Halfacre's sent Sipprelle a message that he is counting on winning the party line for the primary and that he has laid the groundwork to do just that.
Sipprelle sent back his own message to Halfacre and his supporters. He told Politickernj:
“I think the issues facing this community, this state and this country are too important to have a candidate that does not have the resources to get that message heard.”
“I think I have the experience of somebody who started with nothing, worked hard, played by the rules, and built a family, business and jobs – that that is the type of experience that I can bring to the political process,” he said. “That makes me unique versus Mike or versus Rush Holt.”
Politickernj wrote that a Republican present at Sipprelle's announcement said that the candidate would start his campaign with $250,000 and spend up to $1,000,000 if need be. Halfacre expects to report that he has raised $70,000 and has $35-$40K on hand in his next FEC filing.
Sipprelle may be a political newcomer, but he already has a knack for stretching the truth---he didn't quite "start with nothing."
Sipprelle's parents, Dudley and Linda were both Foreign Service Officers for the U.S. State Department. Their careers took the family to Vienna, Austria; Santo Domingo, The Dominican Republic; Rome, Italy; and Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Mexico City and Turkey. Scott went to boarding school at St. Andrew's School and then on to undergraduate studies at Hamilton College, a highly selective, top-ranked, private liberal arts college located in Clinton, New York. From Hamiton he went to work for Morgan Stanley. That is an excellent background. Hardly "nothing."
And what is the business about "worked hard, played by the rules, and built a family, business and jobs – that that is the type of experience that I can bring to the political process. That makes me unique versus Mike or versus Rush Holt."
Mike Halfacre and Rush Holt didn't work hard, play be the rules and build families? I don't know about Holt, but Halfacre is still building a business and jobs. Sipprelle needs to do better than that. Much better.
What does Sipprelle know about his opponents that we don't know? Very little I suspect. However there is little the public knows about Sipprelle. He will spend a ton of money telling us about himself, I just hope he stops embellishing.
If Halfacre can hold onto his organizational and Tea Party support, he should win "the line" in the county convention/screening committee process easily in Monmouth and Middlesex counties and be very competitive in Mercer.
"The line" is a significant advantage in a primary, especially if there is a low turnout. Halfacre should pray for rain on primary day, regardless of how much money Sipprell spends.
The danger for Halfacre, and it is a real one, is will Sipprelle follow the Corzine model of "buying" organizational support with large financial contributions to county and municipal committees? Will that work with Republicans? It did for Anne Estrabrook in the early running for the 2008 U.S. Senate nomination with disastrous eventual results.
So far the only impressive thing about Sipprelle, as a candidate, is his money. 12th district Republicans need to know who he is, what he stands for, and why he wants to serve in Congress. They need to know if he has what it takes, beyond money, to build an organization and endure a grueling campaign on the ground.
12th district Republicans need to know from Halfacre that he can raise the money to beat Rush Holt in the general election. Sipprelle is right that, "the issues facing this community, this state and this country are too important to have a candidate that does not have the resources to get that message heard.”
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21 comments:
Sipprelle is no ann estabrook and halfacre is no bret schundler. Sipprelle will win the lines, organization and money race. You can't even run a race in Middletown for 35k let alone an entire congressional district.
You're right...Ann Estabrook has more testosterone than Sipprelle.
Does annyone honestly think that this wealthy Princeton foof is going to connect with voters in Middlesex or Mercer county?
Halfacre is going to win the lines in Monmouth, Middlesex,and Hunterdon, and might even win Mercer. And when the wealthy foof starts spreading money around ala Corzine, Halfacre's campaign will hang it around his neck just like Christie did to Jonny C and it will rebound back against him.
No matter what the Sipprelle flunky above gets paid to say.
"that's what primaries are for": weeding out the pros and cons of each good, but human and flawed, candidate, and,somehow( so very tough for Republicans, over and over again), actually uniting behind whoever wins that primary, and getting to "winning"..and, there is nothing nasty about an opinion that perhaps, some people jump the gun too soon, and timing really IS everything in politics!..so now, don't panic, but let the process and system continue, no?..
halfacre can't even win monmouth. he's a two bit mayor with a bunch of pension padding jobs to boot.
Great analysis Art..very balanced view of the race. Halfacre definitely needs to do better in the fundraising department, Sipprelle definitely needs to prove he's more than just the "money candidate".
Also agree with your analysis about Sipprelle...it will be interesting to see if people consider a hedge fund manager a "successful businessman". Sipprelle obviously realizes he's vulnerable on that issue, which is why he's being less than truthful about it. But a big money advantage might overcome that, so it'll be interesting to see what Halfacre raises in the next few months.
Thanks for the sharing the informative post with us. Keep it up.
Good analysis Art.
Sipperelle has not shown me he has a grasp of how politics works.
No doubt Halfacre will get the line and win in Monmouth county.
Sipperelle may be able to buy into some of the other counties but in the end I think Halfacre will squeck out a victory.
My fear is that he will come out of the process so damaged and poor that he will not be able to beat Holt.
Of course in politics it is always a mistake to make prewdictions. Who knows what will happen next week?
I would prefer to have someone representing me in Congress who has earned through his own hard work the money he intends to invest in this campaign rather than someone who has schmoozed on the Chamber train last winter (and bragged about it)with various firms who want to feed at the trough and quite possibly are contributing to his campaign. I would rather have a person who has a proven track record in the corporate world than someone who earns much of his living from political cronyism's contracts. I would rather have someone who doesn't oust innocent Cub Scouts from having meetings in our schools. And I would rather have someone who never held public office than someone who has a history of quitting every elected office he's held when opportunities for more personal power or money do not present themselves. But, that's just me...
You can go back and forth about the candidates all day long but it comes down to a simple truth. It will take 2 to 3 million to run a competitive campaign against Holt. These are both Republicans and what Sipprelle had to say in his announcement speech sounded pretty "Tea Party" to me. Which one can actually get the dough to take the fight to Holt? Holt has never had to fight because our candidates have been a joke in terms of resources. We can't win unless we get the message out broadly to independents and democrats who will cross over and vote for some common sense.
Only Siprelle has a shot a beating Holt, otherwise we are wasting our time with another lamb like Bateman or Spadea. It will be a joke of a campaign if the nominee isn't Siprelle. Republicans shooting themselves in the foot again.
"doesn't know how politics work" is a plus for Sipprelle. We don't need people who "know how politics work" that is the problem with NJ. To many good ole boys and girls taking care of themselves and their buddies instead of doing their job.
"doesn't know how politics work" is a plus for Sipprelle. We don't need people who "know how politics work" that is the problem with NJ. To many good ole boys and girls taking care of themselves and their buddies instead of doing their job.
Yeah! Someone like Jon Corzine!
Weak argument.
We need someone who knows how politics works and who will work it for us, rather than for themselves and special interests.
HOLD THE PRESSES
Whats that you say.
"I would rather have someone who doesn't oust innocent Cub Scouts from having meetings in our schools."
Want to fill us in on that story please.
It is only a weak argument to political flunkies. The people are sick and tired of political players, but unfortunately that is all we get in this corrupt two part system. So they hire friends, exchange favors and the taxpayers of NJ get screwed by those who know how "politics work."
When I said how politics works I was referring to an understanding of the process, which as you correctly point out is often times corrupt.
The point is you have to understand how the system works in order to defeat it.
When you read Sipprelle's announcement speech it's pretty clear that he understands how corrupt the system is. That's exactly what he's running against. There was a reason our founding fathers wanted citizen/legislators and not professional politicians.
So how many Halfacre and sipperelle supporters are posting here.
I am guessing one for each candidate.
LOL
If anyone listened to Scott Sipprelle's speech, they would learn that he was able to attend that elite boarding school and college all through obtaining student scholarships and student loans. So this article is basically saying that middle class Americans shouldn't be able to attend elite schools?
don't know Scott yet, think Mike's a bit of an overconfident ego.. let the games continue and we'll see who touches the electorate better..
Very good point, Anonymous 8:30.
Funny thing, it's the Dems who usually try to 'ride' such ideology into office. The rich are evil; demonize them!
And that's just what is going on in D.C. right now. How ironic.
Glad we are seeing the true Halfacre now.
hopefully in NJ, it'll soon be upward, for both charter schools and vouchers.. the more competition on all education levels, the better shot kids everywhere will have: the candidate that can articulate/make some of that happen'd have my vote!!
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