Lonegan Steps Up Attacks
Former U.S. Attorney Christopher Christie won his second county GOP endorsement in less than a week when he trounced his competition at the Union County GOP convention by winning 74% of the vote. Steve Lonegan placed a distant second with 21%. Third place went to Assemblyman Rick Merkt with 9 votes (2.2%) over Franklin Mayor Brian Levine's 8 votes.
Ever the fighter, Steve Lonegan produced two attack mailers this week. His first piece mailed to Union County Republicans resulted in an angry response from Christie supporters and probably cost Lonegan votes today in Union.
Lonegan's second mailer likens Christie to Jim Florio (I'd rather be likened to a monkey). It cites Christie's positions from 10-15 years ago. Recent citations are arguably distorted.
Last weekend after both candidates spoke at the Monmouth County Lincoln Day Dinner, I was struck by the thought that we need both of these men, Christie and Lonegan, to fix New Jersey. I know I wasn't the only one that felt that way. A senior Christie supporter told me of his respect for Lonegan after his speech on Sunday.
If Lonegan continues his campaign in this smash mouth fashion he will marginalize himself. He will alienate many who would be otherwise inclined to support him, if not in this race, then in a future race. In the unlikely event that he wins the primary by demonizing Christie, he will have less establishment support in the general election than Brett Schundler did in 2001. Four more years of Corzine.
Likewise, if Christie wins the nomination, but he and his establishment support is resented by Lonegan's core voters, he will be weakened in the general election.
Christie won't be easy to demonize. He is extremely likable. In politics it is risky business to attack someone that people genuinely like, even when you are right on the issues.
It saddens me to say this because I have a great deal of respect for Lonegan, who, like Christie is receiving tax dollars to fund his campaign; Steve, stop wasting the taxpayer's money. Stop the attacks and stick to the issues. When you draw a contrast between yourself and Christie, do so respectfully without bombast or distortion. Primary voters don't like the bombast and can see right through the distortions. Use your great sense of humor, but take the edge off. By conducting your campaign in such a manner you will be doing New Jersey, the Republican Party and yourself a great service, even if you lose the gubernatorial nomination.
Everyone that matters knows that Christie is still defining his positions and learning the issues. Lonegan has already moved Christie to the right on some issues. With a plain spoken and common sense campaign based on the issues, with contrasts but not attacks, Lonegan's taxpayer funding will be well spent.
Both Christie and Lonegan have said that any of the Republican candidates for Governor would be better than Jon Corzine. That is the truest bit of rhetoric from either of them. Judging by the poll numbers and Corzine's low approval ratings many Democratic and Independent voters agree. Both Christie and Lonegan need to keep their eye on the prize. The nomination is not the prize.
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You're really on fire as of late Art...yet another great post.
I find it kinda funny that they bring up Florio, seeing as how I was about 10 years old at the time.
The Republican Party in New Jersey has changed a lot since then...
Is it just me or is there incredibly low to no tolerance for negative campaigning in this race? Maybe it's cause Chris is very likeable, but when a respected and well liked person like Kelly Hatfield comes out and takes a pro-active stance against the negative mailer put out...you get the feeling that people are just so sick and tired of the divisevness and the same old arguments.
The detractors can say what they want, but Hatfield is a very good example of how to run a respectful primary campaign. And while she lost hers, she is now considered a rising star because of the issues-based campaign she ran and her impressive performance. It reminded me of the convetion campaign put on between John and Serena last year, both candidates ran as adults and ran on their own issues, without attacking one another (that I know of). If all primaries campaigns were ran like Kelly's was, we'd probably be a lot more of a united party with a common goal.
The Republican Party in New Jersey has changed a lot since then...
Has it? I hope it has but I am not so sure. That old Republican Party is the one that gave us the Justices that caused so much of our problems. Only Lonegan and Merkt are talking about reversing Abbott. Christie isn't and the minority legislators aren't. Lonegan would do better driving that point home than do go after Christie personally for positions he took 10-15 years ago.
Is it just me or is there incredibly low to no tolerance for negative campaigning in this race?
The problem I have is that the attacks are old news, personalized, and lack relevance to the current issues.
If Lonegan would say, "Abbott and Mt Laurel/COAH are at the root of our fiscal problems. They are why Pennsylvania spends $6 billion less than we do despite their larger population and land mass. I will fix these problems, my opponent will only tinker with them." I would stand up and cheer.
I don't want to hear about what Christie told a reporter in 1995 and I don't want candidates who are angry with each other for seeking the same office.
Things have gotten so bad in New Jersey that the politics as usual is maddening. I want serious leaders who will put fixing this state above their own self-interest.
Do you know what would be worse than Corzine getting re-elected? Christie getting elected and governing like Whitman did.
Win or lose, Lonegan has an opportunity to shape our party on substance. When he makes silly attacks his message can't be heard and he blows that opportunity.
This is what scares me about Lonegan. He is right on most of the issues, fearless in standing by his beliefs, and a great campaigner. But he loses sight of the big picture, which is to get rid of Corzine. The good news is, there's a lot of time between June and November and the voters tend to have short memories when it comes to the rhetoric of primary campaigns. I just hope that Steve's second place finishes don't translate into a scorched earth policy against his fellow Republicans.
This is a true story. About a year ago, there was this man, Dr. Murray Sabrin who if you caught in a rare moment, would speak very clearly about the issues and had great ideas and plans for when he became the next US Senator from NJ. In my opinion, if you heard Mr. Sabrin talk about the issues, you would have HAD to vote for him and if he would have focused on telling people his message, he would have won. I'd blogged my $0.02 (now worth $0.0000002) on the issue a while back.
Of course, you didn't get to hear Mr. Sabrin talk about the issues because every time you received an email, press release or newsletter from Mr. Sabrin, he was viciously attacking anyone and anything possible. Sabrin stopped talking about the issues and no one voted for him.
If we're lucky, Lonegan will stick to focusing on the issues and spreading his message and Lonegan will win the Republican nomination. Taking the Sabrin approach is not going to get the job done.
Message, message, message: Lonegan's major points about gutting Abbott, slimming greatly the DEP, and killing COAH need to be repeated and repeated, and maybe the stupefied and numb NJ voters will finally start waking up and actually get mad that this state just doesn't HAVE to keep being this expensive and totally messed-up!!
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