New Jersey is a very blue state. Democratic Governor, Democratic Legislature -- both houses -- two Democratic US Senators, seven of thirteen Democratic Representatives in the US House. It's a solid record for the state's Democrats.

But people tend to forget that the Republican Party here is not dead. Just look at the list of folks staffing Rudy Giuliani's presidential campaign -- his campaign manager, national political director, and national field director are all undeniably capable veterans of New Jersey GOP politics. In New Jersey's outlying counties, the Republicans are a serious force to be reckoned with.

Democrats have put up some solid challenges to Republican hegemony in New Jersey's exurbs. In the Morris County town of Long Hill, Dean activist Gina Genovese became the first Democrat to serve on the township committee in 2004 and then became the first openly gay mayor in New Jersey in 2006.  And perhaps most impressively, Democrats in Bergen County have run the tables on the once-dominant Republican Party, and are now gearing up to target Santorum-level homophobe state senator Gerald Cardinale in the 39th District, who has compared same-sex marriage to pet owners wanting to marry their dogs.

But this week we saw an example of a Democratic gain in GOP territory that can be directly tied to the DNC's 50 State Strategy. Rosi at Blue Jersey has the story:

Tonight, in my tiny town of Flemington, New Jersey, Mark Legato (D) beat out Julie Luster (R) for a contested Borough Council seat Legato won in November by just one vote and Luster has contested ever since. We won by 30 votes tonight.

Our secret weapons were two young women in sneakers and blue jeans who pounded out our GOTV program over a sleepless two days in the inadequately-heated Hunterdon County Dem HQ. It was more efficient, more productive and frankly, one hell of a lot more fun than anything we have ever done. The Republicans didn't know what hit them. And it drove the win.

One of the fundamentals of Gov. Howard Dean's 50-State Strategy is Show up everywhere. And that doesn't mean just mayor's races in Salt Lake City, state contests in Alaska or gaining ground in the Show-Me State. For this to work it also has to mean that we concede no vote even in the most crimson portions of very blue states. Places like Hunterdon County. 50-State Strategy = 21-County Strategy.

This isn't abstract. Mary Campbell and Colleen Montgomery are the "two young women in sneakers and blue jeans" Rosi's talking about. If you've been active in New Jersey politics at all of late, you know them and you know how tirelessly they've been working to advance Democratic victories in the state. And they are on the ground in New Jersey as part of the DNC's 50 State Strategy team.

This is the 50 State Strategy in action, winning races at all levels, even if by the tightest of margins. This is how the Democratic Party is being reborn.

This month, Blue Jersey tried something new for the netroots with our Think Equal campaign. Often campaigns like these go from video to the web. We went from the web to video. And while our campaign is aimed at New Jersey's voters, it's also directed at the netroots around the country. For this reason, we've been getting some e-mails asking us how Think Equal came together. What inspired us to do this and, more so, how we pulled it off. So here's the story:

Blue Jersey's Think Equal project is up with our third short, and in this one, married and civil unionzed receive unwanted advances at a bar. We make light of the confusion involved in the situation here, but consider the real world hassle of having to explain your lesser marital status. It's not only degrading, it automatically 'outs' a person to an employer or someone  he or she feels uncomfortable sharing that information with. It's the legal and real world differences like this that make it so important that we settle for nothing less than marriage equality.

It's been a whirlwind week here in Trenton. The NJ State Assembly Judiciary Committee rushed through a discriminatory civil unions bill after only a few hours of public hearings. The vote was 4-2.

The bill's sponsor, Assemblyman Wilfredo Caraballo, and Judiciary Chairwoman Linda Greenstein cannot stop talking about how much they support equality. Showing up outside the hearing, Caraballo said, "This is a huge step, not the final step, but a huge step ... to making sure everyone has the right to be treated equally."

Add that to this gem from Assemblywoman Greenstein.

One gay couple, who opposed civil unions, said they were married in Massachusetts before moving to New Jersey recently. They wondered about their status now.

"I would like for you to tell me, are we married?" Julie Sullivan-Crowley asked.

"Apparently not," Greenstein answered. "I'd like to say you were."

Now, I'd like to say Assemblywoman Greenstein supports equality, but apparently not. Because her vote of assent gave a discriminatory bill "reccomended" status on the full Assembly floor.

And for what? If they want equality so badly, what are they afraid of? It can't be a primary or electoral challenge, because Massachusetts showed that is wrong. In fact, the only Massachusetts legislator to lose on account of marriage equality was someone who opposed it.

And they can't be opposing marriage equality because of the cost. A recent report showed that the state stands to gain more than $100 million every year in increased revenue. On the other hand, the discriminatory civil unions bill will cost the state money. Creating a separate, unequal system for civil unions is going to take a lot of New Jersey taxpayers' money. And then, this wholly new legal structure's terminology will need clarification in the courts, which will cost even more tax dollars.

It is complete nonsense. And what's more, it's not equality. Contact these and other NJ legislators at BlueJersey.com/ThinkEqual and tell them it's time they reconciled their imaginations with the facts, and their actions with their words.

In a perfect world, truth would be free. You could turn on your TV or open your newspaper and the truth of whatever issue being discussed would leap out at you. You'd have in-depth reporting that is honest about any ideological leanings or personal biases from the reporter. The most important issues would be covered first and foremost and most often.

In case you didn't realize it - the world isn't perfect. The news that you pay for is too often shallow, directed at some other market, or simply infected with personal or ideological biases to the point where it is useless. You pay for the newspaper. You pay for cable TV. You pay and pay and pay and you have absolutely no say in what they do.

Except at Blue Jersey. Our front-pagers devote a lot of time and effort to bring you news and opinions that are fresh, honest, and timely. If you don't agree with them, you can say so. You can even take the time to write a diary that proves them wrong, if you want.

In it's short year of existence, Blue Jersey has transformed into an active community of over 1000 registered users and 100,000 page views per month. We helped raise nearly $10,000 for our Congressional candidates this year and brought you original podcast interviews of Senator Bob Menendez,  Congressmen Rob Andrews, Steve Rothman, Frank Pallone, Rush Holt, DFA Chairman Jim Dean, several state legislators and others. We caught Tom Kean Jr's campaign astroturfing on our site, generated tons of media coverage and put them on the defensive.

Earlier this month we learned that Blue Jersey will be awarded the 2007 Lieutenant Laurel Hester Prize for Citizen Courage "for being a national model in how a blog can become an unstoppable engine to move society toward equality for all."