One year ago.....

Can you believe it has been a whole year since Barack Obama was elected President? Where were you when you found out he had won? How was your voting experience? I am a Canadian so obviously did not vote in NJ but the Hyder family did have its own Election Headquarters.

I've spent parts of the morning going back and reading election coverage from that week but taking a break now to watch the Daily Show/Colbert Report Special from that night.

Also plan on watching Obama's victory speech and McCain's concession speech.

As always you can leave a comment here, reach me by e-mail or contact me via Twitter.

  Seed on Newsvine

New Jersey voters failed themselves today

This New Jersey Governor's election result is a disaster on so many levels. Nationally you'll hear this being a referendum on Obama when it clearly wasn't. New Jersey voters did what ignorant voters often do; vote out the incumbent without thinking of what the alternative is. Corzine hasn't been popular but yet again the electorate failed to see the consequences of their vote. It was easy voting out Corzine over the last 4 years but unfortunately New Jersey didn't think about the next 4 years. There are 4 scheduled openings on the New Jersey Supreme Court in next 4 years thanks to New Jersey's mandatory retirement age. Yes, Chris Christie gets to fill those. This is a potential disaster waiting to happen. I don't trust Christie at all on social issues. New Jersey has an 85 year old Senator in Frank Lautenberg who didn't look well at a recent event I attended. I thought he would retire if Corzine won and let him pick someone to replace him....unfortunately Chris Christie would fill that opening now.

A couple of quick closing thoughts as the work begins again. Is Cory Booker going to run in 2013 for Governor or will he hold off for a Senate Run in 2014? Is Jon Corzine headed to D.C to work in the Obama administration?

As always you can leave a comment here, reach me by e-mail or contact me via Twitter. This article is on Newsvine too, please help seed it up the Vine.


  Seed on Newsvine

2009 Political Rallies I've attended

7/16/09 - PNC Arts Center with Barack Obama/Jon Corzine
10/19/09 - Middlesex County College with Joe Biden/Jon Corzine
10/20/09 - Rutgers University with Bill Clinton/Jon Corzine
10/21/09 - Fairleigh Dickenson Univerity with Barack Obama/Caroline Kennedy/Jon Corzine
11/1/09 - Prudential Center with Barack Obama/Jon Corzine

As always you can leave a comment here, reach me by e-mail or contact me via Twitter.
  Seed on Newsvine

Obama/Corzine (09!) Rally in Newark

The Prudential Center in Newark, NJ was buzzing today. It was a buzz I'm sure has never been present for any New Jersey Devils game....ever. Today was not your typical Sunday in Newark though. Barack Obama was back in New Jersey to campaign for Governor Jon Corzine's reelection.

I've been spoiled recently with all the great seats at these rallies here in New Jersey so today felt like I was sitting a long way away. We were up in the nosebleed section but managed to work our way down to the lower level unfortunately just now close enough to get a better view. What made it even worse was that it appeared as though they took people from the nosebleed section and brought them down right in front of the stage moments before Governor Corzine and President Obama took the stage. I got there around 9:30 and got a decent enough spot in line. Gates opened at 11:30 AM. This was the 2nd event of the day schdeduled in New Jersey for Obama and Corzine yet Obama hadn't even left Washington yet. I had figured we'd be there for a while.

The event itself seemed to go by a lot quicker compared to other recent events. We didn't have as many local speakers so that definitely helped with the pace. The event just started abruptly. The national anthem was already a couple of verses in before the crowd got up. There was no announcement made asking everyone to stand as it is usually done. Three congressmen spoke but the crowd didn't care much at all even when they were using Obama campaign slogans of "Fired Up!" and "Yes we Can." The last congressman Frank Pallone introduced Loretta Weinberg who interestingly enough was at the event early. Was she not at the Camden event?

Loretta Weinberg used the same themes as her speeches last week as the rallies last week. He speech centered around the diverse crowd and how it reflected the Democrats. Senator Weinberg also referred to Christie as a "pretender" adding that he was "trying to sell himself as an agent of change". The Senator went on to add that if Christie wants to talk change he should come to her because she "broke more glass ceilings than Chris Christie has had automobile accidents....and that's not easy". Ouch! This of course is a knock on Chris Christie's driving record. I was going to add that unlike the events of last week we got no mentions of Sarah Palin or Mark Sanford. Why did they drop that? I thought it was a pretty effective attack on Christie.

Up next was Mayor Cory Booker of Newark. I assumed he was there to introduce Jon Corzine but I was wrong. If you haven't heard him speak you definitely should. He's going to be next Senator (once Lautenberg retires) or next Governor from New Jersey. Doesn't hurt that Barack Obama seems to be a fan as he mentions him at all his New Jersey stops. This is a mayor who has done great work in Newark. This is a mayor who actually goes on patrol with the city's cops at night actually being in touch with what is going on in the streets of his city. Not to anyone's surprise he got a louder cheer at this rally than Governor Corzine. Cory Booker joined a long list of people who've pitched Jon Corzine in a better fashion then John Corzine. Booker spoke with his usual optimism adding "Yes We Can in Washington!....Yes We Can in Trenton!....Yes We Can in Newark!....Yes We Can!" Cory Booker rallied the crowd to stand behind Barack Obama and Jon Corzine in these tough times.

While Jon Corzine was having this big rally Chris Christie had Joe "You Lie" Wilson campaigning on his behalf.

When Jon Corzine didn't immediately take stage following Cory Booker's speech I figured another last minute addition had been to this event like the Caroline Kennedy addition at the FDU event last week. No such luck this time.

Crowd was fired up during this long pause. This DJ did a great job getting the crowd fired up just as he did at the Obama and Biden rallies last week here in NJ. There was actually an attempted wave. That one just confused me.




Governor Corzine referred to this as a "victory rally". He once again referred to the diverse crowd. He reminded everyone (just in case we had forgotten) that a year ago at the polls we said "Yes We Can!" Corzine added that just like President Obama he believes that "Health Care is a right and not a privilege." Corzine emphasized that "Christie is wrong where it matters most." The Governor hit his opponent hard on education and healthcare. Chris Christie's comments about pre-school being "babysitting" keeps hurting him as every speaker at every rally I've been at has mentioned it. Corzine referred to himself in 3rd person a couple of times which was awkward. Corzine made sure to mention that Chris Christie was campaigning today with the "extremist" Joe Wilson of South Carolina.

Has anyone heard an official attendance number from this rally? Someone mentioned to be that White House Officials said 12,000. I saw Corzine people say 13,500. I had estimated a crowd of around 10,000 from how packed the arena was.



The ovation for Barack Obama was just huge. New Jersey loves Barack Obama. Phil Elliot of the Associated Press compared the crowd noise to the 2008 campaign crowds. Barack Obama started by saying that he was back as he promised and that "they" couldn't keep him away. Was that a dig at the recent GOP comments from Christie people saying Obama visits aren't helping Corzine? Obama pointed out "one of the finest mayors in the country Cory Booker is in the house." Obama went after Christie saying he acts as though New Jersey is the only state effected by the recession. Obama pointed out that recession didn't start under his watch. Obama talked about the selective memory and amnesia about how we got into this mess. The President said that "we don't mind cleaning up after someone else's mess." Obama brought out the "mop" portion of speech too. Implying that if GOP wouldn't help clean the least they could do was not complain about "how we're holding the mop." One thing about Obama that I've noticed, he responds to every single "I love you Obama!" each and every time. Obama pointed out that Governor is the first NJ Governor in 60 years to reduce size of government in state. Obama said to not worry about political nonsense in ads and to look at the actual record. Obama said Corzine had been prudent with spending. He applauded Corzine's expansion of children health insurance and added that the other guy has nothing to say on health care. Obama ended with an abbreviated version of the "fired up" story. Does anyone know if it was because the congressman beat the story to death before Obama even got to the event?



Full transcript of Obama's speech.


Earlier in the day President Obama also campaigned for Jon Corzine in Camden.

As always you can leave a comment here, reach me by e-mail or contact me via Twitter.

 Seed on Newsvine

PEDs and the World Series

Here we are are about 30 hours away from the start of the World Series and so far these Major League Baseball playoffs have been all about Alex Rodriguez. The man who when all is said and done will retire as the baseball player with the greatest offensive statistics of all time has finally won over a large chunk of the baseball media and fans who were always critical about his lack of "clutch" hitting. 

It was back on February 9th of this year that Alex Rodriguez sat down with Peter Gammons of ESPN and confirmed the reporting of Sports Illustrated's Selena Roberts that he had indeed failed a steroids test in 2003. There are reportedly as many as 104 names people on the list the list the US Government seized back in 2009. The Major League Baseball Players Association disputes that number. Earlier this year the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in a 9-2 decision ruled against Federal Agents saying they did not have the authority to seize that list.  


The list contains names of players who allegedly failed the 2003 MLB administered test. The test was supposed to be anonymous and destroyed after the results but Federal Agents seized the list. Ever since then names have been leaking out slowly. The list is also in the hands of lawyers including those involved with the BALCO case. So far we know for sure 7 names that were on the list.

Everyone is familiar with the story. Everyone has a different opinion on it. There are those like me who just want the whole list to just come out at once. This would be the ideal solution. We all know that a significant number of players used Performance Enhancing Drugs. It helps no one that these names trickle out one by one every few months and dominate the headlines. The "clean" players have done a horrible job here. Yes, they are part of the union but every day that passes by they are just letting themselves be associated with cheaters. If the MLB and MLBPA really thinks these names won't continue to be leaked they are just fooling themselves. Both the MLB and MLBPA have already acknowledged that baseball did have this cloud over it. Yes, I know they only did so once Congress got involved but all parties involved need to take the next step and put this era behind us.

When all the backlash against Barry Bonds began at the start of this decade I continued to root for him. I felt all along that he was being hung out to dry by everyone because of his personality. Barry Bonds never came across as the friendliest guy in the room. He wasn't out there doing commercials like pretty much every major star does right now. He wasn't kowtowing to the media either. In that process he made a lot of enemies who took great joy in his downfall. The problem here is that fans, media and the MLB all continue to be hypocrites. The media has let guys like Alex Rodriguez get a complete pass. They're falling all over him in this year's playoffs. Why is no one asking whether this man who's already acknowledged cheating might still be doing it? Human Growth Hormone is still a problem in this sport. Would anyone really be surprised if it comes out later that Alex Rodriguez was caught using HGH? Fans around baseball have been hypocrites. These players get booed in other ballparks but are revered in their home ballparks. New York Yankees fans who used to regularly criticize Barry Bonds on sports radio now give curtain calls to Alex Rodriguez. These same fans did it for Jason Giambi and Andy Pettite.

The media continues to give Alex Rodriguez a complete pass. Everyone is covering this as though this is some great feel good story. Why is everyone forgetting that just 8 months ago this man was exposed as a cheater and a fraud?

What are the MLB and MLBPA gaining from withholding these names? They know they will come out eventually. Shouldn't the MLBPA be looking for it's entire group? Every time a name is leaked that one player faces the spotlight for a couple of months. Why not just do it all in one shot in a controlled atmosphere and put it behind you?

With that said I'm shocked we haven't seen another name or two get leaked during this year's playoffs. With Alex Rodriguez, Sammy Sosa, Manny Ramirez and David Ortiz having been named earlier this year I fully expected another name or two to be leaked with the spotlight of sports fans on the MLB in October. I mean, wouldn't this be the perfect time to cause damage to baseball?







As always you can leave a comment here, reach me by e-mail or contact me via Twitter. This article is on Newsvine too, please help seed it up the Vine.

  Seed on Newsvine

MLB has already put the Yankees in the World Series

Has MLB never seen the "Dewey beats Truman" picture? Clearly they haven't because there is just no justification for this ridiculous act. I was reading the Los Angeles Times and look what I found. Here I was thinking the only major sports uproar today would be about baseball going head to head against the NFL tonight.

 How does MLB justify already selling merchandise on their website saying "New York Yankees American League Champions". Are you serious?

I know and fully understand that a lot of this stuff is printed ahead of time but how can you be advertising it on your website already? Everyone knows MLB would prefer the Yankees in the World Series for ratings purpose but you're setting yourselves up for major criticism if calls go against the Angels tonight since you know, MLB has already put the Yankees in the World Series.

Did MLB not learn anything from that guy who had a book up on Amazon available for pre-order about the undefeated Patriots?

At last check MLB had not fixed this on its site.

Do you remember other incidents like this one? Please share.

As always you can leave a comment here, reach me by e-mail or contact me via Twitter.

What are you watching Sunday Night?

Fans in the New York market will be torn Sunday Night. Because of the rain in New York Saturday night Game 6 of the American League Championship Series between the New York Yankees and the Los Angeles of Anaheim has been postponed to Sunday night. At the same time Sunday Night Football will be on too with the New York Giants taking on the Arizone Cardinals. What will you be watching at around 8:30 Sunday night?

Football obviously is the bigger thing nationally and should win the ratings war for NBC over Fox's MLB telecast. What happens is the New York market will be completely different. The Yankees/Angels game should crush the NFL game and destroy NBC's ratings in the New York market. NBC 4 in New York even has a special edition of the Sunday sports show "Mike'd Up" planned but it will be a waste as baseball should crush football in New York rating wise.

People will most certainly blame Major League Baseball for scheduling a game at 8:20 PM eastern time on a Sunday night. What do people expect MLB to do here? Fox has a full slate of NFL games around the country including 3 starting at 4:15 PM. There is no way MLB would take the chance that one of those games goes into overtime leaving the start of a big baseball game like this off of TV. There is no way you can blame MLB or Fox here.

With that in mind thought, what will you be watching tomorrow night?




As always you can leave a comment here, reach me by e-mail or contact me via Twitter.

Barack Obama/Jon Corzine(09!) (also starring Caroline Kennedy)

BREAKING NEWS - The 3,500 people in attendance at the Rothman Center agree that Barack Obama is even more awesome in person.


When this Jon Corzine campaign schedule was revealed for this week I did all I could to attempt to go to all the major events. Today after a long but memorable day I can report that I did. It all started on Monday as Vice President Joe Biden campaigned at Middlesex County College in Edison. Former President Bill Clinton was at the College Avenue Gym at Rutgers University in New Brunswick Tuesday night. The main event was today. It was the day Barack Obama returned to the Garden State to campaign for Jon Corzine for the 2nd time in this election cycle. The President campaigned in Holmdel at the PNC Bank Arts Center back in July.


The doors were scheduled to open at 3 PM. I went with my sister and both of us thought we were a lot later then we wanted to be and had given up all hopes for a good sight line at the rally. Keep in mind that we had about an hour drive to get there. Much to our surprise at 1:00 PM there wasn't a line at all. There were a couple of hundred people just walking around so we immediately went towards the gates and lined up at the front of what would be one of the four lines going in. That was victory number one on the day for us. Waiting in line for two hours provided plenty of time to talk to others also lined up. The crowd was filled with people young (I met kids as young as 5) and old. Black, White, Brown and pretty much everything in between. While in line I was interviewed by Nyier Abdou of  the Star Ledger. I'm trying to get my hands on a copy of the full interview.

Obama and Corzine supporters rally at Farleigh Dickinson University

Yes, this was the view I had from my spot in the line. It only got better as we got inside. Check out the view of the stage we had inside.

The atmosphere there was electric. It could be because this was indoors but this crowd of 3,500 felt as thought it was as loud as the 17,500 who were in attendance back in July. Like I said before, getting there at 1 PM I wasn't expecting a good spot in the line. Had I been further back in line I probably would have gone into the bleachers rather then standing but getting into the front row obviously changed all that.

Once all the local officials had given their speeches urging the crowd to vote for the Democratic team on November 3rd we sat through about a hour break. During this break reports came out that Caroline Kennedy had been added to the event. What an addition! I knew she was going to campaigning with Jon Corzine, I just wasn't expecting it to be at this event. Very happy that I was able to add her on my list of prominent Democrats who I have heard speak in person. While we are talking about this break have I mentioned the new law that makes it mandatory for all Democrats to be fans of Michael Jackson? Funny moment as we waited one of the Secret Service agents brought out a binder to the podium presumably carrying Obama's speech. He got a huge ovation from the crowd and just shook his head as he left the stage. The D.J made sure to get that agent one more big applause.


Loretta Weinberg was up first after the break as we headed towards the main event. She gave pretty much the same speech she did at the Clinton event last night. She talked about the faces of the Democratic party in the audience mentioning the diversity. She even had the same height joke! For those who don't know...Loretta Weinberg is a really short woman. I was too busy texting people about Caroline Kennedy that I hardly paid attention to Weinberg until she started to tease who was backstage (most people were not aware that Kennedy had been added to the event). Weinberg started talking there being a big advocate for women standing backstage. The crowd immediately thought about Obama and started to cheer before Weinberg continued by adding "She...." Senator Weinberg talked about the previous generation of Kennedy's and then called up "our neighbor" Caroline Kennedy.


It was great to see Caroline Kennedy get a huge ovation. I'm a big Kennedy person. Obviously wasn't around for Jack or Bobby but was always fascinated by Ted Kennedy. Every country has that one political family that stands out and without any doubt the Kennedy clan is that. It's a shame that Caroline Kennedy's senate bid got derailed last year because she would be one hell of a senator. She is on the right side of the issues. She may not be the world's most powerful speakers but her words do have a depth to them. It's a shame that a lot of people almost looked at is "payback" for the Democrats after what had happened to Sarah Palin. What a big time joke that was. Caroline Kennedy is not Sarah Palin. What has Sarah Palin ever done in her life? What has she accomplished? Caroline did a good job pitching for Corzine calling him a friend and saying that "he had made the hard choices" as governor. She talked about how great it was to be back on the campaign trail with "our President Barack Obama."


Video of Caroline Kennedy's endorsement.

Jon Corzine was up next. He started off saying "I’ll get out of the way pretty fast because I know who you came to see." That got him a nice round of applause. Corzine's been joking about this at all his rallies but this continues to be a problem. Like I told the Star Ledger in the video above and I know a lot of people agree with me on this, the big names coming in to campaign for Corzine have made a better case for him then he has for himself. That's just a shame. Like I have been saying Jon Corzine is the right man for the job at this time. How can Christie be campaigning about the corruption in Trenton when reports about his activities keep surfacing on a regular basis? All week long the Corzine and the other local Democrats have been lumping Christie with GOP governors Sarah Palin and Mark Sanford. It’s a brilliant strategy on the part of the Corzine campaign. They should continue this all the way to election day. Corzine also has been effective this week in tying Christie to the Bush/Cheney ways. Corzine also managed to get his mother booed by mentioning that she is a registered Republican. Ouch.

Barack Obama was the main event and he more then delivered his end of the bargain. Everyone knows what a great speaker Barack Obama is but the experience is even better in person. The buzz in the crowd when Obama took the stage was amazing. I go to a ton of sporting events and I have never seen, heard or experienced anything remotely like it. Obama talked about Corzine being a early supporter of his when he first ran for senate in 2004. Obama also pointed out two NJ congressmen who were in attendance and were early supporters of his Presidential run. Obama mentioned that Corzine is a friend of the White House and again mentioned his input into the economic recovery plan. Obama said Corzine was the first New Jersey Governor in 60 years to reduce the size of government (is it just me or does that mean that this added to unemployment?). Obama pitched his health care plan just like he did back in July. He emphasized that he needed the crowd for Health care reform. He said he needed the audience and so did Jon Corzine. Obama made sure to emphasize that it was Christie's party that got us into this big mess over the last 8 years. Obama added "I'm telling you these folks have a lot of nerves.....they leave this big mess and suddenly they're complaining about how fast we're cleaning it up." Obama knocked the trickle down policies of the GOP but the Democrats have to hope his charisma and powerful speech have a trickle down effect on Corzine and gets him a victory on November 3rd. Obama was so good in his pitch for Jon Corzine he even managed to get something done that even Corzine hasn't been able to do lately....get a "Corzine!" chant going. Obama joked about the "selective memory" of the opposition. Obama ridiculed Christie's stance on  the economy saying he's been acting like New Jersey is the only state that is being affected.   Earlier this morning I sent out a tweet asking "New Jersey are you fired up for Barack Obama today?" My sister who went to this rally with me had her "Fired Up" T-Shirt on. Little did we know at the time that Barack Obama would finish off with the story on the "Fired Up" lady. I have heard that story a million times but I have to say that it is still great every time you hear it. Like Obama said...it gets you "Fired up....and ready to go!" He said the moral of the story was that "one voice can change a room. And if it can change a room it can change a city....can change a state....can change a country." He urged the people in the crowd to go knock on doors and make phone calls for Jon Corzine and even joined in on a "4 more years" chant.

Here's Obama's speech.




If you don't have time to watch the whole speech right now you have to watch the "one voice" portion of it. It is a short clip.

The end of the speech is where the madness begins. Being at the front we were prepared for the rush of people that was about to come our way. They really should put some padding on those railings because one of these days someone is going to get hurt pretty bad. We had two little kids in our section and it was a difficult task for their mothers to keep them shielded from the madness. Obama did his handshakes and left. One of the kids in our section had an Obama book that he was trying to get signed. Once Obama left, luckily the mother was able to get Reggie Love's attention. He was nice enough to take the book to the back and get the book signed by Barack Obama himself. That kid will have one great story to tell for the rest of his life. For those who don't know Reggie Love he was a former college basketball player at Duke University (have to enter the obligatory "I hate Duke!" warning here). He actually played for one of the better Duke teams in recent memory. Just look at that roster. He now serves as the "personal aide to the President" or the "Bodyman" as they are called. If you watched West Wing at all think of Dule Hill's character of "Charlie Young." That is what Reggie Love does. Did you watch his cameo at a White House press briefing recently?

One of the things I love about events like these is that you make new contacts and friends. It happened to be at the Obama rally in July and it happened here again.


Does anyone know why Obama didn't have the Seal of the President on the Podium? Did someone from the advance team mess up?


Three different women fainted near the front, all in the same general area. It's amazing to watch the Secret Service in action as they swooped in and carried the women out quickly without causing too much of a distraction as the speeches were going on.

Oh yeah, while this rally was going on Chris Christie was "campaigning" at a diner less than 2 blocks away. Is he setting up for another round of "fat" jokes. What a joke that he's even trying to get some sympathy that way. Did you guys watch him on the Situation Room today?

I didn't get to see the protesters before the event but did see one as I got into my car. She just seemed like she was protesting anything and everything because that sign had a lot of stuff on it. I only caught "No to Vaccines" and "No to dirty bombs".

All in all an amazing experience. I'll probably add more to this tomorrow as I recall more stuff but this was one of the greatest experiences ever. It's been an amazing week and the rumor floating around is that Obama will be in Newark before the November 3rd elections. I am definitely looking forward to that. One thing of note was that Senator Lautenberg was present at the event but did not speak. I mentioned on Monday that he didn't look good then and I continue to wonder whether he is just hanging around until Corzine wins so a Democrat would replace him because I don't think he will finish his term which ends in 2014.

If you've never been to a political rally, make an effort to do so. If you know someone who's not into politics make sure you drag them along. Watching the likes of Bill Clinton, Barack Obama, Joe Biden and Caroline Kennedy will get them fired up. How many of you have seen Obama in person? How many of you seen any of these figures from this week in person? How about other political figures? Do share your stories. I'll post a few more pictures below but a full gallery is present here.

This photo is courtesy of the Corzine Flickr Stream.

That's me.

As always you can leave a comment here, reach me by e-mail or contact me via Twitter.