"Freshman Democrat" Plants Tea Party Candidate

From the start of my blog, I have focused on the two primary candidates of the third congressional district of New Jersey as that is where the real political battles have been taking place. The two primary candidates, Adler and Runyan, have yet to bore voters with their constant attacks and counterattacks on each other. Runyan, a first time candidate in politics, has surprisingly done well against his opponent Adler, the incumbent candidate in this race. For the most part, incumbents are said to have a supposed advantage, especially over first-timers, as they have already established (or should have already established) voter support and crucial campaigning experience. However, this does not seem to be the case for Adler, who is still seen as a “freshman democrat” despite his political experience. Although the negative campaigning that opponent Runyan has been engaging in has negatively reflected on his character (in relation to politics), Adler seems to have definitely suffered in the polls from these attacks. Adler still takes the lead in polls by an insignificant margin, but Runyan has clearly proven disbelievers wrong about his strength in this race.

This past week, the race got even more dramatic for Adler, as the involvement of the tea party candidate is accused of being a scam! Anonymous Democratic operatives confirmed the fact that Peter DeStefano, the tea party candidate for this district, was put on the ballot by Democrats. In a debate held on Monday October 11^th, Runyan accused Adler of “planting” the tea party candidate in the race in order to “siphon off conservative votes,” and asked Adler to explain the Democratic Party’s connection to this matter. Adler avoided the question, changed the subject, and fired a remark at Runyan, saying that they should be discussing matters of unemployment. Adler has denied any involvement in this matter by him or his party.

With less than a month until Election Day, the candidates better believe that their every move will be watched even more closely than it has been, and that any mix ups will definitely impact the results of this race (as seen with Adler’s current position in the race). Many voters and analysts have called this race a draw. To me, that is like saying this race was a win for Runyan. Adler has not retained voter support within the district and he definitely needs to step up his game if he expects to win against opponent Runyan.