For NJ GOP: Tough Talk And A Mini Manifesto

Following are Dan's remarks from the Jesse Kurtz  GOP Leadership Breakfast this morning at the League of Municipalities convention in Atlantic City:

I've got good news and bad news for you this morning. 

The good news is that the rumors of the death of the Republican Party are once again greatly exaggerated. The bad news is that we're in a weakened state. Get it? 

So how do we get back?

Right now we need two things: Precision and passion.

Precision means analytics: We need to be like Jerry Maguire. We need to ask ourselves: How many votes do we need; where are they; how do we get them? Jesse Kurtz has already mastered this. In a Democrat town he won with nearly 70% of the vote. He won VBM, EV, election day. HERE, right in front of us is a model for how to win. Right HERE!

But we need passion, too. This is what the Italians call PASSIONÉ! 

It’s the romantic part of politics. It means connecting with people; connecting with their values; connecting with the issues they care about. This doesn’t just happen during election season. This is year round. Where do we find this passion?

Mike Testa’s got it. Testa not only won overwhelmingly but he and his team flipped the surrogate and sheriff’s posts and gained full control of the Cumberland County Board of Commissioners. They did it with passion!

Congressman Jeff Van Drew has the same passion (look at how he beat those coastal wind farms) and we saw big victories for Polistina, Guardian and Swift. Pay attention to the Jersey coast. From Cape May pretty much all the way up to Sandy Hook, the GOP triumphed.

This is where we find the prescription for winning. And there are more winers: Senator Pennacchio, Senator Schepesi, our newly elected Assemblyman Paul Kanitra and the other winners in Monmouth — Sussex County GOP Chair Joe Lababera who’s built a great organization where the GOP rules — clean sweep!

These people know the analytics but they also have the passion. You need both.

And then, one more thing — probably the most important thing — UNITY!

It’s not smarts that wins elections it’s discipline. Discipline enforces unity and you can’t win — especially as a Republican in New Jersey without unity. 

There used to be a saying: Democrats fall in love while Republicans fall in line. Now, too often, Democrats fall in love AND fall in line while Republicans fall out of line and fight one another — often over petty nonsense!

Yes, too many of us are still fighting and I’ll say this one more time: Those who are fighting one another are fighting over nothing more than who gets the right to lose. Let those of us here in this room set the course for tomorrow.

And to those who still wanna quibble and spar, let’s tell them “take your vile, venal schoolyard spats somewhere else!” Away with you!

OK. So, yes — we’ve had a setback, much of it of our own doing. But — BUT with passion, precision and unity a setback can be a setup for a comeback.

Let’s make the comeback happen.

AVANTI!