By Matt Rooney | The Save Jersey Blog
UPDATED 12:46 p.m. 5/20/13
Former Governors Tom Kean (R) and Brendan Byrne (D) held a teleconference with The Star-Ledger on Wednesday, Save Jerseyans, and the Democrat offered unsolicited advice to Barbara Buono that’s sure to send shockwaves through his party’s ranks:
Q: Sen. Barbara Buono is having trouble raising enough money to qualify for matching funds. Could this bode ill for other Democrats, as well?
GOV. BYRNE: Buono is way behind. I was way behind in 1977 and I was thinking, if it gets worse, I’m going to withdraw. It didn’t get worse. As a matter fact, it got better. But at one point I thought of dropping out in favor of a better-positioned candidate. I don’t know whether that consideration would appeal to Buono, but I would advise she make that evaluation.
They’re all thinking it! Governor Byrne’s just in a position to say it, although to be fair, Byrne has been claiming for months that Christie is unbeatable.
Governor Kean, for his part, responded by noting that Byrne was “a good candidate and “she’s not,” but also how Buono “stepped forward and now the party is living with the consequences of that.”
He’s 100% right of course. An early departure by Buono wouldn’t help her party because a top tier candidate like Cory Booker won’t get in the race barring a massive Christie slip up or scandal. Still, it’s amazing to see how panicked Democrats have become, almost half-a-year from Election 2013, thanks to Buono’s inability to inspire confidence in (or even basic affection for) her nearly-lost cause. She’s running ads on the proper pronunciation of her name for God’s sake…
It’s some real wild and wacky stuff as the great Johnny Carson used to say!
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Perhaps the Governor can see the writing on the wall and realize his election is going to be a slam dunk. Maybe then he will realize that any new gun control measures are not only punitive and wrong, but politically unnecessary and facile…