As the Democratic National Convention gets underway, NJ Today Managing Editor Mike Schneider has been speaking with Republicans to get their take on what’s taking place in Charlotte. Former Gov. Donald DiFrancesco, a Republican, praised Newark Mayor Cory Booker’s Democratic platform speech as well as Gov. Chris Christie’s keynote address at the Republican National Convention. He said while each political party has a national platform, members typically don’t abide by all ideals.
Democrats at the DNC have said Americans are better off now than they were four years ago. DiFrancesco said he agrees some aspects have turned around, but the inability to compromise has halted some progress.
“I think President Obama has tried very hard and worked very hard. I think it’s a matter of consensus building. It’s stagnant to some degree, partly because of government,” he said. “Not totally because of government, but partly because of government and their inability to get along, get things done together.”
Despite hearing about some criticism, DiFrancesco said Christie did a great job delivering the RNC keynote address. “He did what I expected him to do,” DiFrancesco said. “Did he talk about himself? Of course. So did everybody else. And I think he was just letting out kind of a theme of what he thinks the election’s all about and eventually he did mention Gov. Romney.”
DiFrancesco also had praise for Booker who delivered the Democratic platform speech at the DNC. “He did very well. I’m a big fan of his. I like him a lot. And I thought he’s sincere, he means well, he’s trying very hard,” he said. “He’s a good leader and a great, phenomenal speaker.”
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He said that he believes Booker is “generally pretty right on target” on the issues, adding that Democrats and Republicans don’t have much to disagree on in New Jersey.
Some have criticized the Republican platform for not allowing moderates to get on board. DiFrancesco said moderates don’t agree with the entire Republican platform, but that’s nothing new. “It’s a platform that you have to have. Do they read it? Probably once maybe. Do they abide by it? Of course not,” he said. “Every candidate does his own thing and has their own philosophy.”
DiFrancesco said moderate Democrats have the same issues of discomfort with their national platform as moderate Republicans and he has also experienced dissent. “It depends on the individual, but yes there are some of the points and the planks years ago that I certainly didn’t agree with. But you can’t agree with everything. You do your own thing,” he said. “We’re unique in the northeast. We have a unique populous.”
At the RNC, Christie said Romney wouldn’t be able to win New Jersey in November, but Sen. Gerald Cardinale told Schneider that he could possibly take the state. DiFrancesco said it’s possible that Romney could win New Jersey, citing a win for Bush Sr. in the Garden State. “We are kind of a swing state,” he said. “We’ve elected a lot of Republican governors.”
But DiFrancesco said he doesn’t give credit to the Tea Party if Romney is victorious in New Jersey in November.