“I WISH YOU WELL, STEVE”.
With these words, followed by a gracious thank you to his opponent, U.S. Representative Bill Pascrell (D – 9th Congressional District, State of New Jersey) underscored his landslide victory in what is sure to become known as the Battle of Bergen, Hudson and Passaic, June 5th, 2012. Even at the height of his landslide victory, Rep. Pascrell generously remembered his opponent, U.S. Representative Steve Rothman (D-9th District). He also remembered his supporters and his campaign staff. A veteran himself, he gave a special shout-out to his fellow Veterans. John Currie, the Democratic Chairman for Passaic County, was singled out for thanks.
PASSAIC COUNTY
PASSAIC COUNTY
With his loyal supporters gathered around him at the Passaic County Community Gym, Rep. Bill Pascrell reminded not only those in attendance, but all of us that the importance of working across the aisle for the benefit of one’s constituents has never been as important as it is today. This ability to reach out and negotiate is one of Pascrell’s strengths, a strength he shares with former President Bill Clinton, and with the late Senator Teddy Kennedy (D – MA). This had to be a factor in causing over 90% of yesterday’s votes in Passaic County to go his way.
DISTRICT 9 PRIMARY
DISTRICT 9 PRIMARY
U.S. House - District 9 - Dem Primary
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June 06, 2012 - 07:16PM ET
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New Jersey - 424 of 424 Precincts Reporting - 100%
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In the final days of the campaign, although Rep. Pascrell raised and spent more than his opponent, Rep. Rothman had some $1.3 MM cash on hand. Paul Swibinski, very visible on the Rothman team, noted that the candidate with the most money at the end “almost always wins”. Not this time.
The electorate of Northern New Jersey is sophisticated. They don’t take campaign statements at face value because they do not automatically believe what they are hearing on expensive television advertisements and reading in print. They observe, they listen, they consider, and they make informed decisions.
NO ROOM FOR NASTY
NO ROOM FOR NASTY
The nasty, divisive campaign run by the Rothman team turned off even the Bergen County stalwarts, who stayed home rather than support the home-county candidate. Due to slow population growth in New Jersey, a newly drawn 9th Congressional District resulted from the December 2011 redistricting operation, overseen by John Farmer, Chair of the Congressional Redistricting Commission.
REDISTRICTING
This same redistricting has cost New Jersey a House seat, and will drop the State’s representation in Washington, DC down to 12 after the coming November election cycle.
Rothman was unlucky in losing Fairlawn, his hometown. This caused his district to lean more Republican, pitting him against U.S. Representative Scott Garrett (R-5th District). Garrett, arguably New Jersey’s most conservative House member in Washington, DC, is known to his base as a popular and hardworking man. He likely would have given Rep. Rothman a good run for his money come November.
Rep. Bill Pascrell, on the other hand, found himself in a district more similar to the former Rothman district. Knowing that Rep. Pascrell would fight for his constituents no matter where he was placed, the Democratic Party’s Congressional leaders made it clear to Rep. Rothman that they wanted him to engage Rep. Scott Garrett (R-5th District). Undisclosed generous sums of money were promised to aid in this campaign; along with the promise of assistance should he run for the Senate.
DEPARTURE FROM POLITICS
DEPARTURE FROM POLITICS
The likelihood that would now happen seems remote given last night’s rout, and it’s probably a good thing for Rep. Rothman that he has effectively resigned from elected officialdom. Unpopular with the North Jersey electorate, unpopular with his peers in Washington, the Representative should hold firm to his statement during his concession speech, “I don’t believe I’ll be running for political office ever again.” While he also pledged support to his “friend” Rep. Bill Pascrell, and to President Obama in November, it’s unlikely that either candidate would welcome his support.
Congressional redistricting did not force these two friends into battle. Rothman, of his own volition and against Democratic Party advice, made a choice to leave his own bailiwick and to challenge his friend. The voters clearly didn’t like that, and showed their displeasure at the polls. The question that hangs in the air is why the Rothman team en masse failed to read the signals. How did they not know that their nasty, negative campaign, impugning Rep. Pascrell’s impeccable political career, was turning off the voters?
BATTLE OF THE PRESIDENTS
An interesting side-issue was the media-titled “Battle of the Presidents”. Former President Bill Clinton visibly stumped for Pascrell, who had supported Hillary Clinton in 2008 in her bid for the party’s nomination; while Barack Obama gave a nod to Rep. Steve Rothman. The President stated that he was not endorsing Rep. Rothman as such; former President Bill Clinton had no such problem, openly and vigorously endorsing Rep. Pascrell. Probably the clincher for Rep. Pascrell was the ringing endorsement of civil rights hero John Lewis, taking the form of a Robo-Call.
CONGRESSMAN JOHN LEWIS
CONGRESSMAN JOHN LEWIS
“Hello, this is Congressman John Lewis from the state of Georgia urging you to vote for my dear friend, Bill Pascrell, for Congress today. As a life-long civil rights leader, I’m very concerned about reports of voter suppression and disenfranchisement in Paterson and Passaic by Pascrell’s opponent. We cannot let this team win, Bill Pascrell is the fighter north New Jersey needs in the House of Representatives and I ask that today you please come out and vote for Pascrell’s Democratic team. I hope I can count on you. We need Bill Pascrell now more than ever before.”
STRATEGY BLUNDER
At the end of the night, the contest proved to be needless and unnecessary between the two Democrats, one the Party could have done without in this Presidential Election year. It was also a major strategy blunder. Had Rep. Rothman remained loyal to his own constituency and run against the Republican Rep. Scott Garrett, he may well have won. Instead he chose to feed on his own party, essentially turning on a man who has been a good and trusting friend to him for close on twenty years.
In a bizarre challenge on Monday, Rep. Rothman questioned the validity of over 2,000 Passaic County absentee ballots. Shocking the electorate and elected officials alike because of its racist undertones, this challenge was thrown out when a Superior Court judged the ballots to be legal. The Pascrell team were critical of Rothman for using time-worn “Jim Crow” tactics against the largely minority demographic of Passaic County. This ill-judged and ill-timed action galvanized supporters, moderates and the undecided into supporting Rep. Pascrell.
By 10:30 PM, Rep. Rothman had conceded, bringing to an end of the nastiest and most hotly-contested races in the country.
Nancy Solomon provided two good sound bites on NPR’s Morning Edition today, to host David Greene,
ROTHMAN REVISES HISTORY
Listen to Rep. Rothman’s attempt at revisionist history, “They just happened to put the two of us together” and to Rep. Pascrell telling it like it is “As a lifelong Patersonian, my parents always taught me not to start fights, but to know how to end them. Tonight, we did just that. That’s what we did.”
What now does the future hold for Paterson’s mayor, Jeffrey Jones, given his endorsement of Rep. Rothman, who was New Jersey’s sole Jewish Congressman? His base did not appreciate the attack ads, whose content was so far from the truth that they earned him the feared “Pants on Fire” label from The Star-Ledger’s PolitiFact. Indeed, both The Star Ledger, and The Record of Hackensack, spoke about the inappropriateness of the attack ads when endorsing Rep. Pascrell.
LOU STELLATO
What of the future of Lou Stellato, Chairman of the Bergen County Democratic Committee? Already the murmuring has begun that he needs to step down, having negligently overseen this debacle.
Speaking to voters today, the majority said that an overwhelming desire for fair play pushed them to vote for Rep. Pascrell over Rep. Rothman. Several cited the raw undercurrent of ageism as the trigger point, given the senior candidate’s age, 75, used in the negative public relations campaign waged by his opponent’s team, suggesting that he should either run for Mayor when defeated, or retire.
THE ROLE OF SOCIAL MEDIA
THE ROLE OF SOCIAL MEDIA
Rep. Rothman’s social media campaign consisted of email blasts of negative press about his opponent. A quick look at the social media presence of both candidates, as of June 6th, is telling. Rep. Pascrell has 1,162 followers on Twitter, 3,843 on Facebook; Rep. Rothman has but 486 followers on Twitter, 1,470 on Facebook.
As the campaign rolled into its final day and hours, the Pascrell team took to Twitter to increase awareness and make its case, ably led by campaign strategist Sean Darcy. Supporters and followers tweeted and retweeted the GOTV message in easily digested bite-sized tweets. In stark contrast, the Rothman team was in relative absentia. One or two tweets at most, and three (exactly three) Facebook messages were posted in the final day of the election.
THE LAST WORD
THE LAST WORD
What more fitting end to this story can there be than the following quote from Representative Bill Pascrell on election night?
“Thank you for having my back,’’ Pascrell added. “We ran a competitive campaign, an above-the-board campaign. We never crossed the line of decency. I can sleep at night knowing that.’’
