Agree entirely with the idea of instant runoffs. Also - seems excessive to have a May 14 Municipal Election, a June 4 primary and a June 11 runoff. Getting people to show up for the runoff will be akin to trying to give away free dental surgery.

The voting machines now count how many people vote for at-large candidates. Whether you vote for one, two, or three at-larges you are considered one at- large voter. My understanding is that that the 50%+1 number was just over 15,000, so if true, there is a run-off. They used to have a formula they applied (up through the '09 election) that was based on a historical average of (I think) 2.1 at-large votes per 1 mayoral vote cast.

Mr. Fulop had his own rally on the steps of city hall that was at least three times larger. I was at both.

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Leaders lead. Talkers talk.

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I was. I listened to the speeches and rants and then observed no action in the following weeks and months. Yes, Riaz was involved in the recall but it was John Lynch and Esther Wintner who got it started.

The fact that Dan's parrots are starting to echo the Healy lies about Fulop makes me seriously doubt Dan's claim that he is willing to work with anyone. By giving tacit approval to a nasty smear campaign - and having his campaign manager show up at a rally at city hall to lead a bullhorn brigade against Fulop spreading even more lies - it seems pretty clear that it's quite personal for Dan and that his ego would never allow him to "work with everyone."

The "person" keeping tabs is the Census Bureau. Voting records are kept by the county and state. No one officially keeps track down to the individual ballot level which is a white vote or an Asian vote or what have you, but certainly things are tracked and understood at the district and ward levels using census data.

The Ward F demographic of 89% African-American I'm pretty sure pre-dates the redistricting. F became considerably whiter with the addition of the southwestern corner of downtown to its boundaries.

The belief that Downtown (including the bit that is now in F - it didn't go away and a vote is a vote; no electoral college type system) will decide the election stems from the thought that with a strong downtown-based candidate, turnout will be much higher there than usual. If that happens, Fulop should win since most additional votes there will be his.

You left out the two Healy mailers they sent out where they photo-shopped Fulop's nose to make him look more Jewish. JCI and the Reporter ran pieces on it. I'd be extremely interested to here a Levin defense of that one.

I don't know whether all nine council candidates received the fecal greeting but I know some supporters have. One texted me a picture that I would post but don't know how to get it from my phone to here.

It really is as bad as the stories you hear. You can't overstate the power of fear as a motivator. They know they are losing and they will try to steal this election. That is not hyperbole. They will try to do it by sending out robocalls with false information. They will try to do it through intimidation and shenanigans at polling stations (you likely will never see it downtown.) They will try to do it through voter suppression (such as the fake "vote by mail controversy".) Every day they will send out press releases with audacious lies because they are running out of money and the only way they will be able to get media will be through newspaper articles.

The only way to stop them is to show up on May 14 and vote them out. Finish the job that the FBI and the U.S. Attorney walked away from unfinished. Don't let them get away with it.

It may be political, but its kinda dumb, politically. All it does is continue to draw attention to something that has defined him for the past almost four years. Fulop is so far under his skin that he just lashes out in all directions. You see it at the debates. You read it in the papers. The contempt he has for Fulop is palpable.

Webmaster was there filming tonight. I imagine he'll post footage at some point late tonight or tomorrow. Maybe he can even splice Walker in....

Roughly 31,600 voted in the last mayoral election. The number of registered voters has jumped significantly over the last five years due primarily to the Obama elections.

Also - the county doesn't regularly purge the voter rolls, so that number is likely overstated considerably. I've heard people put the number of currently registered and eligible voters in the neighborhood of 100,000.

Yet another thing thing Fulop talks about and Healy reacts to. Healy is like a four-year cicada. He's asleep until March of every election year and then he surfaces, runs around frantically trying to accomplish things and then no one hears from him for four years.

It would be really interesting to look at the overtime and unusual spending by the city in March and April (road resurfacing, increased ordinance enforcement, the sudden appearance of a cop on every corner) and compare it to the past three Marches and Aprils. I'd be willing to bet that is a very good reason the budget hasn't been put to a final vote yet.

As of the November election, there were 133,126 registered voters in Jersey City. The breakout by ward was as follows:

A: 24,790
B: 20,209
C: 19,526
D: 18,889
E: 23,658
F: 26,054

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Healy has a better chance of finishing third in F than he does of winning it.

Throw in the fact that the judge ruled last week that the BOE has to pay Healy's legal expenses and it's perfect. Healy, desperate to deflect attention from his non-record and taint Fulop as the only realistic route to keeping his job, decides to go fishing. Nothing there, which most reasonable people knew all along. And now the schools (read: taxpayers) get to pay for this piss-poor campaign ploy. Stay classy, Jerry.

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Yes, yes! My favorite moment at last night's Van Vorst Park Association candidate forum was when Dan tried to explain away the newcomer/interloper comment by saying the following (and I'm paraphrasing):

"If you look at the dictionary, interloper doesn't have anything to do with being a newcomer. By 'newcomer', the mayor was referring to Steve alone. 'Interloper' means having ideas that are different from those than the people who came before you." When asked if he, too were an interloper, Dan responded: "well, I have a lot of ideas that are different from those of the past so in that sense, yes - I'm an interloper!"

Merriam-Webster Definition of INTERLOPER

: one that interlopes: as
a : an illegal or unlicensed trader
b : one that intrudes in a place or sphere of activity

Nothing about ideas, but I think most people think of the "b" definition when they hear interloper. "Intruder" clearly means an unwelcome person and it seems to me that you have to be new to intrude. So, no Dan - the mayor was calling not just Steve, but his supporters intruders (he did speak in the plural). As in, "hey - new people, mind your own business and pay your taxes. Keep your nose out of anything that I believe doesn't pertain to you."

Seemed like a perfect opportunity for Dan to say "You know what? The mayor is wrong on that one" rather than doubling down on a double-down from that most eloquent spokesman, Jeff Dublin.

Shame on you, Terrence McDonald. How does this qualify as news? Dutifully recording the delusional rantings, innuendo and lies of a do-nothing mayor and his lackey friend as a stenographer would seems beneath the threshold of a legitimate news story, even for the Jersey Journal.

+1, Tommy.

Vision, yes. But it isn't a great mystery - put things in there that people want to go too and they will come.

The DCNA, in conjunction with Civic JC, has been pushing hard to organize a debate/forum for downtown that would take place during the last two weeks of the campaign. Fulop has agreed but the Healy campaign will not commit to it. Probably says all you need to know.

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I wonder if she's any relation to Awilda Chevres, the woman running for city council in Ward C?

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Who is "Janet"?

Right JCFree/HHend - glad you have such concerns. Of course you won't be voting for any of these candidates because you don't live in Ward E. But thanks for your input!

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Yes - the food truck parking lot.

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You are going to need a flux capacitor to find rents that low.

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What does being on a ticket have to do with anything? If Levin had known Walker was going to run and had waited to join up with him, no one would have beaten him up for that. In fact, that could have been a nice fit and Levin would have enhanced that ticket.

You are new to the list. Maybe you are new to JC - although I doubt it. You probably remember the part where Dan stands in front of City Hall and demands the resignation of the man he is now running with? Called him corrupt. Said the streets of the city are unsafe with shootings almost every day. And now it's: "Let's keep the progress moving"??

I agree with FU, I thought Levin would drop from the ticket too. Look what he has to show from his Healy endorsment to date:

- His campaign fundraising team threw an illegal fundraiser with the sole purpose being to circumvent pay to play laws.
- Accepted maximum contributions from HCDO stalwarts Bayonne Mayor Mark Smith and Aseemblyman Jason O'Donnell which, if they weren't wheeling, certainly reflects the nature of New Dan's new friends.
- Addition of anti-woman, anti-gay Mario Gonzalez to his ticket.
- Healy's veto of stricter pay to play laws - the reasons for which now are quite clear given the illegal fundraiser debacle.
- A ransom-note looking mailer of a couple of printed out newspaper articles with nothing else included.

Let's face it - it's a booty call of convenience. Healy needs to do anything he can to dent Fulop downtown and Levin can't fundraise his way out of a paper bag. The funniest part from the Levin side of the coupling is watching the lengths to which he is going to earnestly sell his belief in Healy. That's the big headscratcher out of all this. Why do it? As FU points out - sure, Healy is using Levin to fundraise, but will Levin actually reap anything from it?

No Bill, see - you've spent so many years telling lies, covering up wrongdoing and blessing corrupt practices that you no longer remember the truth. Your "if I make these vague (and ultimately disproven) accusations enough times people will start to believe them" strategy isn't going to work.

You know what would be a good story for one of the local papers? "Why is the city's head lawyer spending his days running the mayor's campaign?"

It's not too late - why don't you run a positive campaign, focused on whatever it is that justifies the claim "we need to keep the progress going."

Yes - thank God for the election! It could have been years, otherwise.

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But you don't have children and you don't live in Jersey City. Truth be told, you don't care about the schools here either, other than the fact that your paycheck requires you to defend the status quo.