December 12, 2007 - 4:44pm
Don't believe the rumor about Kevin O'Toole for U.S. Senate
By Wally EdgeSpeculation today that State Senator Kevin O'Toole will enter the race for the 2008 Republican U.S. Senate nomination is wrong, according to sources close to the Essex County Republican. O'Toole, an Assemblyman and the Essex County GOP Chairman, has no plans to challenge Frank Lautenberg and has no meeting scheduled with the National Republican Senatorial Committee.
More on point is the possibility that O'Toole -- not Leonard Lance -- will become the Ranking Republican on the Senate Appropriations Committee next year. Lance was supposed to get the slot being vacated by Robert Littell -- perhaps as a consolation prize for not pursuing his bid for another term as Senate Minority Leader against Thomas Kean, Jr. But with Lance now about to launch a campaign for Congress, there is some concern about his ability to mount an effective bid in the June primary while representing the Senate GOP caucus on state budget issues.
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DC?
If Kevin's intent was to head to DC, he could have mopped the floor with Bill Pascrell back in 1998 and with some hard work, held the seat for the GOP, then perhaps opted for a Senatorial promotion from that perch.
George Ajjan
Where is Matt Kirnan today?
Pascrell trounced him in 98 and O'Toole would not have done much better. The 8th like Passaic County is all about turnout from Paterson. Besides Pascrell has increased his victory each election.
O'Toole would be an interesting senate candidate. Much more credible than Jersey Joe or Where is Iraq Anne.
Don't think O'Toole is intending to go to DC..
But he would make an excellent candidate if/when he were to decide to run statewide.
O'Toole is no Kirnan
Aesop,
First of all, O'Toole is not the type to do things half-assed. So if he was going to run in 1998, he would have done so with a 7-figure budget, not in the low 6s like Kirnan did.
Secondly, there was no US Senate race to drive up turnout in 1998. Paterson? Mike Mecca was a newcomer and won a seat on the Freeholder Board in 1998!
Pascrell would thus have faded into political oblivion, or at best been lucky enough to have made a subsequent comeback as a Passaic County Freeholder, and his son (one of the great legal minds of our time) would be chasing ambulances, not scheming to sell off public assets.
George Ajjan
O'Toole
would go after Frank Laudie like a cobra unlike the joke effort by Doug "Street Sweeper" Forrester in 2002. It would be no gentleman's golf game but rather a street battle between two North Jerseyans that might end with a fistfight in front of the North Ward Cultural Center. Lautenberg would regret every big-spendng liberal tax increase he ever approved of by the time O'Toole was done with him.
to be perfectly frank
It wouldn't matter who the Republicans run in 2008: He or she will get absolutely trampled by Frank Lautenberg. I find it amusing, if disconnected from reality, that some Republicans in this thread think that O'Toole (who I admire, incidentally) would have a chance in hell against Lautenberg, let alone defeat him.
Dark days await, Republicans. Very dark, indeed.
right to pass
O'Toole will be a strong statewide candidate someday, but I think he's smart to take a pass on Lautenberg in '08. The party wouldn't be unified behind him, so why bother.
O'Toole is overrated
The guy spent like $300,000 to beat a deflated Todd Caliguire. If he had any political sense he would have invested heavily in 36 & 38 where Republicans could have been competitive with just a little bit of help.
O'Toole in all liklihood will move into the 5th CD if he is truly interested in going to the congress. Until guys like O'Toole realize he needs to rebuild Bergen and play a real role in strategy to take out the BCDO, he'll be mired in the minority for the rest of his career in the legislature.
O'Toole
Where do you people get this reasoning?
O'Toole is a wimp and the last thing Congress or the Republicans need in DC is another worthless wimp from New Jersey. The guy was a wimp last year in the budget hearing's with his buddy Fatso Malone so I guess under you're thinking he is god's gift to the people of New Jersey.
Senator Dementia will forget there is an election next year and would still beat this wimp. And while I'm at it Bergen County counts for NOTHING any more as relating to Republicans winning elections in New Jersey so stop living in the past.
Oh, I forgot all you Republican LOSERS in North Jersey and Bergen County still think this is the 80’s so get over it you no longer count for anything important except for supporting RINO’s like Giuliani or whatever slug you can find in that suburb of New York.
Mad Max is Mad
How is O'Toole a wimp? He is one of the few Republicans that speak to urban issues. If was such a RINO why would Shaftan and Lonegan back him. I dont know where you live, but I guess you didn't get enough "jimmies" on ur ice cream.
O'Toole is for O'Toole
Kevin O'Toole is a Republican in designation only.
And make no mistake, O'Toole cares only about one thing - Kevin O'Toole. Those in the know in Essex have witnessed and experienced his "use people for my own gain and forget about them later" brand of politics.
An opportunist himself, he is in bed with some of the most opportunistic Dems like Adubata.
Frank Lautenburg would have a field day with O'Toole.
As for Pascrell, O'Toole wouldn't stand a chance against him.