in a global world”. Duh. She also said that the most important issue in the race for her was that “North Plainfield needs their own zip code”. Most of the night Hatfield sounded like the Miss South Carolina teen that was asked why Americans had trouble reading maps. Not ready for prime time.

There were barbs thrown, occasionally.

Here is the barb scorecard:

By Mayor Marty Marks at Senator Leonard Lance and former first daughter Kate Whitman: Topic: For being “moderates”, and not being ‘conservative’.

By Tom Roughneen at Senator Leonard Lance. Topic: For being endorsed by the Sierra Club, and accused the Senator of wanting ten dollar a gallon gasoline.

[Only to neo-con Republicans would be being ‘moderate’ or endorsed by a leading environmental group be considered worthy of attack.]

By Kate Todd-Whitman-Annis [whew!]. Topic: At all the candidates for attacking her for being a “Whitman”.

[Former first mother Governor Christie Todd Whitman was ‘in da house’, cheering her first daughter on, flying in from a trip to Beijing. Now that's motherly love.]

[Once again, Whitman the younger was noticeably passionless, and filled with political clichés. She went on and on touting her “Six Point Plan” to set Congress right----points that sound as if they were taken point by point from the playbook of the other six candidates.]

By Kate Whitman, at all the candidates: Topic: For voting for tax increases, including Marks and Hatfield.

[Note to Katie: Dr. Amar, Tom Roughneen and Darren Young have never held office, and therefore have never voted for tax increases]

Mayor Marks, at Whitman and Roughneen. Topic: For not ever having been elected to anything, but criticizing himself and Hatfield for raising taxes in their respective towns.
“Walk a mile in my shoes, first”, chided the Mayor. “Or get elected to a local office first.” Point well made.

Libertarian and self-described Sabrin for Senate running mate, Darren Young. At, well, himself. Topic: He asserted that he was a direct descendent of President John Adams, and declared that he “…would have had the endorsement of Adams…I think.”

[You can never tell if you’re gonna get the support of family members---especially if they’re dead.]

Noticeably , Senator Lance noticeably kept above the fray. Being the probable leader in the group will compel one to do just that.

Overall, it was a fun evening of political merriment. The format was a bit freaky---just one hour of “debate” for seven candidates and not a question allowed from the packed crowd. Two minutes per answer per candidate allowed for only a very brief glimpse in to the minds of each Republican. Maybe a run-off election should be statutory in such circumstances.

Shout out to Max Pizzaro of PolitickerNJ, whom I read everyday and got to meet for the very first time.

Enjoy the freedom to think, speak, blog, and chat this Memorial Day weekend, remembering all those who gave their lives so we can live free. Thanks, dad.

The Republicans who face tough races finally give a SCHIP

SCHIP [State Children's Health Insurance Program] is a program that provides health insurance for 6.6 million children nationwide. NJ FamilyCare, which receives SCHIP grants, covers 127,000 kids and 83,000 adults. Yesterday, there was a bill in Congress which would serve to increase funding, and extend coverage to more of New Jersey's poorest working families.

And all the New Jersey Republicans in Congress, with the exception of Frank LoBiondo and Michael Ferguson, voted against New Jersey’s children. Shame on them for voting against children from poor families in New Jersey.

Yup, those are family values for Republicans.

LoBiondo and Ferguson face very tough races next year, have been targeted by the DCCC…and now they’re showing their “compassionate conservative” side. Good for them, and I hope they finally start to vote against the war, too. But I doubt it.

Shame on the rest ---- Republican Reps. Rodney Frelinghuysen, Scott Garrett, Jim Saxton and Chris Smith who voted NO. They, who vote to increase the number of troops sent to Iraq, but vote against the interests of New Jersey’s working families.

According to the Courier Post, Rep. Frank Pallone is a big supporter of the increase in aid to working families of New Jersey: "There shouldn't be any doubt today about what the Republicans are trying to do: They're trying to destroy the SCHIP program," Pallone said. "This bill would cover another 5 million children who're currently uninsured. . . . They're not proposing to cover any additional kids. They want to cut back."

This is a bi-partisan bill that has received support from forty-three governors, Democrats and Republicans, wrote to Bush last month supporting SCHIP renewal.

Republicans like Reps. Rodney Frelinghuysen, Scott Garrett, Jim Saxton and Chris Smith who voted no criticized the bill by saying things like the bill represents "the single largest step in Washington-controlled, bureaucratized, socialized health care."

Tell that to the children who won’t get health coverage because your president will likely veto the bill.

And people ask me why I am Democrat. Republicans worry about such different things than I do.