I'm re-thinking my vote in the GOP U.S. Senate primary, based on comments in the Primary Choices post and a Pennacchio mailer I received yesterday.
As of now I am leaning towards Pennacchio. Between now and Tuesday I will sort through the rhetoric on both Zimmer's and Pennacchio's websites and review the NJN/Inquirer/Gannett and ABC debates before making my choice.
I encourage readers to do the same.
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I respect Pennacchio's campaign a lot..but do yourself a favor and don't go by what some of his supporters (most of whom remained anonymous) said on the previous post. The only people who can't get over Zimmer's Barry Goldwater type approach to abortion are one issue voters. I lean towards being pro-life, but the issue is somewhere near the end of my list of priorities.
For me, the issue is who will do better come November, and while Pennacchio works hard and campaigns hard, he's not ready for prime-time. He hasn't ran a competitive campaign in probably over a decade, and when he did it was just between fellow Republicans. He never took hold of this election at the times he could have easily took the lead. He's also having trouble rallying some of the more conservative republicans behind him although he did get some endorsement. That should be his natural base and I'm guessin a number of them will stay home on the primary or write-in names.
It was a long process to get Zimmer in the race, but the idea that he doesn't really want to run is ridiculous. He never assumed it would happen, but when it looked to be almost over, he took the iniative and got in there late.
Pennacchio can strike a populist tone that would work well in this state, but I'm also familiar with his legislative record. Assuming Lautenberg will win, I can see a million negative ads that Pennacchio won't be able to fight against in the general, not even counting the 17 year old manifesto. In my view, Zimmer could prove to be a better fighter than Pennacchio.
The Karcher comparison is funny, albeit Zimmer's Hunterdon residence is actually a farm, whereas Karcher had a McMansion.
If you take a look at the debates and decide Pennacchio, I respect your decision and if Joe wins on Tuesday, I would gladly help them out and try and rally people behind him. But ask yourself this question: Does Pennacchio have what it takes to fight back against Lautenberg negative ads? And if Rob Andrews is nominated, well we all know what happens when the Democratic nominee is perceived as a moderate in this state.
This election is all about damage control. Who loses by the least in this state..Zimmer loses by about 10%. Pennacchio is a crap shoot..but my guess would be 15-20%. I could be wrong though..the last name could help him. Murray would lose by about 90%.
Damage Control 08'.
Technically speaking why Pennacchio is the right choice:
While you may or may not agree with everything Joe has said or done we have to break this losing cycle the Republican Party has got us in.
We have NEVER nominated an Italian or Irish Roman Catholic for a statewide race. The Democrats have and they've won. The reasoning behind nominating someone like Joe Pennacchio is the fact that Irish/Italian Roman Catholics make up at least 40% of the vote. Not only do they make up a HUGE chunk of the vote but they are also Reagan Democrats, they are not Republicans.
If Joe wins the nomination his heritage plays a HUGE roll in the fall campaign.
Secondly, we lose nothing by nominating Joe because we KNOW Zimmer will lose by at least 10 points because that's what he lost last time with. Zimmer does not know how to win. Pennacchio does and anyone who thinks Joe doesn't know how to campaign is forgetting the fact that Joe won a lot of county conventions this spring despite being outspent massively.
Joe Pennacchio is the right guy at the right time.
PS. Eric, you are following the people who think they are the leadership of the party but Tuesday will define them as the OLD leadership of the party.
I'm not following anyone. I made a decision based on the issues I count as strongest to me and who I think has the best shot in November. Party leadership doesn't dictate my choices, I supported Senator McCain months and months before the "establishment" moved from Rudy to McCain.
Given that I call myself a moderate on some issues and a conservative on others, it shouldn't shock anyone that I would lean towards Zimmer for a bit and then decide to support him a week or so ago.
Pennacchio can't complain about the "establishment". He has multiple lines and the support of at least one county chair.
Winning County Conventions with Republican county committee is a lot easier than winning a state like New Jersey..
The voters decide this election on Tuesday. Nobody's "Stealing" this election for Zimmer. (Murray's excuse for losing already)
Eric,
What part of Zimmer's record are you impressed with?
The vote to raise sales tax?
The vote to disallow property taxes from a persons state income tax forms?
The vote to allow babies brains to be sucked out seconds before they take their first breath?
The vote against the balanced budget?
The vote against medicare reform?
The vote against funding our border security to keep out illegal immigrants?
The vote to fund abortions with taxpayer money?
The vote for more gun control laws?
The abuse of a farm program to lower his property taxes?
The "good 'ol boy's" $15,000/month contract that was handed to him by the Hunterdon County Freeholders for a failed lobbying attempt (a move that the lone disenter on the Hunterdon County Freeholder Board called highly "questionable")?
The fact that his OWN home county refused to endorse him(I can't image why)?
The fact that he tried to convince people not to vote for his primary opponent because his church was founded by the KKK (incidently since then the Piller of Fire Church located in Somerset has grown into a "mega" evangelical chuch with a very popular flagship christian radio station 99.1FM WAWZ)? (to me this may be the worst of all the bad things Zimmer signed off on)
The fact he tried to use race against his 1996 opponent with "angry black man call" to white households?
Forgive me for wondering, what exactly is there to like about Dick Zimmer?
The best line of the campaign season so far, "If your voting for Zimmer, you don't know Dick!"
sounds like we got a mike pappas fan...
wait..wasnt it pappas who lost that seat to holt? I wonder why..perhaps it was quite a stupid song that he sung on the house floor.
Nice description on partial birth abortion...good thing Congressman Zimmer changed his view on that 10 years ago and has maintained his position since then.
I like Zimmer's fiscal conservatism and the fact he was named by the NTU as a taxpayer hero or superhero multiple times. That's no joke. I like his opposition to earmarks..it's distorted how much of the budget they actually are (it's a lot more then Murray says).
What a bunch of county committee people (less than 50 if I remember) did in Hunterdon means nothing to me. Zimmer will still win that county.
Here's a question: Is Zimmer's Hunterdon County residence a farm?
Answer: Yes. So does the farmland tax break system need to be changed: absolutely but find me someone who wouldnt take advantage of a tax break offer and I'll find you a complete liar.
Isn't Jersey Joe a slumlord? And what's the deal with him owing money to his jingle radio ad company or something? Oh and he's never voted to raise a tax? Because according to his home county newspaper, he did as a freeholder.
Forget it..I'll paint you a picture of what September/October/November will sound like for you:
Joe Pennacchio wants a constitutional amendment banning abortion in all 50 states.
Joe Pennacchio once advocated putting homeless people in military camps.
Now times that by 100 times over and over with Lautenbergs money and negative ad campaigns. Can Joe fight back when he raises money like he's running for state senate instead of US Senate? I have my doubts.
I respect Joe a lot..but it seems that his folks like going negative these days. Wasn't Joe advocating a clean campaign pledge a few months back? I don't he'd be happy with your post.
At least we can find something to agree on:
Both Pennacchio and Zimmer are 100 times better than Murray. :)
My vote is going to Dr. Murray Sabrin - he has run a great campaign and has talked about more issues and has shown some real depth about the issues. Check out difference between the three websites - Dr. Sabrin has hours of videos discussing details about the economy, taxes, federal reserve, gasoline prices, etc... Have any of you looked at Dick Zimmer or Joe Pennacchio's websites?
Go visit www.murraysabrin.com and make an informed decision - like I have.
The upset will be Murray Sabrin on Tuesday night!
Eric,
Anyone who can't see partial birth abortion for what it is has a seriously flawed moral compass, regardless of a changed position two years after the fact. The truth is Zimmer still believes that abortion is OK up the point of delivery for any reason and that the taxpayers shoud pay for it.
Slumlord? I didn't think you were taking talking points form Murray. Slumlord would require tenents, of which there were none, and would require poor people that were hurt, of which there were none. Joe owned a minority share in a building for 25 years that was sold in February that was much better kept than most of the building that surrounded it. Slumlord? That's the best personal attack you can come up with. You lower yourself with such accusations Eric.
Joe decreased the tax rate in Morris County by 10%. That means peoples tax bills were LOWER. That's what LOWERING taxes means. At the same time the Morris County economic development was humming along putting on new rateables that allowed inflationary spending to occur while they LOWERED taxes. I wish that happened where I lived.
But Dick Zimmer RAISED the sales tax creating BILLIONS in new taxes. By that measure Zimmer is far worse that he accuses Joe of being on taxes. Being named the taxpayers hero of the year in congress is like being voted most sober in Murphy's Bar and Grill at 2AM on St. Patrick's night. Lots of room for error in that notable title. But interestingly he did receive that title the last three years he was in Congress, just the first three years. Seems he lost his tax fighting ways and reverted back the old Dick Zimmer we knew in the state legislature.
As for being attacked for being pro-life, Zimmer's going to be attacked for the same thing in the fall, but he'll also be attacked for being a BIG OIL lobbyist, a PROPERTY TAX DODGER, a MORAL TRAIN WRECK and a guy who voted to raise the sales tax, income tax and for BILLIONS more in spending.
As for Joe's idea of taking care of the homeless through housing and counseling utilizing defunct miliarty bases because they have all the necessary infrastructure to provide property houseing, many people still think it may be a good idea. To say Joe wanted to "round up the homeless people and force them into military basis" is lying about what Joe's thoughts were on the issue and Eric, once again, you are holding water for the Sabrin campaign when you make such an accusation. It's easy to make a good argument against someone when you're willing to lie about him. It's also called "bearing false witness". Please refer to the ten commandments for more detail on that point.
Your arguments follow a very similar pattern of a loser in a debate. If you can't win on facts and merit you resort to personal attacks that cloud the issues at hand. Old trick that very rarely works which is why EVERY open county convetion elected JOE PENNACCHIO as their stardard bearer.
As for the clean campaign pledge Zimmer refused to sign it. Wonder why?
As for these comments, they are not "dirty campaigning" in any way. They are merely a litany of damning facts about Zimmer's public record. Read 'em and weep, Eric, not a record to be proud of.
FACT: ZIMMER LOST HIS LAST TWO TIMES HE RAN.
FACT: PENNACCHIO WON THE LAST SIX TIMES HE RAN.
GO JOE GO!
Joe Pennacchio's last opponent was this guy:
http://www.wasimkhan.com/
Enough said right there.
I'm sorry but winning in a safe Republican district aint hard. The only competitive race Joe's ever been in is against Republicans in a primary. In a general I'm afraid he won't be ready for prime time and what will hit him.
Even though he has lost statewide and lost to Holt by about 500 plus votes his last election, Zimmer is more prepared and qualified to face Lautenberg or Andrews.
Everyone basically likes Joe, but the doubts overwhelm the positives.
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