Republicans in CD-6 and CD-12 owe a debt of gratitude to Fair Haven Mayor Mike Halfacre.Before the Tea Party movement had showed its power, before Chris Christie was elected Governor and before Scott Brown was elected to the Ted Kennedy's seat in the U.S. Senate, Mike Halfacre saw the possibility of knocking an entrenched liberal congressman like Rush Holt out of office. He then spent almost 9 months laying the groundwork to do just that.
By graciously withdrawing from the CD-12 race after losing the "party lines" to Scott Sipprelle, Halfacre made a positive impact on our chances of defeating both Rush Holt and Frank Pallone in November.
Given how contentious the convention season was between Sipprelle and Halfacre, it is likely that a primary race between them would have been expensive and bloody. The Democrats were hoping that would happen. We're probably better off that it did not.
Halfacre's withdrawal made a significant difference in CD-6. With Mike out of the running, the Tea Party groups focused their energy and talent on Anna Little and made the CD-6 race competitive.
If Anna wins, it will be due in large measure to the extraordinary efforts and enthusiasm of the Tea Party volunteers. Those efforts would have been divided had Halfacre stayed in the race.
If Diane Gooch wins the nomination, she will at least have had the experience of the primary race to learn from, and gain stamina from, going into the general election campaign.
In each eventuality, we will be better off than we would have been had Mike Halfacre put is political ambitions before what was best for his country and his party.
Thank you Mike.
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16 comments:
VERY nice, spot-on post. Many have commented about the fact that Mike put himself "out there" ahead of the curve and then invested much time and energy before many others, as mentioned by Art, would even have considered it. Another thank you to Mike.
I am also heartened that Art is sending the "rally around the 6th Distrisct candidate" vs. Frank Pallone Pelosi (props to Sean Hannity today in his reference to a NY candidate - adding Pelosi to the last name for having voted w/her 99% of time like our own Frankie-boy). I for one will rally around Anna or Diane - both admirable women and both 1000 % + better than Pallone.
Glad to see the appreciation of the Tea Party groups. They will not quit, no matter what happens. They will stick to their principles and forge ahead. Thank you for the encouraging words.
I for one will rally around Anna or Diane - both admirable women and both 1000 % + better than Pallone.,
So will I, but let's be honest, Anna is 1100% better than Pallone. :-)
Well I may have my first disagreement with the great Mr. Gallagher. Everything you said is correct except that you left out the fact that Mike Halfacre willingly stabbed the tea party and Conservatives in the back when he endorsed the Gooch. He didn't have to do that. He could have, like others, stayed the hell out of the way or endorsed Anna.
He chose not to and went out of his way to slap us in the face and back the party line.
Therefore, in my book, he is a deceitful opportunist who sullied any good he may have done with that move.
His political future is over. I guarantee that.
Interesting,
Though I happen to be a bit more cynical then Art so i have an alternate scenario.
Halfacre after being knifed in the back by, garroted and being a victim of a drive by shooting (all at the same time) by the people in the Republican party who he naively thought where his friends, from a combination of dispair and a desire to please the same people who betrayed him attempts to salvage what little was left of his political career by slinking away like a cur with his tail between his legs.
Not content to merely give in without a fight (Something our Anna refused to do)and wishing to exhibit to his masters what a good boy he really is, he turns on the tea party groups and conservatives he so assidously courted by sticking his nose into the race in another district and hypocritically endorses Anna's opponent who is far more guilty of the political shortcomings he tried to pin on Mr. Sipprelle.
Thanks are of course due Mr. Halfacre for dropping out as the 12th district now has a candidate who is a man of character.
Oh bullshit. Halfacre is a life long loyalist who has been at every event and supported the Monmouth GOP at every step for the last 20 years.
His reward for that by leadership? He got moved out of the way by a bag of money.
Someday Monmouth will learn RINOs belong in a zoo. The rest of the country has thanks to the Tea Partiers.
Why don't we just trust our competitive marketplace to determine winners and losers and quit whining like big-government Democrats about the unfairness of the system. The best candidate will win, by definition.
The self-importance of these teabag partiers is amazing. They have, in a very short time, become as ivory-towered as the so called establishment they claim to loathe.
Get a grip, tea party, you have not done sh*t in NJ. You MIGHT, today, but I imagine that you won't, and then you will have to decide to grow up or go back to your basement, unabomber-like.
Halfacre was a disgraceful candidate. Watching him flip-flop on the abortion issue on this blog site was comical.
Not unlike Scott's flip-flop on the same issue, huh? he went from "its the law of the land" to "i'm pro-life" on this same blog site.
And to show his RINO-ness, he won't answer Tommy DeSeno's conservative poll.
Comical, no?
these races are not about tea party, conservative orthodoxy or anything else. They are about money.
The best candidate in the world, whether it be Anna Little or Mike Halfacre or anyone else, can't win without money. Money to spend and money to use to buy support.
oh, yes, I said it. Look at the money being spent to buy support. Look where Gooch and Sipprelle made their donations.
Did anybody else notice that Morgan Stanley, the company that do-gooder Scott Sipprelle "saved" when he put his buddies in as management is laying off thousands and closing offices?
They also took millions in bailout money. If you don't think this will matter when Holt starts spending money, you are WRONG!!
Corsi is the best candidate. VOTE CORSI!!
those who are so hateful of the tea partiers by calling them "baggers" are really symptomatic of the constant, unending and destructive battle we see every year, for many years, between the libs and conservs.within the GOP, on county, state and national levels....it is why we keep losing many of the wars, by killing each other in the battles.. I personally do not believe either Mike Halfacre, Diane Gooch, or Scott Sipprelle are conservatives, they did what most do in primaries, "talked" to the right.. but, they are basically of the limosine liberal mentality, and many like them are RINOS, which has dumbed the party's principles down, and given us much of the mess we are currently in... I know Anna Little is a conservative, unwaveringly so, so that's why I'm giving principle another shot and voted for her today..anyone calling any tea party groups "baggers" says they don't respect the national frustration, or remember why they have sprung up: we are TAXED ENOUGH ALREADY, and too over-regulated in all aspects of our lives, and we want our country to be more like the Founding Fathers set up, we want government to leave us ALONE!..if you think gov't. is the answer to all, then, stop pretending to be GOP, please, get OUT of the GOP, and go be the Dem you secretly are, so the unaffiliated voters can choose us, as the difference they need to support!!..
Mike relenting his campaign efforts was one thing. Some could have made the argument it was for the better. But publicly backing Gooch undercut that argument, it is no longer legitimate. No, Mike was a disappointment for most, including himself. Nothing can ever change that.
Isn't Mark the guy who couldn't get enough valid signatures to run against Pallone as a Democrat? Based upon that and his rants on this blog, it sounds like he is not in a position to lecture anyone on politics.
I can't stand how Mike was knifed in the back by the party like that, it got me so infuriated!
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