March 5, 2008 - 12:35pm
If there really is a GOP "establishment," is Jersey Joe their guy?
By Wally EdgeGOP insiders say it appears unlikely that another candidate will emerge in the race for United States Senator in enough time to stop Joe Pennacchio’s enormous momentum, although some Republicans have spent the morning mulling other potential candidates. Pennacchio has already won organization lines in Union and Hunterdon counties, and this morning the Burlington GOP County Chairman – a supporter of Anne Evans Estabrook – said he was now likely to back the Morris County State Senator. Pennacchio also has endorsements from Republican County Chairmen in Morris and Warren counties.
The conventional wisdom is that Pennacchio was well-positioned to defeat Estabrook at the Bergen County Republican convention tomorrow evening, and endorsements by county GOP organizations in Ocean, Essex and Passaic are also likely. This would make Pennacchio the so-called “establishment” candidate in the June Senate primary against college professor Murray Sabrin, the 1997 Libertarian gubernatorial candidate and the leader of Ron Paul’s New Jersey campaign.
This would be the first time the New Jersey GOP “establishment” rallied around a conservative, pro-life candidate since they picked Garabed “Chuck” Haytaian, then the Assembly Speaker, to challenge Frank Lautenberg fourteen years ago.
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Joe's a good guy, but Murray might motivate new voters and really grow the NJGOP. Moreover, he is from a very blue area in eastern Bergen County (which is amenable to Hudson County politically) and could be the first Republican in years to seriously contest some liberal areas because of his firm belief in civil liberties and living in these communities for years. Let's be bold, lets be exciting, lets vote for Murray!!
Another Forrester here?
This reminds me the situation with Treffinger, an establishment candidate, arrested by FBI. Establishment made a mad run for Forrester and we all know how that ended up. Lautenberg wiped him out. Let's not repeat tha same mistake three, four (fill in your number now) times. I agree with the comment above. Let's be bold. It's the economy stupid, and finances stupid. Dr. Sabrin is it.