Thanks for the votes!
As it currently stands, it's been a hectic time for Rich. Keep in mind he's still doing his full-time job at the same time, at least at this stage. In fact, we had to talk while he was on the back in a smelly client server room under some equipment that was around since Apollo 11, just two hours before he had to go to another county line meeting.
To clarify: In NJ, at least on the GOP side, senate contenders go to different county GOP mini-conventions to debate or speak in front of the usually small crowd, and they vie for a "coveted" county line nomination. This is done in most of the counties, and some counties combine their meetings. The results of this meeting gives the state-level GOP the ability to potentially funnel assets into the race, but it is never a definite indicator of which candidate, as county lines tend to be the "political junkies" that may not represent the actual voting public. To me, this is a bit too fuzzy for me, like Common-Core math, but I digress.
Right now, he's in "second" place, with three county line nominations (Brian Goldberg has seven), but is actually in a good position as he is standing out a bit from the other candidates. Goldberg is too "mainstream" (read: establishment, "Christie" wing), while Murray Sabrin is a Libertarian who won't have the ability to work well in the senate, and voters are sensing that. The last guy, Jeff Bell, just moved from Florida in time to turn in his nomination today (March 31), and hasn't shown much in the way of county line presentations.
As objective as I can while acknowledging my own bias, Rich is the best candidate to maintain Tea Party credentials while working to communicate with the progressive RINO's. Note that I didn't say "negotiate," but rather "communicate," as Rich has absolutely no intention on backing off his principles, and will work toward moving the Prog-RINO's back into the fold.
Finally, yes: NJ is a blue state, almost as blue as the Dodgers and their 25+ years without a pennant. Cory Booker has the DUmmie vote, pure and simple, but this race will most probably be a lot closer than the Booker/Lonegan race, which was decided before the crapstorm called Obamacare was launched with a thunk. It's tedious now, but interesting nonetheless.
