Tonight, Kyrillos Needs to Articulate Contrasts (or Hang it Up)

Last week’s New Jersey U.S. debate is in the books, Save Jerseyans.

U.S. Senate candidates Joe Kyrillos and the incumbent Bob Menendez will square off in their second debate of the campaign tonight at 7PM.

Debate #2 will be broadcast on NJ 101.5 and moderated by Eric Scott. Listeners can send debate questions by telephone (1-800-282-1015), text (type DEBATE to 89000) or on Twitter with the hashtag #SenateDebateNJ.

Most reviews of Debate #1 haven’t been positive for the Republican challenger, Joe Kyrillos. But it is what it is, Save Jerseyans. What’s done is done. And now it’s time for Senator Kyrillos to do anything and everything he can this evening to illustrate the contrast between himself and Senator Menendenz which he has thus far failed to articulate…

Senator Kyrillos could start by memorizing and incorporating this awesome 1:40 Romney soliloquy from the first Romney/Obama debate into his own stump. It was the greatest two minutes of political television in my lifetime, and it’s resulted in a handsome bounce for Mitt in the polls. There must be SOMETHING worth emulating, right?

Next, he needs to call Menendez out on an issue capable of resonating with persuadable likely voters. Education reform comes to mind. Bob Menendez was recently endorsed by the New Jersey Education Association (NJEA), our state’s #1 special interest group in terms of dollars spent on lobbying in 2011, in their latest magazine issue (see screenshot above).

If you read the full endorsement, all of the NJEA’s arguments for Menendez point back to same variable: money. Mr. Middle Class is 100% opposed to school choice, something which so-called working class Americans (and many urban, minority New Jersey residents) support, but the NJEA is backing Bob because he’s promising elevated levels of funding — in the middle of a state financial squeeze and national economic crisis, mind you — for a state school system where taxpayers already spend $20k per student in the poorest districts (much of which is wasted on non-academic ridiculousness). It’s a clear example of Menendez and his allies, including the President of the United States, pandering to a powerful lobby out of electoral/pecuniary self-interest instead of adopting a courageous new strategy that could help our children and the economy.

This is just one example of how to attack Menendez’s rationale for reelection. There are plenty of others. But for any of it to matter for voters, Joe Kyrillos actually NEEDS TO SAY IT. Loud and proud! So that’s what I’ll be looking for tonight: articulated contrasts. Without them, this race was over before it even began.

 

Matt Rooney
About Matt Rooney 8403 Articles
MATT ROONEY is SaveJersey.com's founder and editor-in-chief, a practicing New Jersey attorney, and the host of 'The Matt Rooney Show' on 1210 WPHT every Sunday evening from 7-10PM EST.

3 Comments

  1. I agree with you Matt. The sad reality is that Kyrillos seems to buy into the age-old NJ GOP strategy of copying their Democratic opponent and trying to basically look the same as them. It has failed every time it has been tried.

    Governor Christie was elected for quite the opposite approach. He draw a sharp contrast with Corzine and he won. Mr. Kyrillos likes to bring up Christie's name, but he has none of Christie's fearlessness.

    Without it, he cannot win this election in blue NJ. He needs to be bold and offer a stark contrast to motivate enough voters to support him.

    I believe he failed to do that again tonight.

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