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Micah Rasmussen, Director of the Rebovich Institute for New Jersey Politics at Rider University · The Mark Simone Show

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  Speaker 1: Happy Happy Thursday. He was press secretary for former New
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  Speaker 1: Jersey Governor Jim McGreevy. In these days. Micah Rasmussen is
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  Speaker 1: the director of the Rebevich Institute for New Jersey Politics
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  Speaker 1: at Writer University. He's contributed to the public affairs of
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  Speaker 1: the state for more than two decades and has more
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  Speaker 1: than fifteen years experience as an adjunct professor of political science. MIKEH. Rasmussen,
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  Speaker 1: Good morning to.
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  Speaker 2: You, Hey, Ken, how are you.
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  Speaker 1: I'm great. It feels like I just talked to you
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  Speaker 1: in the last two days, maybe because I did almost
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  Speaker 1: right there you go. Hey, So we got to ask you.
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  Speaker 1: Actually I was going to talk to about the New
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  Speaker 1: Jersey governor's race, but we've had some breaking news since
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  Speaker 1: then about the Gateway Tunnel project and President Trump basically
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  Speaker 1: telling hey, Chuckie Schielma, screw you, pal, what do you
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  Speaker 1: think you think? This is just politics? He's just playing
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  Speaker 1: games right now.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah. I hope so, I hope so for the sake
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  Speaker 2: of the region, for the sake of New Jersey, we're
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  Speaker 2: sort of swept up in this. And it's as you know,
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  Speaker 2: his project has been a long time coming. That rail
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  Speaker 2: infrastructure is over one hundred years old. Sometimes it's got
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  Speaker 2: to be knocked into placements with a sledgehammer. And I'm
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  Speaker 2: not even kidding. And we can't afford for this thing
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  Speaker 2: to be caught up. So I hope that resolution is
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  Speaker 2: on the way. And you know, this is pretty strong language.
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  Speaker 2: It's different than what we heard a couple of weeks ago,
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  Speaker 2: which was that it was a pause. Cancelation is a
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  Speaker 2: different deal. That doesn't sound like something to come back from.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, I think he used the word terminated. He used
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  Speaker 1: the word terminated, so that is a serious word. And
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  Speaker 1: he does have the right to do it because this
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  Speaker 1: was a grant that was signed in by Biden. So
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  Speaker 1: because it was a grant, he could freeze grants and
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  Speaker 1: that's for I'm sure this was at a left field
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  Speaker 1: for even those on the left. But nonetheless, we'll see
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  Speaker 1: what happens in the days ahead. Hopefully it brings them
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  Speaker 1: to the negotiating table so we can get this government
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  Speaker 1: open again. Where do you see the New Jersey governor's
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  Speaker 1: race right now? Micah? Do you talked about this on
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  Speaker 1: our show the other day in New Jersey? But now
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  Speaker 1: Jack was on Jack JITTRELLI was on Minty in the
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  Speaker 1: morning today here at w OAR, and he talked about
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  Speaker 1: that lawsuit. He's moving forward with it.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, you know, it's interesting because I think by most
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  Speaker 2: of the public polling, he's got a little bit of
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  Speaker 2: round still the makeup in these closing weeks. He's got
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  Speaker 2: an enthusiasm hatch for sure, but he's still got some
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  Speaker 2: ground to make up, you know, anywhere between three and
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  Speaker 2: five or six points. He's in a good pace to
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  Speaker 2: do that. But this is the kind of distraction that
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  Speaker 2: can derail him from that. The same thing with these
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  Speaker 2: questions that we talked about about his role in the
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  Speaker 2: opioid crisis, is his company's role in the opioid crisis.
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  Speaker 2: This is the kind of thing that knocks you off
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  Speaker 2: your game and prevents you from making the closing arguments
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  Speaker 2: that you want to make in the last couple of
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  Speaker 2: weeks of the race.
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  Speaker 1: So, if you are Jack Chittarelli, what should you be
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  Speaker 1: doing right now? Just talking about nothing else but what
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  Speaker 1: the fact that Mikey Cheryl won't promise that she won't
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  Speaker 1: increase taxes. Talk about the fact that Mikey Cheryl's party
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  Speaker 1: is the party that resulted in the high energy rates.
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  Speaker 1: Is that what all, you should be focusing on affordability.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, absolutely, that's that's what's on voter's minds. Sure, and
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  Speaker 2: you know there's some evidence that talking about the ethics
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  Speaker 2: or the stop trades or you know, Annapolis is a
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  Speaker 2: distraction from what's really on voter's minds. And you've got
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  Speaker 2: to show that you are sensitive to what voters are
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  Speaker 2: are concerned about. And I don't know if he's doing
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  Speaker 2: that right now.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, I'm by the way, I'm literally sitting seventy five
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  Speaker 1: feet from where Charlomage the God talked to Mikey Cheryl
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  Speaker 1: and had that famous interview. I could walk literally out
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  Speaker 1: this door and down the hall and that's right where
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  Speaker 1: the interview occurred where she didn't know if she had
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  Speaker 1: seven million dollars that she earned in stock Grade. Let
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  Speaker 1: me just remind people that are listening to seven to
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  Speaker 1: ten wo r it is Ken Razotto from Mark Simone
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  Speaker 1: on a Thursday. Ten forty seven is our time, and
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  Speaker 1: we have Micah Rasmussen, political expert from the state of
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  Speaker 1: New Jersey, my good friend who's on with us today.
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  Speaker 1: So let's let's talk about what the next step is
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  Speaker 1: would be for now, Mikey Cheryl. If you're Mikey Cheryl,
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  Speaker 1: what do you have to do to kind of get
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  Speaker 1: back on track in terms of the whole thing with
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  Speaker 1: the military academy?
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  Speaker 2: You know? So same thing for her, She's got to
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  Speaker 2: tap into voters frustrations over affordability. And this is where
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  Speaker 2: her message on high tax jack, which you know, I mean,
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  Speaker 2: we can talk about whether that's fair or not, but
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  Speaker 2: he definitely has resonated. He's got a bigger problem with
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  Speaker 2: approval at this point than she does. In most polling,
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  Speaker 2: she is still right side up. He's upside down. So
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  Speaker 2: I think those commercials are having an impact on him.
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  Speaker 2: I think she's got to continue to continue to drill
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  Speaker 2: down on that to the extent that she can and
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  Speaker 2: to the extent that it's fair to So.
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  Speaker 1: How hard is it for these candidates in New Jersey
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  Speaker 1: to run for an office that is statewide because they
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  Speaker 1: have to buy ads in the two large or two
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  Speaker 1: of the largest TV markets New York is number one,
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  Speaker 1: Phillies number five, in order to get their message out.
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  Speaker 1: It's got to be super expensive, probably more expensive than
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  Speaker 1: anywhere else it is.
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  Speaker 2: And as you well know, because of you know what
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  Speaker 2: you do every morning viewers are not just getting their
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  Speaker 2: TV anymore from cable. They're not just getting in for broadcasts,
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  Speaker 2: they're getting in for digital from streaming, and so it
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  Speaker 2: is harder than ever because you've got to be on
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  Speaker 2: all the platforms where people are watching. It is a
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  Speaker 2: dispersed media market, and that means it is more expensive
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  Speaker 2: and it's a tough thing to do. One thing that
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  Speaker 2: you know, I have to remind people all the time
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  Speaker 2: is said, we've got a public financing system for governor.
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  Speaker 2: So theoretically, at least on the campaign side, they're spending there,
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  Speaker 2: they're their calf is the same out about eighteen million dollars.
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  Speaker 2: Jack Carelli has spent a lot more of that down
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  Speaker 2: at this point in the race driving his message. She's
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  Speaker 2: got more or less in the closing days of the
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  Speaker 2: race that she's spoiled away that could make a big difference.
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  Speaker 1: In this clothes Do you think that Jack could climb
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  Speaker 1: up in the in the next guyle mean, we only
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  Speaker 1: have two and a half weeks before this happens. Do
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  Speaker 1: you think he has a shot at this point, she does.
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  Speaker 2: Have a shot. There's no question about that. This race
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  Speaker 2: is impossible to predict. We're probably going to go through
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  Speaker 2: several more lifetime or gateways between now and the election.
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  Speaker 2: There's no question he's in the hunt. But again, what
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  Speaker 2: I am concerned about for him is is he being
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  Speaker 2: driven off of his message? Does he have the fire
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  Speaker 2: power to keep going where she has sort of spoiled
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  Speaker 2: that money away while she's on the offense with her messaging.
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  Speaker 2: I think the positions are better, but I'm certainly not
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  Speaker 2: counting him out at this point.
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  Speaker 1: Well, I'm not going to let you go before I
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  Speaker 1: ask you a thirty second question here. Are you going
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  Speaker 1: to be watching the New York City mayoral debates tonight?
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  Speaker 2: Yeah? I absolutely am, and I think it's going to
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  Speaker 2: be a big night in that race because people are
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  Speaker 2: trying to sort out the new dynamics with just the
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  Speaker 2: three candidates left in the race. And we'll see what happens.
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  Speaker 2: I think Mondai certainly is His messaging is novel. It's different, right,
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  Speaker 2: whether or not it's what voters are interested in. But
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  Speaker 2: you know, are you going to get more of the
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  Speaker 2: same old, same open polo? Are you going to get
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  Speaker 2: something new? And then, of course, does that present an
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  Speaker 2: opportunity between those two duking it out? Does that present
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  Speaker 2: an opportunity for Sliva to sort of come up the medal.
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  Speaker 1: Amazing, all right. The director of the Rebevitch Institute for
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  Speaker 1: New Jersey Politics at Ryder University, My good friend, Micah Rasmussen.
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  Speaker 1: I appreciate you all the time, so I could talk
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  Speaker 1: to you for hours. Thanks for coming on.
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  Speaker 2: Today, you too, Ken, Thank you very much.
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  Speaker 1: You bet have a great day. He is just I
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  Speaker 1: mean literally, if there's nothing he doesn't know, and it's
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  Speaker 1: been decades, this guy knows everything, certainly about New Jersey politics,
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  Speaker 1: but he knows about politics nationwide. Well, we want to
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  Speaker 1: hear from you. Seven ten WR. The Voice of New York,
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