Lonegan will help Doherty explore U.S. Senate bid

I was hoping Doherty would have a chance so that the general election would be easier for the Dems.

Now that Lonegan is on board, Doherty is a sure loser. Damn.

Hes a smart guy, but seriously does anyone in this state actually like Steve Lonegan? hes probably one of the most hated people in NJ. If I were Doherty i wouldnt even want my picture taken with him.

Way to help the image that your a very right wing kind of guy Doherty! In his defense though, his committee does reach all ends. Dems are corrupt is right though, nobody liikes Lonegan. Then again I wonder how many like Garrett as well.

another smart move by Doherty, ensuring that he likely won't have a serious challenger to the right of him. Now he won't need to move to the right at all in a primary.

Lonegan is right on illegal immigration, property taxes, the size of government, the power of public employee unions, the debt and a government run amok. Lonegan's victory as our next governor will be the single largest upset in the state's political history...

Think Doherty is doin this so the nutjob that is Lonegan doesn't try to be a pain in the butt and run in the primary against him. DeCroce and Karrow are good choices for Doherty though, so he's trying to hit both sides.

Lonegan is the political equivalent of the bitter uncle that always shows up at Thanksgiving drunk, invevitably starts a fight over the apportionment of the mashed potatoes and hits on his nephew's girlfriend after the peach cobbler is served. Best to keep him occupied on your terms rather than his.  

I like your analysis. That's kind of the way we progressives feel about Rahm Emanuel :-).

My con-friend Dean Martin, only a bigot would call an organization that combats bigotry a "hate group." I suppose groups like Garden State Equality, the NAACP, the ADL, and others do "hate" homophobes, anti-Semites, racists, sexists, ageists, or whatever other group one might target, but when last I checked hatemongers are not generally held in high esteem in this country anyhow. I find it very depressing that philistines like you still exist in this world. I would have thought the fall of the Third Reich would have shown you that hatred for political gain has since fallen by the wayside...but then again, conservatives are by definition trying to relive the past (probably because they did not learn from the mistakes of it the first time around). I'm surprised you aren't too busy trying to overturn Loving v. Virginia to spread your message of compass...er, intolerant conservatism here...and yes, one need not be a xenophobic lout to be a conservative. That is simply your problem. After all, look at Jon M. Huntsman and Chuck Hagel...those are pragmatic conservatives with integrity who base their opinions on rational analysis rather than fear and loathing.

Moreover, the only notion more ridiculous than the certifiable Lonegan being elected governor of this state is G.W. Bush being elected for a third term. Lonegan is even less politically adroit than George Allen, and in a far more liberal state. Lonegan is basically a walking Imus-like time bomb; give him a microphone for long enough and it is inevitable that he will have his "macaca moment." After all, the man loves publicity even more than Chuck Schumer...and that's not an easy feat. At least once Doherty loses by a landslide next year, you will back off from the idea that an archconservative can win in this state in this day. Like I said, conservatives can never seem to learn from the past...remember what happened to Bret D. Schundler? That reactionary whack-job lost by a mile even to the pathologically weak James E. McGreevey--who earlier lost to the much more palatable Republican Gov. C.T. Whitman. 

Conservatives are fond of the conjecture that New Jersey has not elected a Republican to statewide office since Whitman because the balloted Republicans have not been conservative "enough." (I have yet to ascertain what [not who] exactly comprises the gold standard of conservatism.) However, such self-styled ideologically pure conservatives furnish nary a shard of evidence, for example in the form of opinion polls or analyzed election returns, to back their claims. As statisticians will readily remind, the plural of "anecdote" is emphatically not "data." These conservatives tend to live in the rather sparse insularly conservative areas of the state, so habitus likely blinds them to the larger picture. For example that Doug Forrester was essentially coerced in the 2005 gubernatorial race into a Kerry-like flip-flop on his inchoate repudiation of funding for ESC research only corroborates New Jerseyans' lack of tolerance for an archconservative agenda. I should hardly think it likely, therefore, that either Doherty or Lonegan would endear themselves to a majority of the state's electorate by poising themselves on the losing side of such a salient issue among a multitude of others.

Consider, for instance:

• A Quinnipiac University poll found that New Jerseyans favor the expansion of embryonic stem cell research by a nearly 60% margin, 73% in favor and 15% opposed.
• A Rutgers-Eagleton poll conducted last summer (even before the seminal NJSC decision) showed that 66% of New Jerseyans favored gay civil unions, with only 29% in dissent.
• A Quinnipiac University poll from December 2006 (the most recent polling I could find on the issue) found that New Jerseyans oppose a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage by 58% to 37%.
• The same poll showed that by a margin of 65%-18% of New Jerseyans feel that we are losing the war in Iraq...and we can only imagine the direction this has taken since.
• President Bush (whom we know both Lonegan and Doherty would only be too happy to be lapdogs and enablers just like the rest of the conservative Republicans) has an approval rating in this state that we needn't revisit herein.

(I would add more data, but I must dash off soon.)

The last FDU poll showed Gov. Corzine with a 58% approval rating--which in New Jersey is empirically tantamount to 70-80% elsewhere, because we tend to dislike all of our politicians and even when we dislike them, we still vote for the ones we dislike the least. History at least since the first Clinton administration demonstrates the minimal likelihood of New Jerseyans disliking Steve Lonegan or Mike Doherty less than Gov. Corzine or Sen. Lautenberg, respectively. Gov. Corzine has shown himself (admittedly, in spite of the seatbelt incident) to be an extremely intelligent, tough, results-oriented governor and easily the strongest this state has had in decades. He will be reëlected without much trouble at all.

--Penny Loafer

Murphy's other law is that  you may achieve  the highest offices inverse proportion with your inteligence as long as you have the most money or friends with  mone.  

Maybe this is why Doherty is against public money for state offices, because next year the State Legislature will try public money in the US Senate seat and he and his friends will not be able to buy it.

He definitly has the lack of sense to make the office as long as no one looks at his statements like bb guns can't hurt you and because you fote in favor of a law you can't use it unless your a republican (see earlier Trenton Times Editorial).

He's like a turd floating in a punchbowl. You gotta wonder why it's there.

Can anyone believe that! Lonegan is a hardly a candidate. I would like to see the most extreme conservative the NJGOP has unseat a Democratic Governor in a Democratic State, when that Governor has consistantly stayed at 50% approvals. Not to mention that Corzine will have a serious edge in organization and cash.  Lonegan is footnote in the history of NJ politics, he will never be a serious contender. 

You seem to question my sanity.... if you seem to think I should have to dig into Democratland..... then I need soap more than a neurologist, I can't stand the stench when I get back to reality...

FRANK IS GONE!

As for Warrenvoter... stop bobbing in the punchbowl..... according to you they ain't apples... you seem so confused. .... don't eat that if you think that is what is there.

LOL

Have I taken the first shot? Have I used the language of Warrenvoter? NO!

Where are you?  You have been so quick to reply on my other posts.

What's up????? I post at midnight... then it is 9PM?.. then suddenly it is midnight again... Why is this?