US Senate Race In NJ

This year it is going to be Zimmer vs Lautenberg vs Scheurer. Dick Zimmer is the Republican candidate, Frank Lautenberg is the Deomcratic candidate, and Jason Scheurer is our Libertarian candidate. Last year Jason ran for Assemblyman in the 14th District and distinguished himself in quite a race. Everyone should give him their full support and see that he puts a nice dent in the vote on election day.

Special Interest Endorsements

When I ran for office one of the things I did to plan out my campaign was to make a list of all the special interest groups that I might have been able to get an endorsement from. One of the was Garden State Equality, a NJ gay rights group. A Republican could never get their endorsement, especially with candidates like Joe Pennacchio who maintains the stance that a state that would legalize marriage can't be trusted. Just a couple of days ago Garden State Equality gave their endorsement to Frank Lautenberg. Surprise, Surprise. The organization knows that Lautenberg is not going to fight for gay marriage or anything else that might jeopardize his campaign, the only reason they are endorsing him is because they know he has the best chance of winning and by endorsing him they will have special privileges come election day.

This to me seems counter to the whole idea behind endorsements. I always thought that the purpose was to support the candidate you believe would best represent the interests of your organization rather than bet on the winning horse and hope that you get a favor in return. Garden State Equality should know by now that the Libertarian Party believes that the government should not have the power to decide who can marry who when it comes to consenting adults. Libertarians such as myself believe that they have the right to get married and obtain the same benefits that every other married couple retains.

But will this ever get me an endorsement, probably not. Maybe a pat on the back behind closed doors but that will probably be it. I wish these organizations had more faith in themselves and less faith in the system and would support the underdogs who really wish to change the government. Boy am I a hopeless romantic.

GOP Candidates Uknown And Dems Split On Lautenberg, What Does This All Mean For Us?

Fairleigh Dickinson University posted the results of a recent poll yesterday that shows how many people don't know who the GOP candidates are. When all voters were polled the numbers stood at Joe Pennacchio being unrecognized by 77%, Murray Sabrin by 84% and Andy Unanue by 90%. When narrowed down to just Republican voters the numbers come out to 29% saying they’ve heard of Pennacchio, 18% saying they’ve heard of Sabrin, and 12% saying they’ve heard of Unanue. (These polls were tricky to get because the Star Ledger article was linked to the wrong poll, what else can we expect from them?) Joe Pennacchio has been the front runner in gaining the endorsement of county organizations but this poll shows that the race is still wide open.

On the other side of the aisle we have Rep. Rob Andrews who is still deciding whether he wants to run against Sen. Frank Lautenberg while Morristown Mayor Donald Cresitello is convinced he can beat Lautenberg in the upcoming primary. Andrews has been getting support from the southern Jersey Dems of the George Norcross variety and Lautenberg has gotten support from the northern Jersey Dems of the Steve Adubato variety.

The big question is what does this all mean for the NJ Libertarian Party? Good news! Jesse Ventura got elected as a third party candidate to the position of Governor of Minnesota by allowing the Dems and GOP to fight among themselves while he led a clean and successful campaign. I also believe that the result of the Democratic primary will show how NJ voters how the establishment candidate is always the winner. The only reason why the GOP race is still open is because there is no real establishment candidate. "Joe Penn" and Unanue both have had their credibility riddle with holes with Unanue leaning on his money and "Joe Penn" leaning on his early momentum. Murray Sabrin wants to reform the current NJ Republican Party so that automatically scratches him off as a non establishment candidate.

The next big question is what do we do to take advantage of this opportunity?

1. Help Murray Sabrin's campaign. Go to his website at http://www.murraysabrin.com/. He is a libertarian in mind and heart and deserves our support.
2. Expand the party base. Hit the streets while voters are still confused and dismayed over the current state of NJ politics.
3. Contact elected officials who have drifted away from their party establishment such as Steve Lonegan and Cresitello and see if they wish to run on the Libertarian ticket. I know that Lonegan follows many of the libertarian principles and that Cresitello is one the most libertarian of the state Democrats.
4. Do something! We need to take advantage of this opportunity in every way we can so if you have ideas please email them to me and to any of our other party officers.

I have been closely following the progression of these campaigns and will continue to do so.