MENDHAM TWP. – The press cleared out for the most part, leaving one sound truck behind to greet Assemblyman Richard Merkt (R-Mendham), who voted here at the same community club as Republican frontrunner Chris Christie.
"If it doesn't work out, it's a disappointment, not a tragedy," said Merkt, an underdog attorneyfrom Christie's hometown who lives here in the Brookside neighborhood, where ascattering of Merkt for governor signs dot the picket fence-framed front yards.
Having run as a conservative populist, Merkt ends the race with a renewed sense of dismay about the boss-dominated process here in New Jersey, and fears the utter encroachment of a plutocracy on the Democratic system.
