He lost as mayor? Then how was he the mayor? And how many races have Karl Rove and Jim Messina won as a candidate?
Sorry, Mayor is not a state-wide race which is his claimed expertise.
He has lost two bids for Governor, one bid for the US Senate, and one bid for the US House.
All that said, he loses because he is an actual conservative in NJ. Ted being conservative doesn’t have anyone better he could pick.