Many political insiders dismiss Lieutenant Governor Kim Guadagno’s gubernatorial campaign as Mount Everest territory for a Republican, sagely noting that a party in power seldom wins a third term.

But, in fact, it has happened in New Jersey politics – albeit over 100 years ago.

The last time Republicans won a third term in the governor’s office resulted in the 1905 swearing-in of Edward C. Stokes. A Republican, Stokes took the baton from Republican Governor Franklin Murphy, who took the baton from Republican Governor Foster McGowan Voorhees.

For those keeping historical score, that was the last time such a transfer of power has occurred in New Jersey, and it was pre-Frank “I am the Law” Hague, who won the Jersey City mayoralty in 1917 and turned North Jersey into a Democratic Party stronghold of immigrant Irish foot-soldiers.