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I've heard grumbling from freepers that Christie is a RINO (and that may well be the case if the NJGOP establishment is pushing hard for him in the primary), but in all honesty I'm not impressed with Steve Longean at all. Yes, he's conservative, but I think he'd make a poor candidate in the general election. If you watch his videos on his website, Longean doesn't come across as a very likeable guy in his speeches. If a weakened Corzine beats Longean, that will just embolden the NJGOP to use it as "proof" that "conservatives can't win", and foist even more RINOs on us the next time around.

People mention how the NJGOP establishment screwed conservative Bret Schnduler... That was true in 2001, but in 2005, I blame Longean's ego-trip bid for Governor as the reason Schnduler lost. Schnudler was polling dead even with "moderate" establishment choice Doug Forrester in the primary, and had statewide name recognition. Then little known small town mayor Longean gets in the race, has no funds and no shot at winning, comes in a distant 4th place in the GOP primary with 8%, but manages to pry enough conservative votes from Schundler to let Forrester squeak ahead of him and win the nomination. I believe anyone has the right to run, but I think there's infinitely more evidence Longean was the spoiler than some freepers claim about State Senator Bill Brady causing Topinka's nomination because he wouldn't "get out of way" for unelectable Noshowberweis in the 2006 Illinois governor primary.

Aside from being elected mayor of a small town, Longean has tried his hand at higher office twice, and done very poorly in both campaigns. First he tried for Congressman in NJ's 9th District, and then sought the 2005 Republican nomination for Governor. He did succeed in getting elected mayor of Bogata, a town of 7,000 people. As I've noted in the past, that may be a springboard to statewide office in a rural state like Alaska, but it's hardly a blip on the radar in the ultra-urbanized state of New Jersey. Schnudler, by contrast, was mayor of a city with over 200,000 people. The situation is not comparable at all aside from the fact they were both mayor.

I'm also still wondering how much of a RINO Christie is. The phrase has been thrown around on FR so much that it's almost become meaningless. It could vary all the way from 1) Mushy Moderate-Conservative Norm Coleman type who will do the right thing roughly 70% of the time, 2) Worthless "centrist" Steve Sauerberg type who has no position on any issue besides "Democrats are bad and corrupt", or 3) Obnoxious left-wing Linc Chafee/Mark Kirk type who tries to outliberal the RATs from time to time and only agrees with "his" own party about 15-30% of the time. ('RINO' could also mean "conservative who agrees with me 90% of the time but opposed me on my pet issue", but I assume that doesn't apply in that case)

Where Christie falls on that spectrum certainly affects whether I'd support him. Type 1 would get my vote in the primary if he's the only viable choice, Type 2 would get my vote in the general election only if he has a good chance at stopping a socialist RAT from winning, and Type 3 is unacceptable for me under any circumstance.

There is also a third candidate in the primary, State Assemblyman Rick Merkt. Anyone know where he stands on the political spectrum and how good of a chance he has? I bet he has a larger constituency than Longean in any case.

Can't say I'm too happy with any of the choices for NJ Governor right now.

i could care less if lonegan lost nominations before...you have to get a name somewhere

and just looking at the actual policies they plan to implement...lonegan has clear cut plans with numbers...christie...not so much...he speaks in such a general manner which gives him cover to basically do anything since he never claimed exactly what he would do...

Longean doesn't come across as a very likeable guy in his speeches.

I'd prefer an effective conservative who I don't especially LIKE to a likeable RINO any time!

“I think there’s infinitely more evidence Longean was the spoiler than some freepers claim about State Senator Bill Brady causing Topinka’s nomination because he wouldn’t “get out of way” for unelectable Noshowberweis in the 2006 Illinois governor primary.”

I agree with that. Longean should not have run last time.

Fun fact I learned the other day. Longean is legally blind same as Patterson.

I’m not sure Christie is as huge a RINO as claimed, I want him to beat Corzine if he wins the nomination, but I’d vote for Lonegan if I lived in NJ. Although I’ve read plenty of criticism about his campaign.

Googling Rick Merkt he seems looks like a smart conservative at first glace.

http://www.politickernj.com/max/29716/merkt-contends-his-gop-rivals-are-misleading-public-tax-issue

He wants to dismiss leftist State Supreme court Justices.

But third place looks like his destiny.