Schundler won the primary last cycle by appealing to the social conservatives. He put together a strong coalition of pro-life catholics and evangelicals. He definitely soft peddled that aspect this time around, I believe to his deficit since Lonegan picked up some of the people who voted for him Schundler last time.
He couldn't really do much in that situation; Lonegan was clearly the most conservative candidate, and those conservatives all swung towards him. So Schundler could have kept going after them, but he likely would have lost a lot of moderates- and the opportunity to win the main election had he won this primary. So it seems like it was a calculated gamble.
Unfortunately, the more conservative folks in NJ decided they're try to have it all by voting for Lonegan (who had no chance) instead of taking as much as they could realistically get by voting for Schundler. I fail to see how voting for Lonegan really did anything to promote their conservatism, but hey.
Schundler is a wishy washy loser. Have said this from day one. He is smart and will be much more effective at the Heritage Foundation or another think tank. But (hopefully) his career in politics is at an end.
Exactly right, IMO.