By Matt Rooney | The Save Jersey Blog
The word on the street is that Tom MacArthur (R-Randolph) prevailed at Saturday’s Ocean County screening committee, Save Jerseyans.
A MacArthur victory is significant because it virtually guarantees him the line in both Ocean and Burlington counties and, with the lines, cements his front-runner status in the race to succeed Jon Runyan as CD3’s representative in Congress.
It also likely sets up a 2-way contest; only former Bogota Mayor Steve Lonegan (or another millionaire like Chris Isola who filed to formally explore a campaign) could hope to compete without premiere ballot position. Lonegan will stay in but no spin can hide his camp’s disappointment; the veteran political combatant now faces a hostile Burlington organization without any help from the potent Ocean outfit of Chairman George Gilmore. Name recognition is the only major advantage available to him at this juncture, though the latter could prove a double-edged sword among some base voters who dismiss Lonegan as a perennial candidate.
How many CD3 voters fit into that category? And will MacArthur present a credible alternative who can take advantage of Lonegan fatigue to the extent it exists? We’ll know for sure approximately three months from today… but why wait to speculate? Vote for your preference – Lonegan or MacArthur – in our online poll below the fold…
