Obama Increases Lead Among NJ Voters

Barack Obama

ATLANTA, Ga. – Strategic Vision, LLC, an Atlanta-headquartered public relations and public affairs agency, announced the results of a three-day poll of 800 likely voters in New Jersey on Oct. 1.  The poll showed that the Obama/Biden ticket leads McCain/Palin ticket 48% to 39% with 3% for other candidates; and 10% undecided.  The Democrats increased their lead dramatically over the past two weeks with the Republican ticket losing four percent.

The poll has a margin of error of ±3 percentage points.  In the poll, 320 respondents identified themselves as Democrats (40%); 224 respondents identified themselves as Republicans (28%); and 256 identified themselves as independents or other party affiliation (32%).

“New Jersey is returning to its traditional Democratic moorings,” said David E. Johnson, CEO of Strategic Vision.  “The economy has hurt McCain dramatically and white females have shifted back to the Democrats.”

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Who’s Going To Bail Us Out?

By Michael M. Shapiro

The federal government’s proposal to spend approximately $700 billion to bail out financial institutions drowning in the sub-prime mortgage mess raises the issue of whether such a bailout should be taking place.   It would seem that without the aid package, the major banks/investment firms in our nation would go under, causing disaster and triggering a rapid sequence of events that would impact all Americans and perhaps lead to an economic depression. 

To prevent such an occurrence, the bailout would appear to be justified.  However, it is troubling that American taxpayers are likely going to have to foot a very large bill because our financial institutions took investment risks and lost.

Millions of Americans have mortgages and investments.  If they lose their jobs, they still have to pay their mortgages.  If they can’t pay them, they lose their homes.  Similarly, if their investments lose money, the federal government does not make up the difference.  This leads to the obvious question of fairness.

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Elizabeth Poet Featured On NJN Program

STATE – An Elizabeth poet will be featured on the season premiere of NJN’s “State of the Arts.” The episode airs on Friday, Oct. 17 at 8:30 p.m., with a rebroadcast on Wednesday, Oct. 22 at 11:30 p.m. 

In the program, “State of the Arts” producer Christopher Benincasa follows poet Joe Weil from his home town of Elizabeth to this fall’s Geraldine R. Dodge Poetry Festival, where is he a featured poet.

 Weil was born and raised in Elizabeth and has been described by The New York Times as personifying that town: “working-class, irreverent, modest, but open to the world and filled with a wealth of possibilities.”  Through interviews with Weil and poet Jim Haba, who is the director of the Dodge Poetry Program, viewers discover how Weil transitioned from a blue collar, inner city life to the “greener pasture” of the Dodge festival — a place that a younger Weil thought was out of his reach. 

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Edison Scholars Commended

EDISON – Three seniors at The Wardlaw-Hartridge School in Edison have been named Commended Students in the 2009 National Merit Scholarship Program.

They are Krishna Chandrasekaran and Manish Kewalramani of Edison, and Sahil Zubair of Scotch Plains.

 

Susan Swenson, Wardlaw-Hartridge College Counselor, is pictured, with Sahil Zubair of Scotch Plains and Krishna Chandrasekaran of Edison. Manish Kewalramani is not pictured. Photo by Michelle H. LePoidevin

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