Jeff says it is the time and place for a third party Guv
I’ve been having an impossible time finding a watcher of New Jersey politics to say that Joe Piscopo, should he run for governor, would have a shot at winning. In fact, every “smart” person I talk to about this scoffs at the idea. Not necessarily at the idea of Piscopo, but of the idea that anyone could actually win the state without the blessing of either the Republican or Democrat bosses.
Seriously: God himself — an Independent if there ever was one — could come down, promise to lower property taxes, and unless he got the party line, he’s going back up to heaven, cowed by the machine. (Not only the political machine, but also the voting booth machine, where independent candidates go to die because their names appear in a haphazard fashion while the party nominees get rows one and two.)
Well … I don’t buy it. I think the right candidate at the right time can buck the system, and I think it’s possible Piscopo is the right candidate at the right time.
Right candidate? Because he’s got the name recognition. That’s more than half the battle. Might even be 80 percent of the battle.
Right time? Because New Jersey residents haven’t seen the state government work in a long while, and there’s always that “time for a change vibe” hanging around.
And if he ran, making it a three-way race against presumptive candidates Lt. Gov. Kim Guadagno and Imported Billionaire Phil Murphy, is so impossible to see him splitting votes from both sides and sneaking into Drumthwacket with 35 percent of the vote?
The current thinking is a Piscopo run would sink the GOP, and he most certainly would. The trick, then, would be to siphon enough Murphy votes to make a difference. Only way to do that is to paint Murphy as someone who’s going to raise taxes, which shouldn’t be difficult, as that’s what Democrats generally do.
I don’t think it’s far-fetched for Piscopo to win, and quite frankly, I’d like to see it happen. Why not. Things almost literally can’t get worse in state government, and maybe a fresh set of eyes is just the thing New Jersey needs.