GOP Establishment Senses Opportunity in New Jersey (Or does it?)

weeklystandard.com ^ | 8/27/14 | Michael Warren

[cotton1706]

Do Washington Republicans smell blood in New Jersey? The National Republican Senatorial Committee, the GOP's Senate campaign apparatus, issued a press release Wednesday knocking New Jersey's Democratic senator Cory Booker for being a "tax & spend liberal."

The release groups Booker with another incumbent Democrat, Alaska's Mark Begich, as two former mayors (of Newark and Anchorage, respectively) with liberal records. Here's an excerpt:

In 2010 on Mayor Cory Booker's watch, Moody's placed Newark's bond rating "on review for possible downgrade as the city has less than three months to close a $70 million current-year budget deficit." In Anchorage, Mark Begich left a near $17 million budget deficit for his successor. Mark Begich and Cory Booker are experts at spending their hardworking constituents' money (and more), mortgaging their futures by leaving families, seniors, and middle-class workers with an even bigger bill.

A Republican group criticizing a Democratic candidate—no surprise, right? Except that the NRSC up to this point hasn't said much of anything about the Senate race in New Jersey or the party's own candidate, Jeff Bell. For a while, the organization seemed to be accepting the conventional wisdom that Booker is untouchable in New Jersey. The NRSC hadn't even met with Bell before his primary victory in June, and a search of the group's website and release archive doesn't reveal a single mention of him. There don't appear to be any plans to help the vastly underfunded Bell campaign raise money, and a spokesman for the NRSC declined to comment on what the organization would (or would not) be doing for the Republican candidate.

[cotton1706]

While New Jersey is a long shot, I'd like to see democrats pump money into New Jersey to protect that seat.