Posted on 08/11/2013 11:12:09 AM PDT by Jim Robinson
FRANKLIN TOWNSHIP -- The day U.S. Sen. Frank Lautenberg died, Alieta Eck was treating a patient at the free health clinic for the poor and uninsured she operates with her husband in Somerset County.
The patient, she said, had just learned her minimum-wage job was being cut from 37 to 29 hours a week, with her employer blaming the costs associated with President Obamas health care overhaul.
"She didnt know what she was going to do," Eck said. "I realized: Obamacare is going to hurt people. How are we going to stop it?"
Eck paused.
"Then," she said, "I got that phone call."
A doctor friend from California was on the line with a suggestion: You want to do something about Obamacare? Why not run for Lautenbergs empty seat?
Two months later, Eck, 62, who had never considered running for any kind of political office, is the true upstart in this years special election for the U.S. Senate. The latest poll for Tuesdays primary for the Republican nomination puts her 64 points behind former Bogota Mayor Steve Lonegan, a guy whos usually the one running as an underdog.
"I didnt contemplate, Is this reasonable? Is this possible? " she said last week after speaking to a crowd of about two dozen Morris County Republicans at the Stirling American Legion. "I just thought, I could be a good senator, so Im going to try."
(Excerpt) Read more at nj.com ...

A medical clinic in New Jersey demonstrates that proper medical care can be supplied to patients for minimal money -- without being on the federal dole. An interview with Dr. Alieta Eck
A former president of the Association of American Physicians and Surgeons offers her prescription for real solutions to America's healthcare crisis.
Good luck Alieta!
"Good luck Alieta!"
She'll need it! She would be infinitely preferable to any of the career politicians running, so she doesn't have a snowball's chance on a New Jersey beach on a sunny afternoon in August.
Anita’s going to win!
I’d prefer her over Lonegan. He’s mired in controversy now.
This is great that she got such coverage in the Star Ledger. I’m sure they see her as a sacrificial lamb at best, but still it’s good.
64 points behind? She definitely needs more than luck...like her opponent dropping dead.
But, hope she overcomes!
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