We're calling it a fiasco, appropriately an Italian word which describes a complete failure.
And make no mistake about it, for New Jersey Republicans last night was a complete and utter failure -- an unmitigated fiasco! Before any thought can be given to picking up the pieces (if that's even possible) we must ponder the sorry takeaways. Here are five Big Ones:
1) Bananana. Jack Ciattarelli was like the little boy who knew how to spell banana but just didn't know when to stop. Looking back on it all, he probably should have consoled himself with his almost win in 2021 and exited stage right. Instead he announced his candidacy the very night he lost the last time and essentially spent five years campaigning for a office that he wound up losing bv even a far bigger margin this time. Call is Cittarelli Fatigue. In the end, the voters were likely tired of him and saw him not as part of the future but as a rerun and a relic of the past.
2) The Seduction of the New. Nobody knew Mickey/Mikie Sherrill, aka Rebecca Michelle from Virginia. Statewide, she barely registered. But she was a new face -- a fresh, young face that made Jack look all the more shop worn. As a Democrat in New Jersey, she started with a mammoth advantage and ran a carefully crafted, strategically targeted campaign, highly disciplined campaign. Plus, she effectively pinned Jack to Trump while shrewdly preventing Jack from pinning her to Murphy. Voila!
3) Insufficient Followup. Jack was onto something when his campaign uncovered the fact that Sherrill was not allowed to walk at her naval academy graduation ceremony, implicating her in an historic cheating scandal that brought dishonor to the academy. But there wasn't enough followup -- not enough was done to gain the complete record of Sherrill's time at the academy or to pressure her to release the record. Ditto, the stock market bonanza she reaped while serving in Congress.
4) Letting the Lies Stand. Yeah, Sherrill misled and deceived voters. And the deceit was effective -- particularly her absurd claim that Jack would raise New Jersey's sales tax to 10 percent. Jack never said that; never proposed that; never happened. But Sherrill's dogged repetition of the claim and Jack's failure to snuff it, allowed too many people to believe it. It stuck. Sure, Jack threatened a defamation suit but, c'mon! That was like pissing on a three alarm fire.
5) Policy Wonk. No doubt about it, Jack maintained an impressive command of the issues throughout the campaign. Raise an issue or concern, he had the answers and he had the plan. And he was thorough, quick and smart on his feet. But often, he spoke too fact and covered too much ground. Sometimes, it became a bit breathless and it arguably overwhelmed weary and besieged voters. A friend compared him to a likable enough salesman who, in the end just may have been just a bit too slick.
And one more thing: New Jersey is not a swing state. In fact, it hasn't been a swing state in my lifetime -- and I wrote all about this some time ago in a piece you can read right here. We're not a red state. We're not a purple state. We're a blue state. And, time and again, the overwhelming legion of Democrat voters in this state return to form. GOP wins here are ever the exception, never the norm.
Having said all that does not lessen the enormity of this loss. This was a fiasco. And now, heads must roll!
No comments:
Post a Comment