What will a candidate say to win?

Campaign finances are crucial to any politician running for election. According to Opensecrets.org, over the last few years, the average campaign committee for most members of Congress raised nearly a million dollars- Chris Smith is way below that. Opensecrets.org reports that Smith raised $549,472 during the 2009-2010 fundraising cycle, spent $377,319 and has roughly $246,962 on hand.

According to the site around $364,602 came from individual contributors, while most of the remaining money, $169,125, came from Political Action Committees(PACs).

Smith may not have raised a lot of money compared to other incumbents, but when put up against his Democratic opponent, Howard Kleinhendler, he’s rich.

Opensecrets.org reports that Kleinhendler has only raised $64,555, eighty percent of that coming from individual contributions and the remaining twenty percent from self-financing.

Project Vote Smart is a non-profit, non-partisan organization that collects information on political candidates concerning a number of issues to provide to the public. The run something called the “Political Courage Test” which asks candidates to provide their stances on key issues. While most candidates refuse to participate because of fear of being attacked by opponents, Kleinhendler didn’t.

He was willing to address directly almost every issue (except “Legislative Priorities”), scored a “92%” on the test and some of his answers were surprising.

 Like Smith, Kleinhendler is Pro-Life, supports restrictions on the purchasing and possession of hand guns, and most of the Health Care Reform. Kleinhendler also states in the test that he believes marriage should only “be between one man and one woman” and that the United States should continue to “strike suspected terrorist targets in Pakistan”.

If you ask me, Kleinhendler isn’t courageous but rather fake. It appears that he is dramatically shifting his views and standpoints to compete against a Republican, in a district that has been considered conservative for the last 3 decades. Does Kleinhendler really think we need to attack Pakistan, or that abortion is wrong, or does he think that’s what will get him elected?

30 years and counting?

            Because I go to school out-of-state I usually fall behind on the political happenings in New Jersey. When I returned home in May, I asked my mother who was running against Chris Smith in the primary. She didn’t know. I asked my grandmother and she didn’t know. This seemed to be the answer I got, no matter who I asked.

            Election signs usually litter the streets of my town before an election, but despite driving around for nearly two months before the primary on June 8^th, I didn’t see one promoting Smith or his opponent, who I finally found out was Alan Bateman. (Check out the video to learn more about Bateman)

            Smith has been the Congressman of the 4^th district of New Jersey since 1980- that’s just under 30 years. When you see and hear someone’s name for thirty years it seems to get stuck in your head. That’s one of the biggest advantages of being the incumbent. All of us in Smith’s district have watched as he represented us for the past thirty years without any major problems. The old saying goes, “if it isn’t broke, don’t fix it”, so why would we vote out Smith?

            This proved true in the Primary election at least, where Smith dominated the polls. According to FOXNews.com Smith received 21,598 votes, while Bateman got only 9,779.  This earned Smith the votes needed to make it back on the ballot this coming November to represent the Republican Party, where he will face-off against Howard Kleinhendler.

            Kleinhendler ran uncontested in his primary election, so it’s hard to gauge his overall support. But no matter how popular Kleinhendler is, Smith has continually proved that its hard to beat a popular incumbent.

Conservative or Liberal? Who knows?

Almost four years ago I began a small internship in the Whiting, New Jersey office of Congressman Christopher H. Smith. Although I did mostly boring clerical work, I got the opportunity to help with some small campaign projects, and consequently helped get Smith re-elected in the 2006. But looking back, is that such a good thing?

 My internship with Smith left me confused, standing in the no-man-land of two parties. I agreed with Smith on some things, but on others, he missed the mark completely. To this day, I can’t decide my stance on this candidate.

But if you ask me, it looks like Smith isn’t waving his Republican red flag too highly these days. Smith recently voted in favor of Cap and Trade and cosponsored a Statehood bill for Puerto Rico. All these things don’t scream conservative and the infamous Tea Party has taken notice.


Smith is however, favored to win over his current opponent Howard Kleinhendler- even with his lack of support from the Tea Party.


Abortion is one thing that Smith agrees with his party on. He is an intense supporter of pro-life and hates the birth control pill. His 2008 political opponent even said Smith tried to make the pill illegal (?!).

On the outside Smith seems like a moderate Republican, someone that can satisfy both parties needs, but then he talks about abortion and birth control and it all goes down hill.

After doing a little more research on Smith, I found a 1991 New York Times article entitled, Decade of Rep. Smith: Fluke to Tactician. It may have been written nearly 20 years ago, but it seems right on the money. Les AuCoin, a Democratic Representative from Oregon, described Smith in the article.

"He's almost a Jekyll and Hyde: a fairly tolerant guy, compassionate, open minded on almost any front. But suddenly when it comes to choice, it's something else. A look comes in his eye. He almost looks like he's been electrocuted. His eyes bulge and the rhetoric changes," AuCoin told the New York Times.

Mark Setaro, a former opponent of Smith, said in the same article, "He's the mistake that will be there for the next 20 years."

Well 20 years later, here we are, and the big question remains- is the re-election of Smith a mistake?