The following analysis is based on preliminary information and will be expanded in a future article on this web site.

Chris Daggett, an unaffiliated independent for Governor, was polling as high as 20% about ten days before the election, but received 6% in the vote. Mr. Dagget had the best of the third party political advisors, the endorsement of the largest newspaper in the state, ran an intensive campaign, and spent the most money of third party NJ gubernatorial candidates. His 6% was the highest percentage of NJ Third Party voters received in any of the State Races. Only 6% – an obvious rejection of third parties.

The Assembly races tell a more interesting story.

Based on a quick scan of all the races, it looks like every incumbent was re-elected. In another words, voters rejected every challenger, even though it is the legislature that has given them the laws that they have been complaining about.

I followed two third party Assembly races closely during this campaign.  My own in District 14 and that of Jim Poesl in adjacent District 19.

In my case, I got about 1% of the vote and Jim also got 1% of the vote.  There was also another Independent candidate in the 19^th on the same ticket with Jim, and he got 3%,the most of any Independent Assembly candidate in the State.

Just as a control – the Libertarians that ran in the 15^th District, another adjacent to mine, also received 1% of the vote.

One final comment on this day after the election. Both Jim in the 19^th, and Baldassari in the 14^th, campaigned heavily. We both made a serious attempt to win.

Due to this massive rejection of third parties and the voters statewide refusal to throw out any of the incumbents, it would not have mattered how much any of the challengers spent.  None of us would have won.

But when it comes to my campaign, there was also a personal rejection of my candidacy, beyond the general voter rejection. I was relatively unknown in the northern part of my district.  But I was very well known in the southern part of my district. In fact, I had the best name recognition of all the other challengers.  I spent hundreds of hours, meeting thousands of voters for the past 7 months; I had good press in the southern part of the district, and ran businesses there since the 1960’s. But I only received 129 more votes in the known portion.

Here are the Results:

Total Votes   Baldassari

Mercer County       (Best known) -      51289              425

Middlesex County   (Unknown)   -       64848              296

Considering the amount of Baldassari campaigning involved in Mercer, it seems like campaigning was useless. One other interesting number. An Assembly candidate in this district in the last election did almost no campaigning and was relatively unknown and he received about 50% more votes than me.

I will have more to write about this in the coming weeks. We need to examine why the voters in NJ have no interest in bringing us fresh blood while complaining about corruption, high taxes, overpriced schools, and a health care system that they do not like.

- Gene Baldassari

The Star Ledger published an editorial this morning that discusses this problem. Here are a few snippets:

“The lamentable fact is that the two parties are, themselves, little more than narrow special interests. Their competition for short-term political and/or monetary gain has jeopardized the state’s long-term economic health and left it with a tarnished national reputation.”

“They have contributed equally to gross overspending in Trenton by consistently pandering to the pay, pension and retirement policies demanded by powerful public employee unions. Democrats have financed the spree with tax hikes, Republicans with borrowed money, and both with pension-fund raids.”

“Where the major parties have differed, their differences have been inconsequential. Where they’ve been the same, their similarities have been destructive.”

As I meet citizens of the 14^th District, I hear it more and more. They are starting to believe that the political parties represent bad Government in NJ. They are starting to recognize the apparent collusion between the political parties and how they have worked closely to make it impossible to fix the problems of NJ.

The Star Ledger opinion piece that was quoted earlier offers a solution.

“New Jersey needs radical change in Trenton.”

“Only by breaking the hold of the Democratic and Republican mandarins on the governor’s office and putting a rein on their power will the state have any hope for the kind of change needed to halt its downward economic, political and ethical spiral.”

“The Star-Ledger today endorses independent candidate Chris Daggett and recommends his election as the next governor of New Jersey.”

I agree with the Star Ledger that we need a massive repudiation of the parties that put us into this mess. I agree that they have “forfeited any claim to the trust and confidence of the people of New Jersey.”

What about Chris Daggett?

I have not looked into all of his ideas. But it is not necessary. Even if we disagree on some issues, we agree on the most important need for New Jersey. An Independent Governor would be independent enough to break the monopolistic stranglehold that’s preventing good ideas from penetrating the walls of the State House. Until we cure that disease, there is little profit in looking at any other issues. That is enough for me to consider him as a viable choice for Governor.

–Gene

Star Ledger Article Endorsing Daggett