EAST BRUNSWICK — Steve Lonegan Supporters are beginning to assemble at the Hilton East Brunswick’s ballroom, with a small contingent holding Lonegan signs and chanting his name.
The live band just began performing, but so far the crowd is sparse. Two giant project screens show NJN's coverage of Gov. Corzine's campaign kickoff rally with Vice President Joe Biden.
A victory for Lonegan over Chris Christie in the Republican gubernatorial primary would be seen by the state’s political establishment as an upset of epic proportions.
Lonegan strategist Rick Shaftan, however, brushed off a question about whether a victory for his candidate tonight would be the biggest upset of his career.
“Every time I work for a winning candidate it’s an upset. I’m the patron saint of candidates with no money,” he said.
Despite reports of low turnout, Shaftan estimated that about 400,000 voters turned out – 100,000 more than anticipated. And despite the conventional wisdom that low turnout would create better conditions for a Lonegan upset, Shaftan thinks the opposite.
“I think that the organizational vote is the most likely vote to come out. Our voters are a lot of first-time people, and if we can get a good turnout from these first-time voters, it will be good for us,” he said.
Shaftan said that he’s heard “some decent news” from the ground.
“We’ve heard good things about the absentee ballot results. Apparently we won the absentees in Passaic. Apparently Doherty won them in Hunterdon and Warren. I don’t know what our numbers are, but…. So, we’ll see what happens,” he said.
