By Matt Rooney | The Save Jersey Blog
Brian Goldberg is one step closer to the Republican U.S. Senate nomination tonight, Save Jerseyans. He captured the Cumberland County’s GOP line on Thursday evening the day after he prevailed in deep red deep-red Ocean County
Goldberg also claimed the lines in Passaic and Essex earlier this month, taking an early but decisive lead in the county endorsement count entering into a busy final sprint of conventions as March closes out.
The GOP county convention circuit continues with Mercer (Friday), Monmouth and Middlesex (Saturday), Atlantic (Monday), Somerset (Tuesday), and Hunterdon (next Thursday).
Goldberg is one win away from being a definitive front runner, Pezzullo can get himself back up there with wins this weekend, Sabrin and Turkavage are down for the count and Jeff Bell is MIA. Cory Booker is a lucky man.
That said, Goldberg has moved farther and farther left every night. He started as a conservative but has adapted his ideology to suit different rooms, and I’m beginning to worry he might be a RINO. Rich Pezzullo and Turkavage are both proven Conservatives, and tonight in his speech Goldberg openly attacked them for running against less conservative Republicans. It’s very, very troubling and I fear that him becoming the front runner has caused him to change his message and that he’ll have a hard time beating Cory Booker if he doesn’t have any contrast between them.
Frontrunner status.
He didn’t “attack” them, he simply pointed out he has always been a Republican, while Rich and Turk have historically run against the Party. A room full of real Republicans deserve to know that. And the contrast is Brian Goldberg cares about the Republican Party and its ideals enough to NOT run against it. The way you move “farther left” is by undermining the Party the way certain people (ahem), have done in the past, Mr. Anonymous.
From Turkavage’s website: “…propose legislation creating an annual Debt Elimination Assessment (DEA) on taxpayers, proceeds of which would only be used to pay down the debt.” Essentially, a new progressive, bracket-based tax. Oh boy, with “proven conservatives” like that, who needs liberals…
Rich Pezzullo seems fine from my first glance at his website, but does he stand a chance in the general? We’re not exactly Utah or Oklahoma here, even though I wish we were. I’ll take a RINO if it gives me a 10% extra chance to pick up a seat.
Sabrin is political dogmeat. Now he can go back to collecting that government paycheck he gets for teaching at that government college. Isn’t it ironic that the most passionate anti-government politicians like Sabrin and Lonegan are the same ones more desperate than anyone else to get elected, no matter how many times they keep losing.
I sincerely believe you underestimate the amount of people who want Cory Booker out of office. Brian Goldberg isn’t just a man, he’s a symbol of human resolve which the Democrats have been diluting for decades. Brian Goldberg is here to bring it back. Join us, or sit on the sidelines, but don’t for one second predict an outcome before a battle is fought.
Max: a RINO won’t do as well as a conservative, because in a race between two people relatively close ideologically, the popular minority incumbent will beat the unknown white guy 10 times out of 10.
Robert: Rich and Turk ran against the party because they wanted to ensure that the Republican brand was always a Conservative one. If our platform changes to match the Democrats, what gives us the right to claim to be any better than them?
In the end, we could nominate a talking hippo and I’d be fine as long as it beat Booker in November. I like Goldberg for the most part, I just think there are better options out there. If he wins, I’ll be in his office making phone calls the day after the primary.
You’re absolutely right about Sabrin being done though. It’s looking like it’ll be Brian Goldberg for the establishment versus Rich Pezzullo as the opposition. Don’t let that make you think Goldberg is a shoe-in though: many conventions still remain and 2 of Goldberg’s 4 lines are in south jersey, where his ability to campaign is far reduced due just to the two hour drive from Essex. If Rich Pezzullo doesn’t win 2 or more of the remaining conventions, however, it’ll be hard to argue that Goldberg, barring a scandal or a personal issue, will be the presumptive nominee.
Leave it to the New Jersey Republican Party to get NJ’s most respected Libertarian and two of it’s most respected Conservatives in Rich Pezzullo and Jeff Bell and end up nominating a no-name moderate. Our state party is a disgrace if Goldberg wins, and we deserve to lose after getting 3 great options and turning them all down.
Personally, I’m hoping Goldberg, Bell and Turkavage drop so we can finally get the chance to put to vote once and for all the battle between Conservative (Pezzullo) and Libertarian (Sabrin) ideologies in New Jersey.