The NJ GOP did nothing to help Schundler in 2001, and everything to hurt him. 9/11 killed any momentum he might have been able to generate to overcome the uniform hostility that the Left Wing media had relentlessly directed at Schundler for the months following his primary win. (We've got the NY Times and NY TV and radio stations in the North; the Philly Inquirer and Phylly TV and radio to the South; and our own left wing rag, the Newark Star Ledger, to contend with.) Yet Schundler still did way better than the media predicted.
Forrester ran against the issues that matter to me--abortion, gun rights--and even the Libertarian guy was better than Forrester on those two issues. That's why I pulled for the Libertarian yesterday.
If the NJ GOP wants my vote, they'd better run a conservative. But seeing how they operate, I'm not holding my breath.