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: : This morning, I took my Sunday constitutional stroll along Kennedy Boulevard through Union City and North Bergen.  I saw quite a few Vas signs, but not even one for Sires.

: : Pensees?

: Primary campaigning in full swing 
: Satur day, June 03, 2006

: By Political Insider

: The telephone calls came in the early evening from the backers of Democratic Party primary candidate Joseph Vas, assemblyman and mayor of Perth Amboy, seeking the vacant 13th District seat in the House of Representatives. 

: "Tell me you're not going to endorse Albio," went most of the calls, referring to Vas' rival Assemblyman and West New York Mayor Albio Sires. 
:  
: "OK, we won't tell you," was the response. The next day Sires did get the endorsement. 

: The Jersey Journal is one of the few newspapers in the state to endorse a candidate in a primary contest. It did in this one because the newspaper sees the Democratic primary winner as the victor in November. This primary is one of the few times a candidate from outside Hudson County provided a formidable threat. 

: You can tell things are getting tight when both camps began slugging it out with nasty campaign ads and when at least one of the candidates has said he could never again be friendly to the other. 

: Vas has publicized a poll that shows his race with Sires is technically dead even. 

: Hudson County Democratic Organization leaders say - or we should say whisper - that their guy, Sires, is up by 12 to 14 points in their poll. This probably means they are referring to the HCDO line on Column A. For Sires himself, their poll more than likely has him up by about 10 points. 

: Despite endorsements and polls, the Energizer Bunny that is Vas continues to campaign not only on his home turf, but in his new hometowns, Jersey City and Bayonne. He is scheduled to attend a barbecue today, depending on the weather, of the Jimmy King Civic Association. 

: The big event is tomorrow when a rally for the Middlesex County official will be held in Elizabeth's Kellogg Park. Vas' guest at the event will be U.S. Rep. Dennis Kucinich of Ohio, who ran as a Democratic presidential candidate in 2004 and who has been calling for repeal of the Patriot Act and withdrawal of troops from Iraq. 

: What really counts in all this is who gets the vote out on Tuesday and Hudson County is very good at that - even with some lingering concerns. 

: In North Hudson, expect the North Bergen and Union City machines to churn out votes for Sires. The interesting thing to note here is that after Union City Mayor Brian Stack and his full slate won their municipal election in May, they never took down their "Column B" municipal signs to replace them with HCDO Column A posters for Sires. Instead, Union City workers put up even more Column B signs after Stack's victory. Sire's workers have recently been trying to take B posters down but there are so many of them, and the Sire's posters are puny-sized compared to Stack's. 

: Guttenberg and Harrison have municipal races and it should be easy for the HCDO to get people to the polls. No one knows what vote will come out of Hoboken, although Sires should be favored despite some local endorsements for Vas, including one from former city Councilwoman Carol Marsh. 

: The big questions are Jersey City and Bayonne where Vas has concentrated his campaigning efforts. 

: For such a large city, Jersey City usually comes out with small numbers in primaries - a fact that usually favors incumbents or HCDO candidates. The problem is that there are some hard core rivalries among the disorganized Jersey City regular Democrats. Those considered mavericks - can you say city Councilman Steve Fulop and the old Reformed Democrats - would love to give the HCDO (as in Sires) a bloody nose. 

: Bayonne is a big problem for the HCDO - or we should say for Mayor Joseph Doria. No one expected to see the Peninsula City in a mayoral runoff. Bayonne Democrats have to convince their voters to come out for the regular primary on Tuesday and then get them to come out again a week later for the special mayoral contest. 

: Can Doria afford to concentrate mostly on his own re-election efforts. Should Vas do well, the opposition could point to the percentage of votes for the Perth Amboy mayor as measure of their strength in an attempt to demoralize Doria workers. The Bayonne results will be the most watched on Tuesday evening. 

: There is a great desire to avoid the confusing issue of the special election in the primary for Menendez's remaining two-months of his term in the House. Vas skipped it, Sires is running, and if he wins, the West New York Mayor will probably also win the same special election in November and immediately take a seat in Congress. Sires' competition for the two-month term is James Geron of Guttenberg who seems content with just two months in office - and for the rest of his life he could be referred to as "congressman." 


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